Hands Free Bacon
Growing up, my dad always cooked bacon on the stove top. It always scared me to cook bacon on my own. It felt like I would inevitably get an oil pop to the hand or face. Not only was there the burn factor, but I struggled with the timing of cooking bacon while also making eggs or whatever else was for breakfast… wanting it all to be done on time yet failing every time. I typically just cooked the bacon, then it sat on a covered plate in hopes it would stay warm while I made everything else for breakfast. Or I burnt the bacon, myself, the eggs, or all 3.
Then, I discovered the art of cooking bacon in the oven and my life was forever changed! Not only am I less likely to be burnt in the process, but I can have it going in the oven and have my hands free to cook everything else up to perfection. I love bacon when it’s fresh out the oven, cooling just long enough to not burn the top of my mouth, rather than cooling on the counter forever.
This method is quite simple. I’ll explain how we cook our hands free bacon below.
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375. I prefer to cook it at this temperature so that the bacon gets crispy in time, but also isn’t cooking at such a high heat that it’s passing it’s smoke point. I prefer to keep oils below their smoke point whenever I cook. When an oil reaches it’s smoke point, it begins to smoke. Not only can this cause a bitter scorched flavor but there are some studies that lead us to believe that cooking with certain oils at high heat is associated with cancer.
Now enough talk about cancer… on to delicious bacon…
While your oven is preheating, place the strips of bacon on a stainless steel cooking sheet, being careful not to overlap the bacon so that it all cooks evenly. You are welcome to use a silicon baking mat like these from Amazon. I bought some of these a while back and they can replace parchment paper and be used over and over again if you treat them well, and clean them properly.
Once the oven is preheated place the bacon into the oven on the middle rack and cook to your desired crispiness.
I often take out some bacon pieces sooner than others because my entire family enjoys different crispy levels to their bacon.
Yep, it’s just that easy!
I typically cook the bacon for at least 15 minutes. This will also vary depending on your oven, your altitude, and your desired crispiness.
Sometimes we place the bacon on a broiler pan and it does a great job of catching all the grease at the bottom.
We have also “curled” our bacon and that makes more room when cooking large batches. But this only works when it’s sliced thinner. The thick cut fatty bacon doesn’t curl well.
What’s your favorite level of cooked bacon? I for sure like mine like #2 or #3. Feel free to let me know in the comment section below.
Oh, and don’t forget to keep that bacon grease for cooking with in the future. I use a stainless steel strainer to make sure to get all the bacon bits out of it so it doesn’t go rancid. I also LOVE my stainless steel mason jar funnel. Makes for less spills in the kitchen. Then I store the bacon in labeled jelly mason jars in the freezer.
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