oven fried bacon... the easiest way to cook bacon with the best results

really, it's not even worth using any other method. if you like crispy, evenly cooked bacon that requires, hmm, like, no time or attention or scrubbing of pans... oven fried bacon is your man.

but if you like standing over a hot skillet that is spitting hot grease on you and your whole stove and waiting and watching and trying to get your bacons to lie down flat while some parts burn and other parts remain fatty and squishy and unchewable, then, ok, you can make it that way, i did for years until i came across this article in cooks illustrated. and if you keep making it that way, in a pan on the stove or on a griddle, for a long time, you will probably get really good at it and it will be as good as my oven fried bacon method and i will have to bow to your skills. but you still have to scrub a pan (or a griddle. sad face.).

ready to bake some bacon?

STEP ONE
preheat oven to 400 degrees (you can cook the bacon at 375 if you have something else in the oven at the same time that needs to be at that lower temperature, like i did when i made the orange sugar dutch baby, it will just take a bit longer)

STEP TWO
put a cooling rack in a baking sheet (make sure you use the kind with edges)

i wouldn't recommend these oneida baking pans. they are the worst, they warp and pop in the oven and have ruined many a cookie, but someday i will have some really great commercial jelly roll pans like these

STEP THREE
lay your bacon out as evenly and flattaly as possible

this is thick cut bacon from Saugatuck Craft Butchery in Westport, CT. more on that later.

thick cut goodness.

STEP FOUR

bake bacon. rotate pan about halfway through cooking time. depending on how much bacon you are cooking and the thickness of the slices, it should take about 10 to 15 minutes to be finished. you want it nicely browned and glowing with grease. it won't be 'crisp' until it has cooled, so you are going on looks here. (tip, if bacon is cooking unevenly, you may wish to rearrange the slices using a pair of tongs during cooking)

bacon in oven. i got to sneak a peek at my dutch baby.

not ready just yet. see how the fatty bits are still too soft looking?

now it's ready! they just glow!

STEP FIVE

using tongs, transfer the bacon to a plate that has brown paper, paper towels, or even the wax paper used to wrap your bacon (folded inside out) to drain excess grease.

STEP THE-LAST

serve and devour.. 

this bacon was served with our splendid 

valentines day brunch menu

orange sugar dutch baby

oven fried bacon (you are here)

greek yogurt with figs, honey, and walnuts

sparkling mineral water with blackcurrant ribena