How To Cook Turkey Bacon in an Air Fryer

Need a small portion of turkey bacon or don’t want to heat up your house turning the oven on? Learn how to cook turkey bacon in an air fryer, and it’ll turn out perfectly crispy each time!

When my husband first gave me an air fryer as a gift (how romantic!), I honestly had no idea what to do with it. At first, it seemed most useful for heating up small portions of toddler food.

But slowly, I’ve been coming around and figuring out how useful it can be. Especially on warm days when you don’t want to heat up your house by turning on the oven. Or just when you want to cook a small portion of something, and don’t want to preheat the oven just for that.

I’ve perfected air fryer turkey meatballs, and now I’m setting my sights on breakfast. While my bacon in the oven and oven turkey bacon are standbys for when I need a larger portion of bacon, I turn to this appliance when I need just a few pieces.

This post will walk you through how to cook turkey bacon in an air fryer. Make yourself a caramel coffee, and let’s get started.

Why make turkey bacon in the air fryer?

I like to make turkey bacon in an air fryer when I don’t want to turn on my oven (or honestly, even the stove for bacon gravy), for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes, it’s just too hot outside, and turning on the oven will just heat up the house even more. But the air fryer doesn’t heat up the house at all!

I also find this handy little appliance super convenient when I want to make just a small portion of bacon. I’m not necessarily hosting a brunch buffet with my air fryer, but if I just want to make a BLT for lunch or need a little to sprinkle on top of a baked potato pizza or put in a sweet potato breakfast casserole or breakfast egg muffins, this is the way I do it.

It’s also great for a few pieces of bacon to thread onto bloody mary skewers.

Is turkey bacon already cooked?

This really depends on the brand, but most national brands are smoked or cured, but NOT cooked, so you will need to cook it before you eat it.

Unless the package specifically says that it is fully cooked and ready to eat, you should cook it.

How to make air fryer turkey bacon:

1. Place the bacon in the air fryer basket. If you want to use a parchment paper liner for the bottom of the basket you can, but it’s not required. The most important thing is arranging the slices in a single layer, with no overlapping slices.
2. Air fry at 375 degrees F for 8 to 9 minutes or until the bacon reaches your desired level of crispness, flipping it once halfway through cooking. Maybe make yourself a caramel iced coffee and some soft scrambled eggs while it cooks!
3. When the air fried turkey bacon is fully cooked, use tongs to transfer it to a paper-towel lined plate to blot some of the extra grease before serving.

How long to cook turkey bacon in an air fryer:

I’ve found that 8 to 9 minutes at 375 degrees is just about right for most brands from the grocery store.

However, every brand of this appliance cooks a little differently, so you may need to adjust the cooking time. If this is your first time making turkey bacon in the air fryer, start with 5 minutes and then add time in one minute increments from there until you reach the desired doneness. Make a note of the timing for next time!

Do I need to flip it?

I’ve done many tests and figured out that when you cook turkey bacon in the air fryer, it comes out a little better and more evenly browned if I flip it once halfway through cooking.