How to Cook Bacon in the Oven, Classic and Candied

If you love indulging in bacon on a weekend morning but despise cleaning grease splatters off the stove, this one is for you. Here's how to cook bacon in the oven with minimal mess to the perfect bite. Whether you enjoy it extra-crispy, soft and chewy, or a little bit in between. For an insanely sinful bacon moment, bake up a batch of candied bacon. Maple-bourbon, anyone?

Jump to:

• The Story
• Buying
• Uncured Bacon vs Conventional
• The Equipment
• The Method
• The Steps
• Saving Bacon Grease
• Storage
• Chef's Tips
• Candied Bacon
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Edible Epilogue
• 📖 Recipe
• What to Eat with Bacon

The Story

Bacon is one of those foods that can be ahmazing or absolutely uninspiring. Lesser quality bacon is pumped full of artificial flavors, added sugar, and excessive salts. Its thin strips are one-dimensional and can be laden with lingering pesticides from the animal's diet. This is why your taste buds will thank you for seeking out thick-cut, pastured, or organic bacon.

Buying

Let's not kid ourselves, bacon is not for frequent consumption. You don't need to be a dietician to know the stuff is less than good for general health. But you can attempt to lessen the nutritional negatives by reaching for organic or pastured bacon.

Organic. Plenty of national brands sell organic bacon. And even if the bacon isn't pastured, it's at least free from synthetic pesticides. A couple of brands cure their organic bacon without added sugar, an added bonus. For further reading, here's a link to the USDA's Introduction to Organic Practices.

Pastured. Pastured bacon is made from hogs allowed to root naturally for food and roll around in the mud until their hearts are content. If animal welfare is important to you, this is your kind of bacon. Pastured meats also tend to possess more nuanced flavors. This comes from the diversity in the animal's natural diet.

What if I can't find or afford either? Premium organic, pastured bacon can cost upwards of $9.99 a pound. Not exactly cheap when you can buy organic chicken or pork on sale for several dollars less. So at home, my people and I enjoy pastured or organic bacon once in a while. And the rest of the time whip up a nice plate of scrambled eggs or enjoy yogurt, oatmeal, and smoothies for breakfast.

Uncured Bacon vs Conventional

Processed meats, including bacon and deli meats, are cured with specific salts to eliminate and prevent harmful bacteria from thriving. And labels that claim "uncured" or "no nitrates added" are misleading. "Uncured" meats are still cured, just with natural sources of nitrate. Celery powder is the most common of these curing agents.

A Consumer Reports study found that the nitrite levels of "uncured" meats are the same as cured brands. And in certain cases are even higher. Along with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Reports petitioned the USDA, and asked the government agency to revoke the use of the word "uncured" on meat labels.

But I still buy "uncured" bacon. Why? I still feel it's the better option. Many brands that sell bacon labeled "uncured" are organic or pastured or both. And especially with pastured bacon, you get way more of that savory, succulent essence of bacon. More simply, it just tastes more like bacon should.

The Equipment

Baking bacon in the oven requires one piece of equipment, but choose it wisely. The best type of baking pan is one with rimmed sides. Or you risk bacon grease dripping off the pan and causing a lot of smoke in your oven (likely to set off an ear-splitting cacophony of fire alarm responses).

I like to line the pan with parchment paper or foil. It's not crucial to the process but will help keep the pan a bit cleaner. For bacon that is less greasy and for more even cooking, you can nest an oven-safe rack inside the pan. And as with lining the pan, a rack is not a deal breaker.

The Method

Cooking bacon in the oven is the way I learned to churn out masses of crispy strips in culinary school and restaurant kitchens. And please don't let anyone pretend you need a "recipe" for baking plain strips of bacon.

It's an easy method, my friends. A tiny bit of know-how that doesn't involve flipping strips of bacon over a hot stove while beads of sweat form on your forehead. The beauty of baking bacon is that it cooks slower and more evenly than in a pan. So you can kiss the days of inconsistent, underdone, or burnt bacon goodbye.

