Bacon in the Oven is simple and easy, no doubt about it. Great for breakfast, BLT sandwiches, and adding crumbled bacon to recipes.
There is no need to stand over a splattering pan of bacon with this handy method. What’s even better is that this effortless method makes perfect crispy bacon every time.
Oven Cooked Bacon
- Much like air fryer bacon, this is one of the best ways to cook bacon. Just lay out the strips of bacon on a baking pan, pop it in the oven, bake, and voila perfect bacon.
- This will free up the stovetop; baking bacon in the oven means no splattering mess like pan-fried in a skillet.
- There is no need to babysit or flip the bacon over. Simply bake.
- Bacon in the oven does not take long and if you like to reserve bacon grease, there will still be plenty in the pan to save.
- This crispy bacon is good for sandwiches, crumbling into Caesar salad, sprinkling on mashed potatoes, and adding to a breakfast casserole.
Use Any Kind of Bacon
American Bacon is the most common type of bacon. This popular cut comes from the belly of the pig and tends to be a fatty cut of meat. Flavored bacon (like maple or peppered) is great oven baked too.
Thick-Cut Bacon works well in the oven. This bacon is cut about 1/8″ thick so it will need a bit more time. If you check it at 20 minutes and it needs more time flip it over and pop it back into the oven for a bit.
Turkey Bacon – Turkey bacon, which is a bit leaner, does work. It will require less cooking time in the oven at the same temperature to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
Preparing the Pan
You do not need a wire rack or cooling rack to cook bacon. I actually prefer to bake bacon slices directly on the baking pan. It will crisp nicely baked in the fat.
I do like to line the pan with foil and/or parchment for easy cleanup.
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
You will need to bake bacon at 400°F for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F per the recipe below.
- Place bacon on the prepared rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake until bacon reaches desired level of crispiness (no need to flip it), about 20 minutes.
- Remove bacon from the pan & place on paper towels to drain grease.
For turkey bacon: Arrange on a sheet and cook for 11-13 minutes.
For thick-cut bacon: Cook at the same temperature but for the full 20 minutes. Because the bacon is so thick it may need to be flipped and cooked a few minutes extra.
Tips for Crispy Oven Bacon
- For easy cleanup, line a rimmed sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper before adding the strips of bacon.
- Ensure the bacon slices are in a single layer, overlapping pieces won’t crisp as well.
- If you’re making larger batches of bacon, use two pans and switch the placement of the pans after about 10 minutes. You may need to add a few minutes of cooking time.
- Preheat the oven before adding the bacon to the pan.
Save The Bacon Grease
- If you’d like to save the bacon grease, allow it to cool on the pan for about 10-15 minutes before pouring it into a jar.
- The bacon fat on the pan can be reserved and is great added to Homemade Creamed Corn, salad dressings, BLT Pasta Salad, or for frying up eggs!
- Use bacon grease to make bacon gravy with biscuits.
Storage
Leftover bacon can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Use bacon right from frozen, it thaws in just a couple of minutes.
What to Do With Cooked Bacon
- Creamy BLT Dip
- Bacon Pancakes
- Easy Broccoli Salad Recipe
- Dill Pickle Bacon Grilled Cheese – favorite recipe
- Warm Bacon Cheese Dip – the ultimate appetizer
- Chicken Corn Chowder with Bacon
Have you made this crispy oven bacon? Let us know your favorite tips for cooking bacon in the oven below!
How To Cook Bacon In The Oven
Ingredients
- 1 package bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. If desired, line pan with foil and/or parchment paper for easy clean up.
- Arrange bacon in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes* or until bacon is crisp. Thick cut bacon will need extra time.
- Transfer to paper towel lined plate. If desired, allow bacon fat to cool 10 minutes and reserve in a jar for cooking.
Notes
- *Be sure to check the bacon early. Cooking time can vary based on the pan used as well as the brand of bacon.
- Store leftover bacon in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days. Reheat in the oven, in the microwave, or in the air fryer.
- For easy cleanup, line a rimmed sheet pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper before adding the strips of bacon. No baking rack is required.
- Ensure the bacon slices are in a single layer, overlapping pieces won't crisp as well.
- If you're making larger batches of bacon, use two pans and switch the placement of the pans after about 10 minutes. You may need to add a few minutes of cooking time.
- If you'd like to save the bacon grease, allow it to cool on the pan for about 10-15 minutes before pouring it into a jar.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Breakfast, Pork
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Like our recipes?
Follow us on Pinterest!
Thanks for the Bacon tip, love Bacon!!
