Alternatives to pan frying bacon

[lisaf]

I love bacon, but don't like the greasy mess it makes on my range when I cook it. Even with a splatter screen it coats the range, the backsplash, the neighboring countertop, etc. I once saw Emeril or Alton or someone cook it in the oven. Do you bake or broil? Temp? Time? I'd love to make it easier to cook without resorting to buying the questionable pre-cooked stuff. Thanks in advance.

[john2]

my sister who is a dietician put me onto cooking bacon in the oven. I will never fry it again.
Set the oven at 325 degrees. Lay bacon on heavy cookie sheet with rim. I do turn it sometimes to speed up the process, but you will have perfect bacon without all the shrinkage of frying everytime. It takes about 20 minutes depending on thickness.
Always check it along the way.

[nicoleberry83]

I broil... Once it curls up a bit, I give it a flip. It ends up as crispy as I want it, as it's not sitting in the fat. Seeing all the fat in the bottom of the pan is gross, but it makes me thankful that it's not in my arteries!

[MaineRed]

we use the Foreman grill -- esp. w/turkey bacon b/c it comes out crisper than you can usually get in the pan

[Kelli2006]

Ive done bacon in a C-I grill pan in the oven. Preheat the pan and then cook at 350F for about 10min per side. Bacon in the microwave never seems to get crunchy.

Using a splatter shield on the stove-top makes the clean up much easier.

[ginqueen]

i like using the oven method too--375 for 15 minutes or so. i don't tend to use a rack underneath but i might try that. i DO, however, line the pan with foil--then if i'm going to use the bacon fat for something else, i still have the option of pouring it into a container, but if i'm really not and i have no coffee cans or whatnot handy, i can just wrap the whole thing up and toss it in the trash, like the ladies in the reynolds wrap commercials. maybe not so environmentally friendly, but saves you a lot of soap and hot water and drain-clogging and hand-wringing.
in any case, oven all the way. it comes out perfect every time with no pieces getting burned as often happened to me when i would do it on the stove. microwave is good in a pinch as well.

[chef chicklet]

I have been putting bacon on a cookie sheet on the bbq for years. I have a designated cookie sheet and use foil. It works great.

[Veggo]

A friend recommended that I try cooking it on the grill, and now it's the only way I do it. Extra flavor, drains the extra fat away, and for some reason it stays flat and doesn't curl up.

[othervoice]

That's an awesome idea, but don't you get major flareups?

[Veggo]

Surprisingly few, couple of flashes. Actually just enough to impart a little extra smokey flavor, and easily controllable. Try it.

[itryalot]

Always do it on the grill on a piece of aluminum foil and once the fat is rendered, I transfer it to the grill directly. Breakfast sausage is great too. If you have an old muffin tin, lightly butter them and crack and egg in there and you can grill bread too - no messy breakfast indoors!

[Bat Guano]

Whoa. When I tried it on the grill I had 8-foot flames blasting out of the top of my Weber.

[Veggo]

But the flames don't last long, similar to the race cars with the parachutes. You have to admit it tasted good?
I guess you felt like the "Bat" out of hell! We'll leave the guano to describe your next real culinary disaster.

[Will Owen]

A semi-recent acquisition of the Owen Museum of Culinary Power Tools is yet another yard-sale find, a tabletop bacon cooker! This looks a bit like a small slotless toaster, and has a covered heating element over which one drapes the desired number of bacon slices - it holds six, I think - and then you close the side doors and turn it on. There's a drip pan, of course, very handy for those of us old-fashioned enough to save our bacon grease, even if there's nothing we're allowed to use it for any more. We cooked maybe one pound of bacon on it, then decided we'd had all the amusement it was good for; it went to the garage and I went back to the skillet.

[biggen]

hey I have been looking for a bacon cooker like that the one that looks like a toaster with no slots...I had one and my wife sold it at a yard sale....are you interested in selling?....email me at [e-mail]
thanks
Jeff

[chowser]

The oven method works great and you can get nice flat pieces of bacon but it makes a mess, too. I'd rather clean the top of our stove than the oven.

[biggen]

hey

[swsidejim]

As the previous poster mentioned the oven is a good method

Another quick way is the microwave, on a plate with paper towels underneath the bacon and over the top to prevent splatter. It takes about 5-6 mins depending on how many pieces, and the microwave. My microwave has a cook sensor that tells me when its done.

[sivyaleah]

I've been using the microwave method for years now. Works great, plus the paper towels soak up a lot of the fat :-)

[swsidejim]

Besides quickly heating up the water for the babies formula, using the timer function on the microwave, and the vent fan under the microwave, I think cooking bacon is the only other thing I use the microwave for.

[purple goddess]

yes yes and yes!!!

just be sure to use plenty of paper towels.. I use about 4 on top and 6 on the bottom, and turn the whole shebang 1`/2 thru cooking. I give it about 4 mins per side for diced bacon and about 3 per side for sliced. Make sure the slices are not overlapping or piled up, otherwise you get crispy rashers top and bottom and nasty kinda stewed ones in the middle.

[Louise]

Yes. Brown very crispy bacon is yummy. Floppy stewed bacon is an abomination.

[QueenB]

I've found the wonders of bacon in the microwave.
Quicker and much less messy than a pan. Love it!

[mothrpoet]

I always have the problem of the bacon sticking to the paper towels and having to peel paper from all the strips. What am I doing wrong that it always sticks so?

[katecm]

Do you have a rimmed cookie sheet with an oven-safe cooling rack the same size? Put the rack on the cookie sheet and lay the bacon out in strips. They can touch, since they'll shrink. Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes. Brush them with maple syrup and then cook an extra 3-5 minutes, until your desired degree of doneness. Note that they do crisp up more after you remove them from the heat, so careful not to overdo them.