Raise your hand if you love bacon! (Hi there. I see ya.) Now raise your hand if you hate the nasty, splattery mess that occurs on your stovetop and counters when you make bacon. Oh, and you can also raise your hand if you hate it when you house smells like bacon residue for three days after you cook it. (Well wouldn’t know it… more hands in the air! You people sure have strong opinions about bacon. But I get it. I do too.)
Well have I got some great news for you, my bacon-loving friends: I’ve discovered a secret weapon in making crazy easy crispy bacon that’s virtually mess-free, and won’t leave your house smelling like a giant BLT for a week. Your oven!
Why have I not been doing this for my whole life?
Here are the easy-peasy steps to being able to enjoy crispy, salty bacon-y bliss without having a big old mess to clean up in your kitchen:
How to make bacon for a crowd in the oven
1. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil.
I highly recommend not skipping this step! It’s is going to help ensure super easy clean-up.
2. Place the bacon on the cookie sheet in a single layer.
Overlapping bacon is bad! The pieces can touch each other, but don’t let them sit on top of each other. If you’re doing a whole pound of bacon, you might need to use two cookie sheets.
3. Put the cookie sheet in a 400-degree preheated oven & bake for about 20 minutes.
Depending on how thick your bacon is, you might need a little less time, or possibly a few minutes more. Just check it at about 15 minutes to see if it’s looking dark brown and crispy yet. If it is, go ahead and pull it out then. If not, just keep checking every few minutes until it’s all good to go.
4. Remove the bacon with tongs and place on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess grease.
Then… eeeeeat!
And here’s the real magic: clean-up in a snap.
Just let the baking sheet cool so the bacon grease solidifies a bit. Fold the foil to form a little pouch for the bacon grease and just toss that into the garbage.
So now you know. If you’re not using your oven to cook bacon, you’re totally doing it wrong.
But, you know, enjoy this technique in moderation, because let’s face it… bacon’s not exactly one of those things you should be eating on the regular. But we all need a little treat once in a while, right?
The fastest and easiest way to make a large batch of perfect crispy bacon? Use your oven! Bonus: clean-up is a snap.
- 1 pound thick-cut bacon
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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with foil. Place the bacon on the foil-lined baking sheets in a single layer.
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Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until bacon is crispy. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and serve.
Yum! This is a great way to cook a lot of bacon at once, too. My skillets are much smaller, so if I need to feed a lot of people, it can be a slow process. Thanks for the tip!
I have used this method for as long as I can remember except for one thing: I place a wire cooling tray in the foil lined pan so that the fat drops away from the bacon. Makes a huge difference!