If you lack patience like The Edible Times Husband, crank the oven up to 400° F. For slow-roasted bacon and a slightly-less sweltering kitchen, you can set an oven temperature as low as 350° F. But the lower the temperature the slower the baking.

It's also a good practice to set your bacon out on the counter for a half hour or so before sending it into the oven. Bringing any meat to room temperature before cooking is a professional standard. And prevents the proteins from suffering the shock of going from near freezing to blazing in seconds. This shock can lead to a tougher chew as cold proteins can seize up when exposed to high heat. It's less of a concern with fattier cuts like pork belly and bacon, but still good practice.

The Steps

Thick-cut bacon will (obviously) need longer baking times than thinner strips and turkey bacon. Depending on your oven temperature, begin checking for signs of doneness after 12 minutes. Thick strips could take up to twenty minutes to become crispy.

1. Preheat your oven to anywhere between 350° F and 400° F. Line your pan with foil or parchment paper, and prepare a plate topped with a few paper towels.
2. Space strips of room temperature bacon evenly on a foiled-lined (or parchment paper-lined) rimmed sheet pan.
3. Roast the strips until they firm up and are that signature, deep-hued reddish-brown. The higher the temperature, the faster you will be scarfing your crispy strips of umami.
4. Transfer the cooked bacon to the paper towel-lined plate to sop up excess grease. Or simply let them cool a little on the rack before serving.

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Saving Bacon Grease

Don't throw away that beautiful, freshly-rendered lard! In cooking, to render means to cook fat (or high-fat meats) in order to remove the moisture, separate the fat, and make it shelf stable. (Contrary to what you may find published on the subject by amateurs, rendering is not the act of pouring off the bacon grease from the pan).

Especially if you cooked pastured or organic bacon, strained bacon fact is an indulgent, savory cooking fat. And can even replace butter in pie crust for a savory, extra-flaky crust.

To save the rendered fat left behind in the pan, carefully pour it off a corner of the pan through a mesh strainer. Be sure the jar or bowl you choose is safe for hot foods. You'll want to strain it while it's still warm and before it cools and gels. Line the strainer with cheesecloth to really filter out impurities and burnt bits.

Storage

Store leftover cooked bacon sealed in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also freeze cooked bacon, but the texture will suffer a little. When it comes to saving the bacon grease, technically it should be stable at room temperature. But I recommend erring on the side of caution and storing it in the refrigerator for up to a few weeks.

Chef's Tips

• For extra-crispy bacon. Cook bacon on top of an oven-proof rack set inside the sheet pan. This allows the heat to circulate around the whole strip and the fat to drip away, resulting in a crispier bite.
• For a meatier bite. If you don't mind a slightly fattier, chewier mouthful of bacon (and who does?), line your strips directly on the sheet pan. The bacon will cook in its own fat which will keep the meat from drying out entirely. For chewier bacon, take the pan out of the oven right when the meat appears cooked and brown, but before the color becomes extremely dark.
• Adding spices. Freshly grind or sprinkle black pepper evenly over the raw strips before baking for a bit of spice. Ground red (cayenne) pepper is a fun way to bake up bacon with a spicy Southern charm.
• Scenting bacon with herbs. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, and sage all give a nice earthy undertone to bacon's richness. Chop the herbs finely and sprinkle them evenly over the bacon. You can also simply scatter sprigs of fresh herbs around the strips. The volatile oils from the herbs will scent the bacon as it cooks.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Edible Epilogue

My absolute favorite way to get fancy with cured pork belly is to bake it halfway, then brush it with a maple syrup and bourbon glaze and let it cook until it's just barely crispy.

I know. Just when you thought these 1900 words on bacon couldn't get more ridiculous, I'm going to mention that sometimes I just brush the bacon with bourbon.

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📖 Recipe

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What to Eat with Bacon