You are very welcome, enjoy Nola!
I am anxious to try a lot of these recipes! They look delicious!!!!
line Jellyroll pan with foil for easy cleanup. If you do save grease for seasoning beans or whatever can still recover from foil as funnel into container.
Great tip Ronald.
This recipe is the best for turkey bacon and I have tried many!
What shelf is best for cooking bacon in the oven? Recipes never tell this information and to me, it is important. Thank you!
If only baking one pan of bacon I would put it on the middle rack, Francie.
Do you use thick cut bacon or the thinner cut?
Hi Vicki, regular cut bacon was used in this recipe but it will work for thicker cut bacon too. You might just have to leave the bacon in the oven for a couple minutes longer until it reaches your desired crispiness! Let us know how it turns out!
Love the recipes!
This is my new favourite way of cooking bacon, and it frees up time to multitask more efficiently. Tried it for the first time today: we lined ours cookie sheet with a wider width of tin foil which for this recipe is a nice replacement for parchment paper (no issues getting the bacon off).
It’s even better when you put the bacon on a cooling rack (for cookies) then place cooling rack on the cookie sheet and bake. And don’t forget to spray the cooling rack with Non Stick spray! Yummo!!
Thanks for the tip!!
Thankyou thankyou so much for the way to cook bacon in the oven, I’ve tried it and failed, but now I have your way I’m sure I’ll succeed. Thats the thing I Hate hate standing over the stove cooking it getting splattered etc, so hubby usually does it, and I clean up yucky. However now I’ll be able to cook it as I have your clever way of doing it in the oven. Thank you for this and for all your other lovely recipes that I’ve started getting, I so did’ent know you existed until a short while ago. Anyway as I live in NZ its now time to get dinner sorted, so once again many many thanks.
Kindest regards
Janies
Hello Jane! So glad you have enjoyed the recipes! I hope this helps you to avoid getting splattered!
Have yall ever gone down to the CAROLINAS?? I know I sure have! My time there has been STUCK IN MY MIND!! FOR YEARS on end!! I know a thing or two about the locals in those ol’ Carolinas!!!!
….
Now ol Molly knows that that store damn sure can’t make bacon like it used to. Molly said years ago she would fix their stuck-up redneck-like attitudes but it never happened as they put up TOO MUCH of a fuss for her! You go gal’!
….
love yall
Faaushn.
We have been doing this at the fire halls for sometime, but we enjoy sprinkling a little Montreal steak spice over them. Both ways are awesome!
I bet the steak spice is amazing on it. I’m definitely going to try it! Thanks for sharing!
I found that if you line your rimmed pan with parchment paper, the bacon doesn’t splash grease on top and sides of oven and fries up crisp.
Thank you for sharing Jennie!
What type of oven was used to cook the bacon? I have an electric stove and I’m afraid to start a fire. Do you know if it is safe to cook bacon in an electric oven?
I have a regular electric oven (Samsung) and haven’t had any problems cooking this.
My problem with cooking it in the oven is the mess it would make with the grease splattering. Does anyone have a suggestion for preventing the mess?
I find that it doesn’t splatter quite like when you cook it stovetop, so we don’t really have that issue. I am sure someone will have some input for you!
I have tried this several times. I love the fact that I don’t get my stove top splattered with grease. However, every time I have tried the oven method, the bacon comes out extremely greasy. Even after being drained on paper towel. I don’t eat bacon, my husband does. He LOVES bacon, so I know when he won’t eat it because it’s too greasy, it must be REALLY greasy…Would baking the bacon on a rack help?
Cooking it on a rack may help get the perfect bacon for your husband’s taste. Let us know if you try it Amy!
Even better is to put it on a rack that is inside the baking sheet all the excess fat drips down below. I cook mine at 350 for 30 minutes. Love bacon cooked in the oven!
I should have mentioned that I also sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar and freshly grated black pepper on my bacon before baking and recently tried putting a splatter guard on top
of the bacon. Hoping this helps!
Does it cause splatter in the oven? And can you address the comment about the smoke detector? Thanks!
I haven’t had any issues with splatter or smoke with this method.
This sounds like a good method, but I am concerned about grease popping all over the oven. Is there any issue with grease splatters inside your oven?
I don’t have problems with grease splatters in my oven.
sets off the smoke detector no matter what I try to prevent it can’t make it in the oven
Mine does that too
I have made my bacon this way for many years! I always line my pan with foil and then the cleanup is so easy! Also, I never preheat my oven. Just put the pan in and turn it on to 400! So easy!
It definitely saves time Sarah!