How To: Cook Bacon

There’s nothing quite like the irresistible sizzle and aroma of perfectly cooked bacon. Whether you like your bacon crispy or chewy, this guide breaks down the best methods to get bacon just the way you love it, every single time.

Perfect Bacon Every Time You Cook It

Bacon is like the F word, you can use it in just about any situation. And I appreciate that about bacon.

What other food is so ubiquitous? From breakfast to dinner to salad, and even desserts, you can find bacon in the ingredient list. *Ahem, my bacon chocolate chip cookies!

The thing with bacon is that there’s good bacon and bad bacon. As one ages, as one does, they learn the difference between good bacon and bad bacon. I, personally, have turned into quite the bacon snob.

This how to is dedicated to bacon snobbery.

2 Methods

There are more than 2 methods to cook bacon, but in my opinion, there are 2 main methods; on a sheet pan and in a skillet. Don’t even think about using the microwave!

Cast Iron Skillet

There is a lot of merit to this method of bacon cookin’. For starters, I’m pretty sure stovetop bacon is the most universal way to cook bacon. If pan frying was good enough for our grandpappies, it’s good enough for me!

Pro:

• It’s dead simple.
• Quicker than the oven bacon method.
• Requires only one flip, unless you’re a chronic flipper, then you do you!

Con:

• Real estate is limited so bacon being cooked is also limited.
• I find my bacon gets wavy edges in this method, I like flat bacon, especially in a BLT sandwich.
• Can lead to grease splatter, but when cooking over low heat this is greatly reduced.
• This bacon needs a bit more tending than baking sheet bacon as there are usually hot spots in the pan.

Baking sheet

I have no real stats to back this up, but I am quite convinced that baking is a newer way to cook bacon. And I am not knocking it. In our house, this is how we cook bacon 9.9/10 times.

Pro:

• It’s so easy.
• Less clean up.
• Cooks much more evenly, and requires NO flipping, unless you want to.
• Can make much more bacon on a baking sheet than in a pan.
• Bacon strips cook flat.
• Hands off process frees you up to do other things.
• You can cook bacon in the oven without aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Con:

• Can make a mess of your oven over time with grease splatter, usually, a lower temperature will fix this.
• Takes longer than stovetop method.

You can certainly line your baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, which would make for easy cleanup, but I really don’t find the 2 seconds scrubbing the pan to be any more work than washing a baking sheet that had been lined with something else.

Bacon Grease

Bacon fat is a parting gift from that delicious bacon to your future self.

SAVE IT!

Seriously. It’s so easy to save bacon drippings; here’s how I do it:

1. Cook kick-ass bacon.
2. Gently shake all the fat off the bacon, then set aside.
3. Pour still warm bacon grease into a glass jar. I keep a small piece of flour sack, but cheesecloth also works great, around to strain the chunkies out.
4. Close the jar and pop in the fridge for later use.

Use bacon fat like you’d use any other oil. It will solidify in the fridge, so just scoop some out. Use it when popping popcorn, to toss your potatoes in, fry eggs in, sauté veggies in, as the oil in your smoked Cheez It’s, to butter your grilled cheese before grilling. The list of uses is endless.

Heck, I’ve even used bacon grease to make soap!

Batch + Storage

Batch:

As written this recipe makes 6 strips of bacon, but you can easily scale it up to make a big batch. The only real limit is the space available in your pan, skillet, or oven—just make sure the slices of bacon aren’t overlapping so they cook evenly.

Storage:

Once cooled, store any leftover bacon in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4–5 days. To reheat, pop the strips in a skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes, or warm them in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5–10 minutes until they reach crispness.

📖 Printable Recipe

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