Bacon Recipe: How to Make Bacon in the Oven
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Follow my easy Bacon Recipe to learn how to cook bacon in the oven with aluminum foil! Whether you have a rack or not, cooking thick bacon in the oven is easier and less messy than pan frying! You’ll have delicious bacon in no time, without the mess!
Everyone knows that cooking bacon can create quite a mess and be quite a long process. Or at least that used to be the case. That was the old fashioned way.
The new way proves that a good idea sometimes takes time to develop – and it was totally worth the wait.
Forget about using the frying pan for your own bacon, and let the oven take over!
You can use these easy way to cook bacon slices for brown sugar bacon, maple syrup bacon, bacon with smoky flavor, thick-sliced bacon, or any type of bacon that you want.
If you use this recipe for thin bacon, you’ll have extra crispy bacon that is perfectly cooked.
Any home cook can follow this simple recipe to cook up their next batch of bacon! It’s the easiest way to cook individual slices with less mess.
Table of Contents
Easy Bacon Recipe
Sure, cooking thick bacon in the oven is a great way to prepare large batches. But have you tried this kitchen hack?
There are 2 new methods that I’m excited to share with you, and one of them causes little to no cleanup. That’s my kind of kitchen tip!
We love bacon around here. I am sure you may have noticed all of the bacon recipe options on our site.
However, I don’t like the mess. Whether it’s a skillet on the stove or in the microwave, there are too many splatters and too much grease to clean up.
Sometimes, the texture isn’t even right.
Trust me — slow cooked bacon is the way to go! It’s a basic recipe that perfectly cooks a lot of bacon fast! (and it doesn’t take a long time to do!)
Benefits of Cooking Thick Bacon in the Oven
- Easy clean-up! No more cleaning splatters off the counter or scraping grease out of your skillets and microwave.
- Cook for a crowd. You can make an entire package of slow cooked bacon on a single oven rack. More racks = even more bacon!
- Lets you multitask. Not only will you free up the stove, but you can literally set the oven and forget it. Focus your attention on the rest of the meal instead.
How to Bake Bacon in the Oven with Aluminum Foil
You will actually need one more item: a wire rack.
Find one specifically for rimmed baking sheets or use the ones you would cool cookies on. As long as it’s oven safe, it works!
Wondering how to cook bacon in the oven without a rack? You’ll have to scroll down a bit more — but you’re going to need foil either way!
Line the entire pan with foil including up and over the rimmed sides. This way, all you have to do is fold it up and toss it once the grease cools and solidifies.
Press the foil gently into the corners to make sure it doesn’t tear. Otherwise, you’ll still need to wash the pan — which defeats the whole point of these bacon recipe tips!
- Preheat your oven to 400ºF. It needs to be nice and hot before the strips go in.
- After covering a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set an oven-safe cross-wire grid cooling rack inside the pan.
- Lay out the slices of bacon on rack in a single layer. Bake for 15-25 minutes.
The length of time will vary based on the thickness of your bacon (thick cut takes longer) and how crispy you like it.
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven without a Rack
I used the rack method above for many years, but one day I had cookies cooling on the baking racks and wanted to make bacon.
So, I tried other options. I tried cooking thick bacon in the oven on parchment and foil — this was just too greasy, no matter how much I drained it or patted it with paper towels.
Then, I found my favorite method! I figured out how to cook bacon in the oven with aluminum foil that was crumpled for texture.
The best part? No need to scrub that cooling rack!
First, gently crumple a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil so it’s nice and wrinkled. DO NOT crumple into a little ball — just squish it together and pull it apart.
Lay it across your baking sheet and gently straighten it out. Do NOT smooth it down or you will lose your crumbles. Then, tuck the edges under the lip of the baking sheet.
- Preheat your oven to 400°F while you get the foil ready.
- Lay bacon strips on top of the crumpled foil. As you can see above, the bacon sits across the little ridges.
The bacon drippings will collect in the foil below the bacon (pretty smart, huh?). - Place pan in oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. Thin strips of chewy bacon will take less time than crispy, thick-cut strips.
Slow Cooked Bacon FAQ
You can cook 2 sheets at the same time, but it will increase your overall bake time significantly.
