How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Ah bacon, how we love thee. But let’s be honest… cooking bacon on the stove is messy. That’s why I’ve fallen in love with whipping up a batch of bacon in the oven! At times, I’ll cook bacon in the microwave too, but overall, I prefer the chewy delicious texture that comes when I’m baking bacon. SAVE TIME during the week by cooking bacon in the oven all at once! Then bag it in a ziploc and keep it in the fridge! SOOO easy and good!

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

In my opinion, this method should be crowned as the overall best way! In the oven is great because you can cook a lot more bacon at one time. This method is also pretty hands-off, just rotate the pan once during baking. No flipping needed. Another nice advantage – the bacon cooks more evenly in the oven. You won’t get raw or burnt spots on the bacon, as you might on the stove top. And probably my most favorite part of cooking bacon in the oven… the clean up is crazy easy!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil (I prefer heavy duty foil for this… just so there is no chance of the foil ripping and then you’ll have a messy pan).

3. Arrange bacon on the prepared baking sheet; the slices can overlap slightly, if needed.

4. Cook until fat begins to render, 5 to 6 minutes; rotate the pan.

5. Continue cooking until bacon is crisp and brown, 5 to 6 minutes for thin-cut, 8 to 10 minutes for thick-cut.

6. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve.

TIP: If cooking more than one pan of bacon at a time, switch the oven positions once about halfway through cooking to help with even baking. The amount of bacon you can cook at one time will vary depending on the size of your baking sheet and size of bacon slices. 

My favorite part: wait for grease to cool and harden ball up foil and throw in the trash. No soaking or scrubbing required! GENIUS!

Once cooked, the bacon keeps in the fridge for a week (if it will even last that long). I like to cut a portion of mine with scissors in bulk the store it in an air tight container. You can easily add the bacon to recipes; eggs, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, salads etc. You can also freeze your cooked bacon for longer storage.

You can reheat the bacon in a skillet or microwave if you want a quick reheat! 

This bacon was melt-in-your-mouth good. 

It is not hard to control the level of crispiness, just check on it every once in a while toward the end. There is minimal bacon shrinkage too! I’m telling ya, if you haven’t tried cooking bacon this way yet, you need to. The oven-fried bacon is just as good, if not better, than the bacon cooked in the fry pan! Love it!

One more thing…

Have you seen the bacon image floating around saying that running bacon under cold water before cooking will reduce shrinking by 50%? Is that really true? Well, I decided to try it out. I noticed that the bacon rinsed in cold water maybe curled up a bit less, but I didn’t notice that big of a difference in shrinkage. Maybe my water wasn’t cold enough? I don’t know, but I don’t think I’ll spend any time rinsing bacon again.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Baking bacon is my go to for the best tasting bacon around! It's easy, super fast to clean up, and you can cook up a ton of it and enjoy it all week long for quick and easy breakfasts!

4.50 / 5 ( 2 Reviews )

Print Rate

Prep Time: 3 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 16 minutes minutes

Total Time: 19 minutes minutes

Serves: 6

Adjust Servings: 6

Equipment

• Heavy Duty Foil
• Baking sheet

Ingredients

• 12 slices of Bacon about 12 per baking sheet

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C
• Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil
• Arrange bacon on the prepared baking sheet; the slices can overlap slightly, if needed
• Cook until fat begins to render, 5 to 6 minutes; then rotate the pan
• Continue cooking until bacon is crisp and brown, 5 to 6 minutes for thin-cut, 8 to 10 minutes for thick-cut
• Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate
• Serve

Recipe Notes

If cooking more than one pan of bacon at a time, switch the oven positions once about halfway through cooking to help with even baking. The amount of bacon you can cook at one time will vary depending on the size of your baking sheet and size of bacon slices. 

Once cooked, bacon keeps in the fridge for a week (if it will even last that long). You can quickly reheat on the skillet or in the microwave for about 10 seconds. You can easily add the bacon to recipes; eggs, sandwiches, breakfast burritos, etc. Or cut some up and store in an air tight container for a quick salad toss in. You can also freeze your cooked bacon for longer storage.

Nutrition

Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Sodium: 291mg