How to Cook Bacon in the Oven


I cannot cook bacon in a skillet.  I don’t know why, but I can never get it to cook evenly.  I hate standing over the hot skillet and being hit by flying bacon grease.  Plus, it takes forever to cook a whole pound when you only have one skillet.

Several years back, I found the perfect solution.  Cook the bacon in the oven!  The oven does a much better job of cooking the bacon evenly and cooks a whole pound at the same time! No more standing over the hot skillet and dodging hot grease.

What I really like best about this method is that I can stick the bacon in the oven to cook while I finish the rest of the meal.  For instance, I can put the bacon in the oven while I fix protein packed pancakes, or I can put the bacon in the oven while I make dairy-free potato soup.  It saves me a lot of time!

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. You can line a pan with aluminium foil or parchment paper for easier clean up.  Some people then add a cooling rack to keep the bacon out of the grease.  Both of these steps are completely optional.  I usually just cook the bacon right on the pan.
  3. Place bacon pieces in the pan.
  4. Bake for 15 -17 minutes.  Watch carefully because the bacon can burn fast.  Keep in mind that the bacon will crisp a bit as it cools.

You may also enjoy How to Roast Garlic and How to Make Chicken Stock and Why You Should.

Photo Credit: Joelk75 and Dinner Series

 

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Responses to “How to Cook Bacon in the Oven”

  1. I hate cooking it on the stove, too. Gets grease all over me!

  2. Michelle says:

    The one time I tried bacon in the oven it got grease spatters all over the sides of my oven. Any thoughts on how to prevent this?

    • Nancy says:

      Michelle, I have not had that problem. I use a lasagna pan and a couple of 9 x 13 pans that are fairly deep. Do you think you need to try a deeper pan. You could turn the oven down to 375 and cook it a little longer. I guess you could try lightly covering the pan with aluminum foil. Let me know what you come up with!

      • Michelle says:

        Thank you, I tried it with 1 lb. of bacon divided between two deep 9×13 pans and there were minimal spatters. I cooked it at 400 for 15 minutes, uncovered, and was surprised at how easy and relatively mess-free it was. My new favorite way to cook bacon!

  3. Colette says:

    I am going to have to try that. I hate the pan too. I’ve been doing bacon in the microwave but not completely happy with that either. Next time I’m definitely trying the oven.

  4. I wanted to discuss my proposition with you and couple of other bloggers, but it would be vastly more simple if we were communicating simultaneously, could you contact me via the ‘contact me’ button on my blog or just message me via facebook with a good contact email? (:

  5. Love this! Just made a pan full of very messy bacon and it’s all burnt. I am going to try this, hopefully in my convection oven.