How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Everything to know about baking bacon that comes out perfectly crispy, every time.

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Updated on December 11, 2023

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How to cook bacon in the oven

How to cook bacon in the oven

Photo by: Teri Lyn Fisher

Teri Lyn Fisher

By Heath Goldman for Food Network Kitchen

Bacon, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways. But what we don't love as much is standing over a hot skillet and spattering our PJs with bacon grease. Enter baking bacon, a hands-off technique that is infinitely easier than frying bacon in a skillet and won’t make your whole kitchen smell like bacon for days. Plus, in the Food Network Kitchen, many food stylists rely on the oven to prepare bacon that cooks perfectly evenly because there aren’t any hot spots to worry about.

To get started, all you need is a pack of your favorite type of bacon, a baking sheet, a metal cooling rack that fits inside the baking sheet (optional) and foil.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to cook bacon in the oven

How to cook bacon in the oven

Photo by: Teri Lyn Fisher

Teri Lyn Fisher

Step One: Arrange the Bacon On a Foil-Lined Baking Sheet

You can arrange the bacon in a single layer on top of the foil — the slices should be touching but not overlapping. Or, if you’d like, you can fit the baking sheet with an oven-safe cooling rack and arrange the bacon on top of that to allow extra grease to drain away while the bacon cooks — not a huge deal either way. Feel free to skip the rack so there’s one less dish to clean.

Now is a great time to impress your family or brunch guests by taking your bacon to the next level. Consider sprinkling on a seasoning like cracked black pepper, brown sugar or chipotle chili powder.

How to cook bacon in the oven

How to cook bacon in the oven

Photo by: Teri Lyn Fisher

Teri Lyn Fisher

Step Two: Place the Bacon In a Cold Oven

This step is extremely important. Place the bacon into a cold oven that has not been pre-heated. Once the bacon is in the oven, then start pre-heating the oven. Why? When you heat up bacon slowly, it renders out its fat and ends up super crispy - far crispier than if you had started cooking the bacon in a hot oven.

Once you place the bacon in the oven, heat it to 400 degrees F and bake the bacon to your desired crispness. It should be done in about 20 minutes (note that this time is slightly longer than other recipes, because the bacon will be in the oven while the oven pre-heats. If you choose to put the bacon in an already hot oven, you will need to reduce the cook time otherwise the bacon will burn).

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and use tongs to carefully transfer the bacon to paper towels.

How to cook bacon in the oven

How to cook bacon in the oven

Photo by: Teri Lyn Fisher

Teri Lyn Fisher

Step Three: Clean up (Easily) And Eat!

If you want to save the bacon grease, carefully pour it into a heat-safe container — try repurposing an old metal coffee container. If you don’t feel like saving the fat, set aside the hot grease-filled baking sheet and allow it to cool down. The grease will solidify onto the foil and you can lift it up and discard for very easy cleanup.

Crispy rashers of streaky bacon

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How to cook bacon in the oven

Photo by: vikif/Getty Images

vikif/Getty Images

How Long to Cook Bacon in the Oven

Plan to bake bacon for approximately 20 minutes to give the oven enough time to preheat with the pan of bacon already inside.

What Temperature to Bake Bacon in the Oven

We recommend baking bacon at 400 degrees F. For most recipes, you'd wait for the oven to preheat before you start baking. When baking bacon, however, we suggest sliding the sheet pan into the cold oven so the bacon sits inside as the oven comes to temperature.

Bacon Recipes

Now that you've mastered baking bacon, all that’s left to do is start using those gorgeous cracking strips. Here are some of our favorite bacon recipes to try.

Food Network Kitchen’s Bacon, Egg and Cheese Toast Bowls for Food Network One-Offs, as seen on Food Network.

FNK_Bacon-Egg-and-Cheese-Toast-Bowls_

Food Network Kitchen’s Bacon, Egg and Cheese Toast Bowls for Food Network One-Offs, as seen on Food Network.

Photo by: Renee Comet

Renee Comet

Miniature bread bowls for breakfast? Bake them up in a muffin tin and you’ll want to devour five in one sitting.

Food Network Kitchen’s Breakfast Nachos for Food Network Snapchat recipes, as seen on Food Network.

FNK_Breakfast-Nachos_H

Food Network Kitchen’s Breakfast Nachos for Food Network Snapchat recipes, as seen on Food Network.

Photo by: Renee Comet

Renee Comet

They come together in just 30 minutes, but you can shave off even more time by whipping up bacon in the oven.

They taste like breakfast at a 5-star hotel, but in reality they take 15 minutes and are easy to master. Read on for all the tips and tricks, like having your bacon pre-crumbled and ready to add at a moment’s notice.

Photo by: Armando Rafael

Armando Rafael

Crumble that bacon into an easy homemade crust alongside cilantro, chili powder and creamy egg filling.

FN1211141_31_APPLE_BACON_01.tif

Photo by: Levi Brown

Levi Brown

Cinnamon raisin bread gets smeared with a butter-Greek yogurt mixture, then topped with apples, bacon and maple syrup. Sorry, avocado toast, we’ve got a new favorite.

If you’re baking your bacon instead of cooking it in the skillet, simply reserve a few tablespoons of the drippings from the sheet tray to use later in the recipe.

LEVI_BROWN_FN1121131_POTATOES 04_HIRES.tif

Photo by: Levi Brown

Levi Brown

You could make fried eggs, breakfast potatoes and bacon, or you could make one glorious dish that combines all the best parts of breakfast.

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