There are lots of ways to cook bacon, and every home chef has their preferred method. We’re not here to tell you which one is best – because we love them all! But we do have some tips on how to get the best results, no matter the cooking method you use. Here are our top bacon cooking tips.
STOVETOP:
This classic cooking method seems pretty straightforward. Toss bacon in a pan, fry it up, and serve. But if you’ve ever struggled to get your bacon just right with this method, maybe try one of these bacon cooking tips.
– Don’t crowd the pan. Bacon needs its space. Make sure your bacon is not overlapping. Too much bacon in the pan will cause it to steam instead of fry.
– Start with a cold pan. We all love to hear that sizzle when the bacon hits the pan, but that’s really not the best way to cook it. Starting with a cold pan allows the fat to render first as the pan heats up.
– Cook over medium heat. If your bacon consistently burns before it crisps, you’re cooking it too hot. Despite the rapid sizzle, bacon likes to cook low & slow. If, toward the end of cooking, you don’t feel like it’s crispy enough, you can crank the heat at that time.
OVEN:
Baking your bacon in the oven is a great hands-off way to cook a large volume of it all at once. It also eliminates stove-top splatter so there’s less clean-up to do. This is the perfect cooking method for our uncured bacon; because it’s made with natural honey it can burn more easily stove-top. This will help your uncured bacon turn out perfectly every time! We’ve got a full tutorial here if you’ve never tried it before.
– Use a rimmed baking sheet. The bacon grease will render in your pan, so you don’t want an un-rimmed surface that will cause that grease to drip all over the bottom of your oven.
– Use a liner. Trust us on this, you don’t want to be scrubbing your baking sheet for hours. Line it with parchment paper for best results. If you don’t have parchment, you can use aluminum foil.
– Use a wire rack (maybe). This isn’t mandatory. But you will get a crispier result if you use a wire rack.
– Don’t flip it. The beauty of this method is that it’s completely hands-off. You don’t need to flip your bacon halfway through baking.
– Watch it closely at about 10 minutes. If you’re baking your bacon at the standard 400 degrees, start watching it at about the 10-minute mark. It will cook in about 12-15 minutes, but until you’ve got the perfect time/temp match-up identified for your specific oven, you’ll need to watch it closely to determine when it’s done.
GRILL or CAMPFIRE:
This is our favorite method of cooking bacon during the summer months because it doesn’t heat the house. Plus, learning how to cook bacon outdoors means you’re never limited on where you can have your favorite food! See our full tutorial here, and find our top bacon cooking tips for outdoor grilling below.
– Use indirect heat. Bacon grease + flame = fire. If you put your bacon directly over the flames, it will cause a flare-up and your bacon will burn. Place your bacon over indirect heat so it cooks, but doesn’t end up on fire.
– Use aluminum foil (optional). If you’re cooking on a grill, this will make clean-up easier. Otherwise, the bacon grease will drip down into your grill and can potentially cause a grill fire the next time you fire up that section.
– Crisp it over open flame. At the very end of the cooking process, place your bacon over direct heat to crisp it. Monitor it closely so it doesn’t burn.
There’s a reason Hempler’s bacon is a Northwest family favorite – no matter how you choose to cook it. Grab a package of your favorite variety today and try a new cooking method! Find Hempler’s in a store near you with our interactive map.
What’s your favorite way to cook bacon?