Cooking Bacon In Oven (How They Teach It In Culinary School)
This culinary school method gives you crisp bacon with no messy stove. Get exact timing for many popular brands. Take the guesswork out!
“I tried this today, and this is an absolute genius way to cook bacon. It doesn’t smell up the house, doesn’t splatter, and I’m sure my husband will love not having to clean up the stove after I cook bacon. So this is a winner all the way around.”
—Susan
“As you promised, it really is “cartoon bacon” as it’s ridiculously perfect. Your recipe’s the keeper.”
—Jenny
I Learned About Cooking Bacon In The Oven In Culinary School
Going to culinary school certainly introduced me to fancy kitchen techniques like making French pastries and hollandaise sauce.
But it also introduced me to something so simple, so basic, so obvious, that I was left scratching my head as to why I hadn’t thought of it before: how to cook bacon in the oven (also: how to cook sausage in the oven). Truthfully, it might have been the most useful thing I learned!
This guide has been visited over ONE MILLION TIMES and made in households across the world. Read on to find out why.
Why Cooking Bacon In Oven Will Change Your Life!
- No stovetop splatters. Oven bacon doesn’t splatter nearly as much as skillet bacon does, and even if it does, the splatters are inside your oven and not all over your counters.
- Leaves you free stovetop space for a griddle. Plenty of room to make pancakes or fried eggs without having to jostle a bunch of pans around between burners.
- The best way to prepare large quantities. You can fit much more bacon on a rimmed baking pan than you can in a skillet.
- Great when you’re preparing a brunch menu for a crowd (think Easter or Mother’s Day). The bacon can just cook away, unattended to, while you’re finishing up the rest of the meal.
- You end up with cartoon-like perfect crispy bacon. It’s not shriveled up little pieces – it’s mostly flat, perfectly cooked bacon. If you want to pull out your phone and take a picture of it, well, I won’t judge!
What You’ll Need For Bacon In Oven
- bacon slices – 8 ounces for 4 servings, or as many as desired. If you’re only doing 1 or 2 servings, and you have an air fryer, we also recommend our Bacon In Air Fryer post!
- rimmed baking pan(s) – make sure it has a rim or you’ll have a huge mess on your hands! Use multiple pans if you are cooking a large amount of bacon.
- parchment paper – for lining the baking pan(s).
- paper towel – for blotting the bacon when it’s finished cooking.
- plate – that you’ll line with the paper towel.
- tongs – for handling the cooked bacon, because it will be hot.
How To Cook Bacon in The Oven
1. LINE PAN. Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. I love using pre-cut parchment paper sheets for ease. Please make sure the pan is rimmed, or you’re going to have a huge bacon grease mess on your hands.
2. LAY OUT BACON. Lay your bacon out on the prepared pan in a single layer. If you need two pans, use two pans. Make sure the bacon pieces aren’t overlapping or anything.
3. BAKE. Cook the bacon in the oven at 375° for 20 to 25 minutes (depending on bacon thickness) or until it reaches your desired level of crispness. You don’t even need to flip it. Just let it do its thing for 20 minutes or so.
4. BLOT. When the oven baked bacon is fully cooked, use tongs to transfer it to a paper-towel lined plate to blot some of the extra grease before serving.
Best Way To Cook Bacon In Oven
How Long Does It Take To Cook Bacon At 375?
The biggest question most people have about how to cook bacon in the oven is, “how long”? Here’s a guide to cooking times when cooking bacon in the oven at 375 degrees F:
| Type of Bacon | Approximate Baking Time at 375 degrees F |
|---|---|
| Original (i.e. Meijer Hardwood Smoked Bacon, Smithfield Hometown Original) | 20 to 22 minutes |
| Center Cut (Oscar Mayer Center Cut, Kroger Private Selection Center Cut) | 20 to 22 minutes |
| Thick Cut (Hormel Black Label Thick Cut, Wright Brand Hickory Thick Cut Bacon) | 23 to 25 minutes |
No matter what you use, keep an eye on it as it cooks.
Your timing for bacon in the oven is also really going to depend on how you like to eat your bacon. Myself, I like it on the softer side of crispy. Some people like it super crispy. Cook it until its doneness suits YOUR taste buds.
I Cook Bacon In The Oven AT 375 Degrees, But The Temperature Is Flexible
Don’t stress out about oven temperature too much. You have some flexibility when cooking bacon. If the only thing I’m making in the oven is the bacon, then sure, I like a 375 degree oven for baked bacon.
However, if you have other items going in the oven at the same time (say, my vegetable quiche recipe), and those require a slightly different temperature (like 350 or 400), don’t worry about it.
Just put your bacon in the oven at the temperature for your other dish, and adjust the cooking time up or down by a few minutes based on the temperature. The bacon may only need 14 to 16 minutes at 400 degrees, or as much as 25 to 27 minutes at 350 degrees.
