How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

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Cooking bacon in the oven creates perfectly crispy, delicious bacon. It’s also super easy, creates less mess than cooking it on the stovetop and allows you to multitask in the kitchen. If you’ve never baked bacon, give it a try!

So what do you serve your bacon with? Well, everything! Including my poached eggs, soft and hard boiled eggs and fried eggs. And you can’t forget my paleo pancakes (and dipping bacon in that maple syrup – yum).

Slices of cooked bacon on a sheet tray.

Cooking Bacon in the Oven

When it comes to the most perfectly crispy, evenly cooked bacon you really can’t beat cooking bacon in the oven. But it’s amazing how many people have never tried it. It seems the stovetop reigns supreme.

Today I’ll share with you why you should change your habits and cook bacon in the oven. And trust me, once you cook bacon in the oven, you’ll never cook it on the stovetop again!

Cooking bacon on the stove creates splatters all over your stove top and produces hot spots on the pan. This means certain pieces of bacon may cook faster than others. And it’s why you might have some bacon slices that accidentally charcoal a bit too much while other slices are still undercooked.

Cooking bacon in the oven cooks all of your bacon slices evenly as the heat surrounds them. They slowly sizzle, don’t splatter and end up evenly cooked. It’s a beautiful thing.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

It’s incredibly easy! Though it always helps to watch a quick video tutorial. Watch the video below!

Oven Baked Bacon – In 5 Steps

  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
  • Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Lay the bacon slices on the baking sheet.
  • Cook the bacon for 10 to 20 minutes or until it’s as crispy as you’d like.
  • Remove the bacon from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
Raw bacon on a sheet tray.

Benefits of Cooking Bacon in the Oven

  • First, you can cook for a crowd (and sometimes that crowd is just your immediate family). This is key for the holidays or when lots of people descend on your house. It’s also HUGE for helping you keep your sanity in the kitchen with the masses.
  • Second, cooking bacon in the oven is way cleaner than cooking bacon on the stove. I’m notorious for getting splatters all over the stovetop because I probably cook my bacon a bit too hot. But when you cook bacon in the oven you don’t get any splatters because the bacon just sizzles until it’s perfectly crispy (or done to your liking).
  • Lastly, cooking bacon in the oven allows you to multitask in the kitchen. Because once you toss that sheet pan of glorious bacon in the oven, you’re free for about 15 minutes to whip up some eggs or make a batch of pancakes or waffles.
Crispy oven baked bacon on a sheet tray.

A Few More Tips

  • Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper (or don’t line it at all – but that’s messy). With parchment paper it’s as simple as tearing off a piece, placing the bacon on top and cooking.
  • Should you place the bacon on a cooling rack to cook? I don’t think so. I tried it and the difference is negligible. But then I had to clean a cooling rack (and those buggers are hard to clean).
  • 400°F works well for both regular and thick cut bacon. Heat your oven and cook the bacon for 10 to 20 minutes or until it’s reached your desired level of crispiness. I do rotate the pan halfway through, just to ensure even cooking, but that’s it. And remember that your bacon will continue to crisp up once it dries.

What to do with Bacon Grease? Save it!

If you purchase organic bacon, as I do, definitely consider rendering and saving the bacon grease. Not only does bacon grease impart a richness of flavor into braised meats and other dishes, it has a high smoke point which means it’s far more stable to cook with.

Rendering bacon grease.

Here’s how to render bacon grease:

  • Once you’ve cooked your bacon, remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
  • Line a fine mesh sieve with another paper towel (you could also use a nut milk bag or cheesecloth) and pour the hot bacon grease over the sieve and into a glass jar.
  • Note: it’s important to use glass and not plastic, as you’ll melt plastic with hot bacon grease.

You can see in the photo above that I had some previous bacon fat already in my glass jar that’s opaque and lighter in color. When I have a new batch of bacon, I just pour this straight on top then cover the jar and refrigerate it.

So what do I use my rendered bacon grease for? Oh, just about everything. It’s what I fry my eggs in and how I sear pretty much any meat. It’s also great for sautéed or roasted vegetables to add depth and flavor.

Tasty Recipes with Crispy Bacon

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven (Easy & Crispy)

4.94 from 304 votes
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Servings: 2 slices of bacon
Author: Lisa Bryan

Description

Cooking bacon in the oven creates perfectly crispy, delicious bacon. It's also super easy, creates less mess, and allows you to multitask in the kitchen. Watch the video below to see how easy it is!

Video

Ingredients 
 

  • 8 bacon slices

Instructions 

  • Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper, then place the bacon side-by-side on the tray.
    Raw bacon on a parchment lined baking tray.
  • Cook the bacon for 10 to 20 minutes or until it's reached your desired level of crispiness. Make sure to check on it after about 10 minutes, as some ovens cook faster. Remove the tray from the oven and transfer the bacon with tongs to a paper towel-lined plate.
    Cooked bacon on a baking tray.
  • If you're rendering the bacon fat, line a fine mesh sieve with a paper towel. Then place the sieve over a glass storage container and pour the bacon fat from the sheet tray into the sieve. Cover the glass storage container and place it in the refrigerator for future cooking needs.
    Rendering bacon grease.

