How to: Bake Bacon

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like bacon, at least I hadn’t until I met my friend Jenn.  But that’s all good, because it means when we go out for breakfast , she gives me her bacon.  Now as much as I like eating bacon, cooking it is another story.  Standing over the stove, hot grease splattering, flipping the bacon – not for me.  The first person I ever saw cook bacon in the oven was Rachel Ray on an episode of 30 Minute Meals.  It certainly freed her up to cook other components of the dish while the bacon was cooking on its own.   I’ve since become a big fan of cooking bacon in the oven.

Perfect, crisp slices of bacon with no effort on your part. I always fill up the cookie sheet no matter how much bacon I need for a meal, because I’ll chop up any leftovers and use them to toss in salads or into mac and cheese.

All you need is bacon, a cookie sheet, tinfoil or parchment, and a metal rack (optional).

Start by lining the cookie sheet with either parchment or tinfoil and place the metal rack on top.  I like the metal rack method because it keeps the bacon elevated from the grease, it still cooks up nice and crisp this way.  You can leave the metal rack out if you want, the bacon will simmer in its own grease.

Then lay the bacon evenly across the rack.  It’s ok if the slices lightly overlap as the bacon will shrink when it cooks.

Place the bacon in the middle rack of a cold oven.  It’s important to start with a cold oven because then the fat in the bacon will start to render slowly and it will cook nice and evenly.  Turn the oven on to 400 degrees.  It will take approximately 25-30 minutes to cook depending on how long it takes your oven to preheat and whether you use regular or thick cut bacon.

I love how evenly the bacon cooks with this method.