Some time ago I had heard rumours about a no-mess, easy way to make bacon in the oven and just had to try it. The major draw to cooking bacon this way was laziness because, quite honestly, I didn’t want to clean grease spatters off my stove top. Bacon in the oven seemed weird, though. It’s funny how when you’ve always done something a certain way it becomes so ingrained in your brain that you begin to think that single method is the only way to do things.
Let me put any fears to rest for you right this minute; oven bacon is, by far, the easiest, least messy, and most consistent way to cook bacon that I’ve ever tried. By the time I’m finished teaching you how to do this, you’ll wonder why you ever used a skillet.
Step One:
Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Put a wire rack on the sheet. Now, I suppose the rack isn’t imperative. I saw lots of instructions without the rack, but I like it because the bacon doesn’t cook in its own grease that way. The grease just drips off, leaving super crispy bacon in its wake. Let’s leave this one up to you.
Step Two:
Lay your bacon on the rack. You don’t want to crowd it too much, because as it cooks the bacon will shrink, but you can load it up all in one layer.
Step Three:
Put the pan in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 F and find something to do for about 15-20 minutes. Have a glass of wine, check your email, toss a salad. The point is, you can walk away.
Step Four:
Check on the bacon. I sometimes turn the pieces over with a pair of tongs. Then I hang around the oven to take the pan out when the pieces look cooked to the state that I want them. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.
Voila! You are left with perfectly-cooked bacon ready to enjoy alone or with a multitude of bacon recipes. Now all you have to do is wash the pan and toss the foil! See, now wasn’t that easy?
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