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 332 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.

4.94 from 332 votes (61 ratings without comment)

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657 Comments

  1. I use a baking rack so the fat drips down and lay the bacon so it is touching but not overlapping and it comes out great.5 stars

  2. Wow came out perfect and super easy clean up. Cooked 10 min, turned pan than 8 min more. Parchment paper extra wide covered whole cookie sheet, no fat on pan. no burnt bacon …. My husband was delighted it wasn’t burnt … lol ….5 stars

    1. Hi Jennifer – yes, you can. But you may need to increase the cook time by about 20%. So I’d just keep a closer eye on them in the oven.

  3. I will NEVER cook bacon any other way. I followed your instructions, to the letter. 400F, a check @ 10 mins, my oven had left it a tad bit raw so, I added another 7 and PERFECTION!!
    I ate the same bacon yesterday pan fried and the oven baked is so much better!5 stars

  4. You’re so right! I struggled with oven bacon for years, it was burnt at 15 min. We moved recently and with the new oven 15 min was perfect but I started checking at 10 min with your advice. I also may have cooled the oven checking on it, and that may be a consideration as well. Thanks!5 stars

  5. Thank you… This is the ONLY recipe I’ve found that recommended using parchment paper to line the pan

    I first tried it with aluminum foil, but the foil stuck in so many places. A mess to clean up.
    I just pour the fat into an aluminum can and save it in the fridge like my mother did. Im 80 and a WW II baby.5 stars

    1. So happy you found my recipe helpful, Suzanne! Parchment paper definitely helps prevent the bacon from sticking to the pan. Enjoy!

    1. 2 Fer!!!!
      Beautiful bacon and bacon grease for later!! I use bacon fat for cooking meats and veggies. I use a “cookie sheet” on my cookie pan and pour off the fat.5 stars

  6. Thank you for the recipe. I was tired and didn’t want to go through the whole process of grease splatter, cooking and cleaning the usual way. This was simple and convenient. And I was able to mainly focus on making the eggs to accompany the bacon.5 stars

      1. for some reason with my gas stove, my bacon does not tend to cook well enough on the underside near the parchment. I wonder why