The secret to crispy bacon involves even heat, slow rendering, and proper draining, with popular methods including starting in a cold pan (with or without a little water) to render fat slowly, using an oven on a rack for air circulation, or even flouring the bacon beforehand for extra crispiness, always finishing by draining on paper towels for maximum crunch.
Winner: Baking bacon in the oven
Bake until crispy, about 22 minutes, rotating the pan from front to back halfway through cooking. Results: The absolute best way to cook evenly crispy and consistent bacon, and a lot of it at once, is in the oven.
What Does Putting Flour on Bacon Do? Dredging the bacon strips lightly in flour before cooking will give them an enticing brown crust that's rich with the savory flavor from the bacon. If you're a fan of crispy bacon, you'll love this trick! A pile of bacon cooked with flour on a white serving plate.
Snoop Dogg's trick for cooking bacon by simply dumping the whole slab in the pan and separating the slices in the pan is a lazy trip I can't get enough of.
No need to add oil or cooking spray—the bacon provides all the fat you need. Turn the heat to low or medium-low. Cooking bacon too fast leads to uneven cooking. A gentle heat allows the fat to render and crisp up slowly.
Fry on a medium-low heat for 10-15 mins until golden and super-crispy. Check the bacon halfway through cooking – increase the heat slightly if there's lots of liquid in the pan, and flip the bacon over. Keep cooking until the bacon is uniformly golden and crisp.
He cooks it in a frying pan, starting out from cold with a little drizzle of olive oil and gradually bringing the temperature up to medium-high so the fat renders out, placing something flat and heavy on top to ensure super-even crispy bacon.
To achieve the ultimate crispy bacon: Start cold: Place the bacon in a cold skillet or oven, then gradually heat it to render fat evenly. Keep flipping: Turn slices often to ensure both sides are evenly cooked. Drain properly: Lay bacon on a paper towel after cooking to remove excess grease.
Cooking the bacon on a rack allows the heat to circulate all around the bacon, which means you don't have to worry about flipping it halfway through cooking. The rack also allows all the grease to drip down, meaning your bacon will get even crispier!
I tried the method using various amounts of water and found that America's Test Kitchen is right: the water renders the fat, so there is a lot less splattering. More importantly, the technique produces a browned and crisp-edged slice without the risk of burned bacon.
This allows bacon to hold its shape and ends up extra crispy once cooked. Preheat your oven 400F, lay the bacon out on a parchment lined sheet pan, sprinkle the bacon lightly with flour, and bake for 15-20 minutes turning the bacon once halfway through. Have you tried this method before? Let us know what you think!
While each chef has a different way of cooking their bacon in the oven, generally, they all recommended lining a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and then spreading the slices of bacon in a single layer. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or 375° for 15 to 20 minutes.
Stovetop (medium-low heat): We started with a cold pan, put the bacon in, and turned the heat to medium-low. It took 18 minutes to cook and the result was bacon with a great bite, good color, and rich flavor. This one's definitely a winner.
However, if you do need to deep fry your food, our long-standing advice is that oils like corn and sunflower oils are not recommended for high temperatures.
According to Dawn Perry, author of Ready, Set, Cook; How to Make Good Food With What's on Hand, cooking bacon in water could keep it tender on the inside while still crisp on the outside. How? The bacon fat would render into the water. Once the water evaporates, the bacon would crisp in its own fat.
You don't need to add any oil because the fat will render and help the bacon release from the pan as it cooks. Pan-fry the bacon until the strips are crisp and deeply brown, flipping as needed.
Bacon for Every Recipe: Thick-Cut vs.
Thin-cut bacon gets super crispy and is ideal for crumbling over salads or wrapping around veggies. If you're not sure which to use, try both and see which you like best in your favorite recipes.
Directions
Start with a cold pan.
Bacon should be started in a cold pan, so before you turn on the heat, lay out your strips on the pan.
Flipping the bacon too soon or too often
If you want your bacon to be nice and crispy on both sides, you're going to want to flip it over partway through cooking. However, a common mistake is flipping the bacon before it's ready, or flipping it too frequently.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Cook the bacon, as the oven comes up to temperature, for 14 minutes, or until it's cooked to your liking. No need to flip the bacon over during cooking. Transfer cooked bacon to paper towel-lined plates.