Faster, Cleaner, and More Productive Than Ever Before – It’s Bake-on Bacon!
I’m going to say something that might sound strange, but I think you’ll see the vision. It seems nonsensical at first and it even took me a try to become a believer, myself, but if you hear out the theory and give it a good old college try, you’ll believe, too. Just stick with me when I say that you’ve been making bacon wrong all along – possibly even for years! It’s not that the bacon you used to make was bad (I’d even argue that any and all bacon is delicious!), but that you could’ve been having more bacon with less effort and easier clean-up!
Have you ever considered pan-seared bacon? All the flipping and the oil discard involved only to get inconsistent strips (some crisper than others!), it can be tedious and tiring. You have to constantly drain bacon grease between batches and that oil can’t be easily disposed of until it’s thoroughly cooled! Cooking bacon in a pan means undivided attention to flipping it to ensure both sides get a kiss of the heat, which is multitasker unfriendly. That’s not even to mention the fact that making your bacon in batches (only ever as big as your largest skillet) results in different cook times and, by consequence, different levels of crispiness from strip to strip! Not to sound like a corny infomercial but, there must be a better way.
Well, there is! Cooking your bacon in the oven is the better way! It’s hard to imagine making bacon in the oven (the triangle block doesn’t go in the square hole, after all!) but consider it: a flip-less cooking method which readily handles all of the oil from every strip of bacon you want to cook, no matter how many that might be. You can multitask other plates for your breakfast table knowing you don’t have to flip your bacon halfway through. You can dispose of all the oil at once instead of draining it off repeatedly. And, better still, you can have as much bacon as you can fit on one or two baking sheets!
Idle Hands? Get To Working On Something Else!
Multitasking is easy if you know how to do it (thanks, Sherlock! I never thought of it that way!), and there’s a very simple way to make multitasking look and feel natural: premeditated timing. Timing your tasks in staggered sequences (with some lenient space between tasks to accommodate for unanticipated spills and interruptions) is the way to get full meals on the plate with everything hot and ready at the same time. Prepping your ingredients ahead of time helps a lot here, but having hands-free cooking methods can do you a service in preparing more attention-needy components of your meals.
Because oven bacon is the breakfast food that practically does all the work for you, it gives you all of the time in the world (or, at least, the 15-20 minutes it takes to bake your bacon) to make other delicious dishes. Whip up some oven-cooked bacon and scramble some eggs and have yourself an easy, simplistic breakfast. Or grill up some burger patties to make delicious bacon cheeseburgers for lunch. The possibilities are only limited by your hunger (and your stovetop, microwave, and air fryer!).
The important thing is to carefully select recipes that take less than 20 minutes and don’t use the oven and, while that seems like very little to worry about, making the work easier requires you to work smarter and not harder. For instance, make sure your potatoes are parboiled before you bake bacon, and make sure your bacon is already started before you start a skillet of hashed browns. Make sure your burger patties are shaped and seasoned before you put your bacon in, and ensure your bacon is cooking while you’re sizzling!
FAQs & Tips
How to Make Ahead and Store?
Making bacon in the oven is so pleasingly easy, that it only makes sense to prepare perfectly crispy bacon long ahead of time whenever possible! Keeping your bacon bagged or contained within an airtight seal is the best way to preserve your finished bacon post-baking. Store in the fridge and reheat with some time in the microwave to bring back to temp.
Can I Use Multiple Levels of My Oven For Oven-Cooked Bacon?
Yes! I recommend making lots of bacon (not for, like, health reasons – purely for indulgence) and one of the best ways to do that is by preparing two baking sheets of bacon and placing one on each rack of your oven.
Can I Use a Pepper-Crusted Bacon For Oven-Cooked Bacon?
Pepper-crusted bacon is extra delicious, but I would avoid putting seasonings on your bacon prior to baking at 400°F as you run the risk of your seasonings burning and turning the overall palate of your bacon into a bitter, unpleasant flavor.
Serving Suggestions
Bacon is perfect, and oven-cooked bacon is the best possible way to make it, but it can’t carry breakfast all on its own! Serve up a multitasked meal with Skillet Breakfast Potatoes, Sunny-Side-Up Eggs, and an icy glass of fruit juice (and a splash of tequila for a brunch Margarita couldn’t hurt!).
Bacon In The Oven Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 slices of bacon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Lay the bacon slices flat on the baking sheet, ensuring they do not overlap to achieve even cooking.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Check the bacon at the 15-minute mark for desired crispiness.
- Once cooked to your liking, carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven. Use tongs to transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess grease.
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