Oven-Baked Bacon Recipe

When it comes to cooking bacon, this oven-baked bacon recipe yields the best result. Bacon and the bacon drippings add a lot of flavor to many of my Cajun dishes, and cooking it this way is much easier, especially when cooking batches of bacon.

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This simple method of oven-cooked bacon is easy to prepare in just a few minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal, and there's no need to worry about greasy splatters to clean up afterward. The slices cook evenly and achieve just the right amount of crispiness you desire, without needing to be flipped or turned.

Makin' Bacon

Bacon is commonly known as salt-cured pork, typically cut from the belly or back of a pig. However, today, bacon is also made from other meats such as beef or turkey.

Eating bacon made from pork dates back to around 1500 BC in China. It is believed that the Romans and Greeks later domesticated the hog after their conquests in Asia, improving hog breeding and increasing pork production and fame.

The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto is credited with bringing the first pigs to America in 1539. As the herds grew, so did the desire for the taste of their meat. Today, Americans are eating more bacon than they ever have before.

And why not? Doesn't everything taste better with smoky bacon? Think about it, there's:

• Bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches
• Bacon on a cheeseburger
• Bacon-wrapped chicken tenders
• Bacon dipped in melted chocolate
• Bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp
• Bacon, pancakes, and syrup
• Bacon and eggs
• Bacon-wrapped beef fillet
• Bacon in beans
• Bacon in dip
• Bacon in salad dressings
• Bacon on salad
• Bacon on pizza
• Bacon on a baked potato
• Bacon jam
• Bacon-covered meatloaf
• Bacon ice cream

And many more ways to enjoy those delectable, salty, cured slices of pork!

Storing Uncooked Bacon

Keep bacon in cold storage. Buying extra packages and storing them in the freezer is helpful, and purchasing larger packages is often more economical, especially when you snag them on sale. Here's an easy way I've found to preserve the meaty strips in the freezer, ready for cooking bacon whenever you are.

Lay the bacon slices side by side on an unrolled sheet of parchment paper. Next, roll the meat in parchment paper and store the roll in a large zip-top freezer bag in the freezer. The parchment paper keeps the bacon slices separated and from sticking together when removed one at a time for cooking. There's no tearing the meat apart here! A 24-ounce package makes a couple of rolls that easily slip into a gallon storage bag.

Oven Cooked Bacon on Rack

We all know how messy cooking bacon on the stovetop can be. With splatters to clean up, there's also a chance of getting burned by grease popping out of the pan.

Cooking bacon in the microwave is safer, but it doesn't always yield the best results. It's quicker, but still requires attention when stopping to turn the bacon in the middle of cooking and when cleaning up the splatters later.

Oven-baked bacon is a much easier, cleaner, and safer method. Simply lay the bacon strips in a single layer on a piece of parchment paper or a baking rack in a sheet pan.

Next, place the pan in a preheated 400°F oven and bake for approximately 15-20 minutes, depending on the bacon's thickness, without turning or flipping. Let your oven do the baking for the perfect bacon.

Amazingly, there are no splatters or spills like there are when cooking in a skillet on the stove, even though this is baking in the oven. I like using this Nordic Ware Oven Crisp Baking Tray. It holds a 1-pound package of bacon, the heat circulates around the meat to cook evenly, and cleanup is easy, as the bacon fat collects under the rack. I have used this rimmed baking sheet pan several times, and it still looks new.

Drain the bacon grease into a sealed, airtight container, such as a glass jar, and refrigerate it for later use. There's no need to drain the bacon on paper towels, either. Lining the baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper is a winner for easy, smart clean-up.

I consistently achieve the best results when baking bacon. It makes bacon crispier, lets me cook a lot of bacon at once to consume or store for later, and saves time by letting me set the pan in the oven and let it do its thing while I prepare the rest of my meal. For me, oven- baked bacon is the best method.

More Recipes from Louisiana Woman With Cooked Bacon

• Easy Layered Southern Cornbread Salad has a bacon-topped layer.
• Instant Pot Smothered Cabbage, An Easy Southern Recipe, uses the bacon drippings here.
• Savory Mini-Muffins, 3-Ways has a black pepper bacon version.
• Easy Vegetable Breakfast Casserole, you can add oven-baked bacon to this one.
• Top the cooked bacon to this Sweet And Savory Broccoli Cauliflower Salad.
• Boudin Cornbread Recipe With Fig Pepper Jelly Topping has added crispy baked bacon.

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The clothes we wear are what people see. Only God can look on the heart. The outward signs are important. They reveal something of what is inside. If charity is there, it will become visible outwardly, but if you have no charitable feelings, you can still obey the command. Put it on as simply and consciously as you put on a coat. You choose it; you pick it up; you put it on. This is what you want to wear.

Elisabeth Elliot