My family loves bacon. We don’t eat too much of it, but there are times where a package just happens to fall into my cart at the store.
My favorite way to eat bacon is on a BLT sandwich with the tomato fresh from my garden. Cooking bacon in the oven is a simple way to cook a whole package at once and you won’t have grease splattered all over your kitchen.
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place a baking rack in a rimmed baking sheet. In the past, I have also used the 2-piece broiling pan that came with my oven, but a whole package of bacon doesn’t fit on 1 broiling pan, so I’ve made two batches.
3. Place bacon on the baking rack. One regular sized package should fit on two pans. You don’t have to bake it all at once, but it will save time and I’ll discuss freezing the bacon below.
4. Bake in the oven for 22 minutes or until desired crispiness. If using 2 trays, switch the trays positions at about 10 minutes. Be very careful when removing trays from the oven, they are filled with bacon grease.
How to Dispose of Bacon Grease
My grandmother always used the bacon grease to fry eggs in the morning. However, I don’t care to do that, so I must dispose of the grease; the only downfall of cooking bacon. While the oven method reduces the splattering all over the kitchen, it still produces a lot of bacon grease that is now in the tray.
To dispose of: DO NOT POUR THE BACON GREASE DOWN THE DRAIN!
Instead, pour the grease into an empty tin can. Allow the grease to harden and place the tin can in the garbage.
How to Freeze Cooked Bacon
Once the bacon has cooled, place the cooked bacon on a (clean) baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a freezer bag. Flash freezing should prevent the bacon from sticking together in the freezer and you can now remove pieces as you need it.
To reheat, simply place the slices in a microwave for 5-10 seconds.
How do you cook bacon? Let us know in the comments.
I line the sheet pan with foil to cook the bacon. After cooking, let the grease cool and harden on the foil, roll up and through away.
That’s a great idea. I’m going to do that next time. Thanks for commenting.
I used the foil on the pans as well and it was perfect! Easy cleanup!
Awesome! Thanks, Tashia, for letting us know.
genious! does the bacon absorb grease tho w/o being on a rack up off the foil?
I never thought about freezing it once it’s cooked. That is smart! I have found that my oven cooks a lot slower so when I cook my bacon in the oven it takes a bit longer than 20 or so minutes, but I sure do love the ease of the oven method and cook my bacon this way most of the time. With the bacon grease, I put mine in a storage container and stick it in the fridge to use when I make a homemade bean dish, like refried beans.
I love the idea of using the grease in refried beans. I may have to try that. thanks for commenting.
This is exactly how I started making my bacon. When I would do it on top of the stove it made too much of a mess (even with a splatter guard) and it would smell up the house. This is so much easier and you don’t have to watch it as much.
I agree about saving the bacon grease. I always save mine. I have used it to cook egg dishes, baked french fries, sauteed veggies. I love it.
mmmm…baked french fries and sauteed veggies…love those idea. okay, maybe you all have convinced me to start re-using the bacon grease.
Thanks for the comments.
I love the smell of bacon permeating the house after it cooks.
“…but there are times where a package just happens to fall into my cart at the store.”
LOL
We actually do bacon in the microwave. I don’t like any other kind of meat or seafood done in the microwave, but for some reason, the bacon comes out really well!
Just put a few slices in between two paper towels and place on a pyrex pie plate. Don’t fold the paper towels and don’t stack the slices. Keep the slices separated by an inch or so when you put them on the paper towels. You might need two sheets on top and bottom if your bacon (or paper towels) are low quality. It’s 3 1/2 to 4 minutes for our microwave, but that will vary depending on your wattage. The paper towels suck up the grease and it comes out nice and crispy.
You don’t have to watch it, it’s pretty easy to clean up, and it comes out exactly the same every time. The bad part is you can only do 3 or maybe 4 slices at a time this way.
Thanks, SB, for the great microwave tip. Honestly, I never thought about microwaving bacon. It’s good to know that you can do it.
Thanks for the comments.
We microwaved ours for years. You can purchase pans just gir that purpose. But when feeding many I do the oven, but, does it splatter grease all in your oven? Makes a mess but just turn on the self-cleaning. Ain’t modern great?
Hi Patsy, thanks for stopping by. I’ve never microwaved bacon. Does it come out crispy?
I didn’t notice too much splatter in the oven.
We save the bacon fat in a jar in the fridge to be used to make German potato salad.