Switch the position of the baking sheets halfway through cooking time so all of the strips are evenly cooked.
First, never overlap bacon strips! Cook in a single layers and leave space between each for best results.
Slow cooked bacon is really easy to get crispy, especially with the tricks mentioned above. Because the strips don’t sit in the grease, the fat is able to render at the right pace.
Draining is the final step! Once cooked, transfer the strips of bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate so they can finish crisping to perfection.
You bet! In fact, it’s easier than ever when you use the methods in this easy bacon recipe.
Remove the strips and allow the grease to cool for about 15 minutes. Then, carefully pour the grease from the corner of the pan into a jar.
Leftover bacon grease will keep for 3 to 6 months in the refrigerator or in the freezer indefinitely. Just be sure to store it tightly sealed!
It has the best flavor, so you can use it in a lot of ways! Enjoy it as it is, or store some in an airtight container to eat later in the week. Break it into bacon bits to put on salads or break it to the right size to add to a sandwich. The finished product makes it easy to add to anything that you want!
You can also store leftovers in a plastic bag and use a vacuum sealer to keep it tight. Then, you can store it in the freezer for later! That’s the first thing I’ll do if I have a ton leftover!
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other Recipes Using Bacon
Bacon Recipe: How to Make Bacon in the Oven
Ingredients
- 12 strips bacon
Instructions
Cooking Bacon in the Oven without a Rack
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Gently crumple a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil causing wrinkles. DO NOT crumple into a little ball. Just squish it together and pull it apart. Lay it across your baking sheet and gently straighten it out. Do NOT smooth it down or you will lose your crumbles.
- Tuck the edges under the lip of the baking sheet. Lay bacon strips on top of foil. As you can see above the bacon lays across the little ridges. The bacon drippings will collect in the foil below the bacon (pretty smart, huh?). Do not lay strips on top of one another or they will not cook.
- Place pan in oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. The length of time will vary based on the thickness of your bacon (thick cut takes longer) and the doneness you prefer. (I like mine crispy).
- You can cook 2 sheets at the same time, but it will increase your bake time significantly. Switch baking sheets half way though cook time.
Method 2 – Oven Bacon on a Rack
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Cover a baking pan with aluminum foil and place an oven safe cross-wire grid cooling rack in the pan.
- Lay slices of bacon on the rack. Do not overlap the slices or they will not cook properly.
- Place pan in oven and bake for 15-25 minutes. The length of time will vary based on the thickness of your bacon (thick cut takes longer) and the doneness you prefer. (I like mine crispy).
- You can cook 2 sheets at the same time, but it will increase your bake time significantly. Switch baking sheets half way though cook time.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published September 2015, updated and republished September 2024
Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link your price will remain the same and The Slow Roasted Italian will automatically receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting us, it helps us keep creating new recipes.
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We’re Donna and Chad, the dream team behind The Slow Roasted Italian. Our focus is on taking complicated OUT of the kitchen. Life is busy enough, making meals should be fast and easy, to help make your life as simple as possible. Read More >>
I’ve started baking mine on a broiling pan. I don’t have to waste all that foil, and I hate hate, hate washing cooling racks. Idk why, they are just such a pain to me to wash! With the broiling pan, the grease drains to the bottom, I pour it out in a can, and the pan washes easily. Very easy method!
Does using the broiler pan change any of the times or temps in the above recipe?
I live alone so I only need to cook a few pieces of bacon at a time. I use a microwave bacon plate with a paper towel on top. It takes only a few minutes, I can easily pour the grease in a jar and put the bacon plate in the dishwasher. And if I need more bacon I still use this.
I would think cooking bacon in the oven would leave your oven all splattered with grace
No splatter
I have been grilling bacon for many years. It is mainly something to sustain the chef while the steaks grill. (All that grilling requires calories!) The only caveat is that you need to watch it closely or it will burn…like a bon fire burn!
I have cooked bacon in the oven for many years however I do not preheat oven. Just put it in a cold oven and set temp for 400°. It will still cook within the 15-25 minute time. (We never preheated the skillet, right??).
Can you cook Bacon in a Gas stove oven. ? Just wondering because of the fire below if the grease would start a fire with the flames.