How should I cook bacon in an oven?

Question

I've heard of people cooking bacon in an oven by laying the strips out on a cookie sheet. When using this method, how long should I cook the bacon for, and at what temperature?

Answer 1

I've always cooked it on top of aluminum foil, at 350°F (~175°C) for 20 minutes. Flipping it once at about the half way point. If you prefer crispier, go for 25 minutes.

Answer 2

I set the oven to 400F, line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil, place a cooling rack inside the pan, and then put the bacon on top of the cooling rack. It takes between 20 and 30 minutes to reach the point that I like it, but you may want to stop it earlier.

Also good, blend some brown sugar and pecans until the pecans are well mixed with the sugar and then sprinkle the mixture on top of the bacon half way through cooking.

Answer 3

Put on a cookie sheet. Use a high temp (375F+) for 10-20 minutes depending on desired crispness.

For easier cleaning of the cookie sheet, line it with aluminum foil.

To let the grease drain, corrugate the foil. (This is by far what I prefer.) If you do this, remember before you tear off your sheet from the roll, you'll need ~2x as much foil for the same area.

Answer 4

I place the bacon in a cold oven and then turn the oven on to 400F. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get slightly crisp bacon.

Answer 5

The short answer is "throw it in the oven, and make sure it doesn't stick."

You can use aluminum foil or silpat to accomplish the non-stick part.

Regarding temperatures, a lot depends on what you want. This is pork remember, a meat that cooks beautifully at low temperature, and fries nicely too when salt-cured.

So, if you want delectably smooth soft bacon that melts in your mouth, try it at 225 for a few hours. This is like slow cooking a pork shoulder.

300 and up will more quickly cook it; at that point you're aiming for crispy bacon. The hotter the heat, the faster it will get there, and the greater the danger you're going to burn it. I usually do mine at 375 for the family, it takes roughly 20 minutes.

Answer 6

I place the bacon on a cooling rack set inside a baking pan, to keep the meat above the grease.

Generally speaking, lower temperatures result in less bitter compounds forming than higher temperatures. But you'll have to wait longer for your delicious, delicious bacon. If you're baking something else, then just put the bacon in at whatever temperature the other dish requires. It should be fine, anywhere from 325 to 425 or 450.

The bacon is done when it looks and feels delicious. You can judge by color. If you like it crispy, it should be dark but not burnt--it will still be a little soft until it cools a little.

Answer 7

I bake mine on a cooling rack (to drain excess fat) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with foil for easy clean up. I start in a cool oven, 400 degrees for about 20 minutes for crisp turkey bacon.

Answer 8

I just cooked a pound of bacon yesterday....to make Blt Bites in cherry tomato halves. Not knowing any better, I spread it out in a single layer on a rimmed baking pan. And I cooked it for about a half hour at 300 (PRE=HEATED). It was perfect. No spattering. Easy clean-up. If you like it crisper, just cook it longer. If it smells done, it is.

Answer 9

I use tinfoil (non-stick kind works well) on any old baking sheet and for an added boost sprinkle dark brown sugar and coursely ground pepper on top side first. Cook at 350-400 for 10 min - no need to flip - watch at end it doesn't burn. My family / guests can't get enough of this candied bacon.

Answer 10

I have a special pan which has a second bottom with holes in it that allows the excess fat to drain away. With that I put it in about the middle or lower of the oven with the broiler on 500F on.

Answer 11

Use a baking tray with a decent lip to stop fat running away. Don't use foil or anything extra

Lightly rub required tray surface area with Olive oil

Roll each piece of bacon up into a tight tube (slight larger than a thumb) and place on tray. You can use a pencil sized dowel as a former

Balance each roll against the next to hold in place. Use a toothpick or similar to hold the rolls on the ends

Grill at medium to medium-high until done, around 20 to 30 minutes

Nothing gets burnt, and they are easy to handle once cooked. And a nice tidy look on the plate too

Because nothing got burnt, cleanup is simple. Just soak the tray

You can do more than 50 slices of bacon on one tray!

Answer 12

I have found the best method is to use parchment paper, put bacon on a rack that will fit in the pan to hold the bacon above the dripped fat, baked in a convection oven so no need to rotate or flip. about 20-30 minutes depending on thickness....thick sliced bacon works best.

Answer 13

Take two cookie backing trays that can be stacked into one another (just buy two non stick identical cookie trays): lay the first one's bottom with baking parchment. lay the bacon flat on it. put another sheet of parchment on top of the bacon stack the second tray on top and apply a good pressure to make sure the bacon is flat.

you should have from bottom to top tray-parchment-bacon-parchment-tray. (just to be clear)

bake at high temperature for 15 minutes (or until of the color you like it, raise tray to check and be careful of grease splashes). After baking absorb excess fat by laying on paper.

This will guarantee that your bacon strips will be cooking book picture perfect, crispy and delicious.

Answer 14

use silicone mats instead tinfoil or parchment paper. much easier cleanup