Want to know the secret to perfect bacon that's mess free and hands off? Bake it! You don't even need to preheat your oven first. Cold baked bacon in the oven produces crispy, sizzling bacon without getting the stovetop messy. This method works just as well cooking 1 piece of bacon, as it does an entire pack.
The start of the holiday season marks the start of the entertaining season (in my mind, anyway!) and there’s no better way to accommodate overnight or breakfast/brunch guests than serving them crispy, sizzling oven baked bacon in the morning.
Well that and mimosas – but that’s a different post!
Seriously, if you’re cooking for a crowd, or simply hate the mess involved in frying bacon in a skillet on the stove top, cooking bacon in the oven is going to be a TOTAL game changer. You don’t even need to preheat the oven to do it!
Watch How to Make It
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
There is literally one step involved in making oven baked bacon: lay slices of cold bacon on a foil then parchment paper-lined baking sheet then place it into a cold oven and set the oven to preheat to 375 degrees.
By the time the oven has preheated, BOOM – sizzling, golden-brown bacon. There is nothing better.
Well, except for the fact that there’s no bacon grease splattering out of a skillet onto the countertop, no babysitting the bacon by pushing the slices around to make room for others — just pop the pan into the oven and you’re set. Couldn’t be easier or more convenient.
Why a Cold Oven?
Think about how we cook bacon in a skillet on the stovetop – slices are added to a cold skillet then the heat is turned to medium and the bacon renders its fat as it cooks low and slow.
This is the same concept behind baking bacon in a cold oven from the start. As the oven comes to temperature, it’s slowly renders out the fat leaving behind sizzling, ultra crispy bacon.
How Long Do You Let Bacon Cook in the Oven?
Depending on how thick your bacon is cut, it should be cooked by the time the oven reaches 375 degrees. If your oven is older and takes longer to preheat, or the bacon is thin cut, it might be done before the oven completely preheats. If your bacon is thick cut, it might need a few additional minutes baking at 375 degrees after coming to temperature.
Don’t overthink it – just bake until the bacon reaches your desired crispness. :)
Do I Need to Flip the Bacon?
Like I said, this method for cooking bacon in the oven is nearly completely hands off. I say “nearly” completely because I do recommend you rotate the baking sheet 180 when the oven is about halfway to 375 degrees. This ensures the bacon slices cook uniformly.
When using regular or center cut bacon, there is no need to flip the bacon slices over halfway through. If you are using thick cut bacon, I do find that turning each slice over once the oven has reached 375 degrees, then letting it bake a bit longer, results in perfectly cooked, thick-cut bacon.
Do I Need to Use a Wire Cooling Rack?
No! In fact, thin cut bacon has a tendency to stick to wire cooling racks while baking. Also, not all wire racks are oven safe (ask me how I know).
Just place the slices directly onto the foil + parchment paper-lined baking sheet then send it into the cold oven. Super simple.
Ways to Use Baked Bacon
Of course baked bacon is awesome for breakfast or brunch, but make a batch for:
- Sandwiches: hello easy BLT!
- Salads: chop or break up the cooked bacon to use as the protein in your lunchtime salad.
- Mac and Cheese: ’nuff said.
There are very few things that don’t benefit from the addition of bacon so use your imagination! Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge then reheat in the microwave if needed.
How to Cook Bacon in an Oven
Like I said, all you need to do is line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil then parchment paper, which helps reduce splatters, then place your bacon strips on top in a single layer.
You can cook one slice or a whole pack – it doesn’t matter. The slices can touch but shouldn’t overlap.
What Kind of Bacon to Use
Regular and/or center-cut bacon might be fully cooked before your oven reaches 375 degrees, while thick-cut bacon might take a few extra minutes after the preheating phase.
Use tongs to transfer the cooked bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to drain then serve it on up.
As far as clean up, you can carefully strain the bacon fat through a fine mesh sieve into a jar for another use, or simply let it cool on the foil until it hardens, then ball up the foil and throw it away.
Whether you’re serving baked bacon to guests, or for your family on a weekend morning, I hope you love this super easy, super crispy method for cooking bacon in the oven. Enjoy!
Use Oven Bacon In These Recipes
- Loaded Deviled Eggs
- BLT Egg Salad Jars
- California Turkey & Bacon Lettuce Wraps
- Mini Bacon Cheeseburger Quinoa Bites
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pack bacon, OR however many slices you want to eat
Directions
- Line bacon slices on a foil then parchment paper lined baking sheet. Slices can be touching but not overlapping. Place baking sheet into a COLD oven then start preheating the oven to 375 degrees. You can choose regular or convection setting. Rotate the baking sheet 180 degrees when the oven reaches 375 degrees.
- Once the oven comes to temperature, check on the bacon – if it still needs a few minutes to become crisp, keep baking until desired crispness is reached. Once crisp, transfer slices to a paper towel lined plate to drain then serve.
- Carefully strain bacon grease through a fine mesh sieve into a jar for another use, or let it cool on the foil then ball up and throw away.
Notes
- Thick cut bacon usually takes a few extra minutes to bake once the oven preheats to 375 degrees AND benefits from each slice being turned over at that point to ensure the bacon bakes evenly. Regular/center cut bacon does not need to be flipped.
- In my experience, using the convection baking setting bakes the bacon faster than the standard baking setting. Either one is fine and will give you perfectly crisp bacon but you just may need to continue to bake the bacon longer after coming to temperature if using the standard baking setting.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I have cooked bacon using this method exclusively after being a cook in a hotel restaurant many years ago. It’s the only way to cook several pounds at once. Thanks for getting the word out about how easy it is!
Yes yes! It’s a game changer!
I have tried your method a few times now and love it. Much easier than standing over a skillet, and I haven’t experienced any grease spatter in oven. Only problem I’ve had is if I try to cook a second pan of bacon right after baking a first one, the oven does smoke and cause the smoke detector to go off. Don’t know why, but this happened twice. I now just use a larger pan so all the bacon cooks at once. Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Santay! It’s likely because the oven is too hot for the second batch, causing the fat to pop and sizzle. If you want to bake a batch of bacon using a hot oven instead of cold, trying turning the temp down to 350 instead of 375.
This worked out great. I had to cook it longer (bacon was a thicker cut but not technically thick cut) but still was excellent.
I’m thrilled to hear it, Deena! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
Can you use parchment instead of foil? Thanks!
You bet!
Does t need to be covered? Is it going to splatter all over the oven?
The bacon cooks uncovered and no I don’t experience any splattering! If you are concerned, though, you can place a sheet of unbleached parchment paper on top of the foil then place the bacon on top of the parchment paper.
I’ve done this for years but never started with a cold oven – this is genius! I’m so excited to try it. Leftover bacon (rare event) on peanut butter toast is delicious in case anyone was wondering:)
Right?! So easy and convenient! I hope it’s a hit – and I have heard very good things about bacon and peanut butter!! ;)