Lisa’s Tips

  • If you don’t have a heavy-duty baking sheet I recommend purchasing some. They never warp or bend in the oven! 
  • Please note that all ovens cook slightly differently. It’s best to keep an eye on the bacon past the 10-minute mark so you can ensure it’s cooked to your personal preference. If you scroll through the comments you’ll see some people have raw bacon at 15 minutes and some have burnt bacon at 15 minutes. After years of comments on this recipe, I’ve widened the cooking time to 10 to 20 minutes, as all ovens do bake differently. 

Nutrition

Serving: 2slices of bacon | Calories: 366kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 582mg | Potassium: 174mg | Vitamin A: 35IU | Iron: 0.4mg
Course: Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cooking bacon in the oven, how to cook bacon in the oven, oven baked bacon
Did you make this recipe?Mention @downshiftology or tag #downshiftology!

Recipe originally published December 2016, but updated with new photos and information. 

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About the author

Lisa Bryan

Lisa is a bestselling cookbook author, recipe developer, and YouTuber (with over 2.5 million subscribers) living in sunny Southern California. She started Downshiftology in 2014, and is passionate about making healthy food with fresh, simple and seasonal ingredients.

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Recipe Rating




591 Comments

  1. Sooooo much easier than messy frying pans or microwave! I love this option. Thank you for my new and very improved way of making bacon!5 stars

  2. I heard of another way to ensure your bacon does not burn. And set your oven as the same temperature as described in this recipe but put your bacon in right away and by the time your come to temperature your bacon should be done or almost done. It renters the fat slower so it’s less likely to burn.

  3. This worked great I did at 14 mins checked didn’t look ready added added 4 more perfect. Crispy will try 16 mins next time my husband likes it not so crispy ..
    thank you5 stars

  4. Love this method of cooking bacon. We cook an entire package at once, then freeze the slices on a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Once the slices have frozen, we transfer them to a plastic zip bag. They stay separated in a the bag in the freezer. Reheat as many slices as you need in the microwave for a few seconds.5 stars

  5. I have cooked bacon in the oven for several years and for all the reasons you mentioned.
    Only thing I do differently is cook at 350 degrees for a longer time.

  6. Fantastic! I have hated having the splashes (and subsequent smoke alarm going off) from stove top.

    I was greedy so cooked a lot in one batch, which worked well, then did the remainder (only 3) on the next batch. That batch burned. LOL

    I cooked the first batch for 10, then rotated the pan, and another 10. They were very crispy with some burnt pieces so probably less time the next time. Though as the comments from Lisa say, ovens vary so the time will as well.

    Thank you!5 stars

  7. Great way to cook bacon. My new oven is really hot and only takes 10 minutes to cook a sheet full of bacon. I have fibromyalgia and in evening standing and cooking bacon is hard for me. This was perfect solution for perfect crisp bacon5 stars

  8. This recipe turned out very well, but did set off my smoke alarm for the whole apartment. The smoke point of bacon fats are around 325-375, so it seems best to use a lower temperature if living with others.2 stars

  9. I tried making bacon this way and it was everything Lisa said. I have made bacon on top of the stove and in the microwave. The beats them hands down ! I will never make bacon any other way, but in the oven! Thank you Lisa5 stars

  10. Great idea, but to get as crispy as you show I needed to cook mine for 35 minutes, not sure if it’s the elevation I’m at 4700 feet. But It does take longer where I’m at in Idaho.5 stars

    1. Hi Dirck – It could be the elevation or that you need to turn you oven to a higher temperature as all ovens can heat differently!

      1. Perfecto!!! I’ll never fry again! Out with the bacon press! This was much eaiser, one pound on the baking sheet lined with parchment and almost no mess!
        Thanks!5 stars

  11. I had to turn mine over, the top was perfect the bottom was still raw. In the end it turned out perfect. Didn’t get much acon grease like I usually do , the parchment paper soaked it up. That was the only disappointment.5 stars

  12. Have you baked the bacon in a convection oven? If so, could you skip turning the pan? Would you set the temperature lower?

  13. Perfect on Christmas morning! Thank you! Question: when cooking for a crowd can you make 20 pieces on 2 baking sheets at the same time?5 stars

    1. I will be cooking bacon this way forever. No mess easy there will be a lot more bacon cooking in my house.5 stars

  14. I don’t cook it on 400 degrees like you said. I turned the oven to 375. It took so long. I will do it the right way for now on. So much easier and bacon was great5 stars

  15. I also cook bacon in the oven on a sheet of tinfoil. I will “crumple” the tinfoil to make small pockets so the bacon fat will drain into these small spaces. Voila!

  16. I used thick cut bacon when I tried this technique so after 18 minutes then I removed the bacon and put it in a frying pan to crisp it up a bit more5 stars

  17. For my oven, I had to turn the temperature up to 425 after 12 minutes, but was the most perfectly cooked bacon. No flabby unevenly cooked bacon anymore. Thanks so much for sharing!

    1. So I found that thick cut took me almost 35 mins flipping every 10 mins … still so much faster and easier to cook up a whole bunch of bacon at once!5 stars

  18. Hi Lisa, since I saw this on your webside i never did crispy Bacon in a sauce pan again. It is much easier that way. Thanks for this recipy!5 stars