As long as you check it semi-frequently and take it out as soon as it’s done, it will turn out just fine.
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Cooking Bacon In The Oven: How To Store Leftover Bacon
If you have leftovers, transfer them to an airtight container and place them in the fridge uncovered for a few minutes until they are fully chilled, then cover them with the lid and keep in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
Bacon In The Oven FAQs
I’ve tried baking bacon in both a preheated and non-preheated oven multiple times, and I’ve included both methods in the recipe card below.
If you start with a preheated oven, baking bacon at 375 generally takes about 20 to 25 minutes.
However, also feel free to put your bacon in a cold oven. The fat will slowly begin to render as the oven preheats, which is just fine!
If you put the bacon in a cold oven and then turn the oven on, it will take around 28 to 30 minutes to bake. The oven baked bacon turns out great either way, so just do what works for you!
I do NOT flip it as it’s cooking! You’re certainly welcome to flip it if you feel like it, but I never have (we didn’t in culinary school, either), and it still turns out perfectly crispy and delicious.
Be sure to leave your bacon uncovered when cooking it in the oven. This allows the air to circulate around the bacon and crisp it up! If you cover the bacon, it will steam and turn out very soggy.
This comes down to personal preference, and both methods have their merits.
Cooking bacon in the oven is great for larger quantities, and keeps the stovetop clean. It’s also a more hands-off method, allowing you to accomplish other kitchen tasks as it cooks.
On the other hand, cooking bacon in a pan allows more control over its exact level of crispness, as you’re standing right over it watching it, and is quicker when you want to cook a small amount.
I almost always choose to go the oven route, but feel free to experiment with both methods and choose the one you like best!
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Cooking Bacon in Oven
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Ingredients
- 8 ounces sliced pork bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line rimmed baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Arrange bacon over parchment or foil in single layer.
- Transfer to oven and cook 20 to 22 minutes for traditional or center cut bacon, or 23 to 25 minutes for thick cut bacon, or until bacon reaches your desired level of crispness. Use tongs to transfer bacon to paper-towel lined plate to blot excess grease, then serve immediately.
Notes
- Home Chef Tip: Don’t have time to preheat the oven? You don’t have to! Place bacon in cold oven, then turn oven on to 375 degrees F. Increase cooking time to 26 to 30 minutes or until bacon reaches your desired level of crispness.
Can I cook the bacon a day ahead, then re-warm in the morning and it still be crispy?
Hi Crystal – for the best, crispiest bacon, it should really be made right before serving it. :-/
Lori, I tried this today for my Brussels sprouts/tart cherry pizza, and for my money, this is an absolute genius way to cook bacon. It doesn’t smell up the house, doesn’t splatter, and when I went to save the grease, it was surprisingly easy to pick up the parchment and pour the grease into a bow. I’m sure my husband will love not having to clean up the stove after I cook bacon. So this is a winner all the way around. Thank you!!!
Yay, I’m so glad to hear that!
I need to make a large amount of bacon for brunch I’m
Having for Mother’s Day. Do I need to do batches. I’m wondering what the best way to do this is a little bit ahead of time so I’m not still baking while they are here. Can I pile the bacon in a aluminum pan covered n keep it like on top of my stove and then uncover it n warm in the oven right before they arrive? Then put it on a sterno rack?
Hi Stacey – I would follow the directions, in batches, to cook all of your bacon first. Perhaps undercook it by just a minute or two. Then, I would do exactly as you said, which is keep it covered (I would just leave it at room temp), until just before serving, when I would rewarm it in the oven for a few minutes, then the sterno. I hope that helps!
So glad to hear that you also save bacon grease. It is such useful, tasty stuff.
I love having instructions for baked bacon. But it would appear that one can’t save the bacon grease when using that method. I grew up on bacon grease as the fat to cook the onion which was the start of most dishes my mother made, so I still save some because there are some dishes that just aren’t the same without the bacon flavor. I think what I like best about the oven method is that the bacon doesn’t curl up like it does in a frying pan.
Hi Susan! I still save the bacon grease. I wait for it to cool a little, and then just tip a corner of the baking pan into a grease-saving container!
I’ve made bacon in the oven but the 375 temp on this recipe is perfect. As you promised, it really is “cartoon bacon” as it’s ridiculously perfect.
Thank you for encouraging to use 2 rimmed baking sheets as I usually crowd one pan (I *am* “the dishwasher) and it did make a big difference in the outcome.
Your recipe’s the keeper. I’m going to dig deeper into your site, thank you!
Cartoon bacon! YESSSS! hahaha. I’m so glad you liked this method, Jenny!
18 to 20 minutes sure doesn’t work in my oven – more like 25 to 30.
I think it all depends on the oven, the pan, the bacon and how crispy you like your bacon. Thanks for stopping by, Joe.