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How to cook bacon completely hands-free with your choice of tender or crisp texture without standing over a hot stove or grill.
There is no getting around it … cooking the vast majority of meals yourself requires creativity in the scheduling department from the time required to ingredient shop, food prep, cooking, and finally…clean-up!
Time is…without a doubt…the biggest challenge to overcome when you ditch takeout and processed foods opting instead to cook your meals from scratch with whole food ingredients.
As a result, when I come across a technique that saves a few minutes of standing over the stove so you can do something else in the meantime, I share it in case it is something that could really help you too.
While I normally pan-fry sugar-free bacon on the stovetop if I only need a few strips, my method goes hands-free if I plan to cook a pound or more at one time.
Why Not to use the Oven Broiler
My previous attempt to cook an entire package of bacon at one time without frequent flipping of the rashers was by using the oven broiler.
This worked ok, but I still had to remove the bacon from the oven and flip it at least once to keep the side exposed to the broiler from burning.
It also required constant monitoring, because the bacon curled up on the ends and burned quite easily if you left it in the oven for only a minute or two too long.
Another issue with broiling bacon….the nutrient-dense bacon fat splatters all over the oven.
This leaves less for you to use in other dishes such as this potato and bacon soup.
The mess also increases the needed frequency of oven cleaning.
Best Oven Setting for Cooking Bacon
My husband actually stumbled across the best method for cooking bacon hands-free in the oven.
Use the pizza setting!
Only a guy would figure this type of thing out, am I right? 😂
If you have an oven that is reasonably new (ours is about 6 years old), you should have a setting for “pizza”.
This setting is similar to the “toast” function in a countertop convection oven, which I actually use to “toast fish” for perfect results every time!
The pizza mode in a standard oven heats up both the top and bottom elements at the same time, but not as hot as the broiler.
Thus, if you put a pan of uncooked bacon in the oven that is preheated to the “pizza” setting, it cooks the entire lot in a few minutes to either a tender or crispy texture, depending on your family’s preference.
Give it a try the next time you cook bacon and let me know how it works for you!
How to Cook Bacon Hands-free
How to cook bacon hands-free with your choice of tender or crisp texture without standing over a hot stove or grill.
Ingredients
- 3/4 – 1 pound bacon preferably pastured
Instructions
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Preheat oven on "pizza" mode.
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Arrange bacon strips on a large stainless steel pan.
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When the oven is hot, place the pan on the top rack slightly above the middle of the oven.
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Set timer for 12 minutes.
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When the timer goes off, remove pan from oven. It should be perfectly cooked to a tender texture.
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If you wish for crispy bacon, when the timer goes off, leave the pan in the oven but turn off the heat. Let the bacon slowly crisp up for the next 10 minutes before removing the pan from the oven.
This is a great idea! Which toaster oven do you own? I’ve been looking into them and many contain toxic coatings on the inside. Thank you!
I love the idea of “hands-free” bacon frying/cooking – but I think i hate the idea of cleaning my oven even more. Do you find that bacon grease is a problem and you have to clean the oven afterwards?
Splattering grease is not a problem using this method where you use the “pizza” setting. This setting uses both the top and bottom elements and is not high enough in temperature to splatter grease. Using the broiler alone definitely does splatter bacon grease, so I do not advise using this oven setting.
I bake my bacon in an older gas oven at 400 – 425 for about 15 minutes depending on how crisp I want it. I use a stainless steel cookie sheet lined with parchment paper which makes clean up easy and easy to pour off the drippings. I do not have to flip the bacon. I do reposition the pan as my oven doesn’t cook evenly.
I do too, without parchment though. 400 around 15-20 minutes and it usually doesn’t need flipped at all. Perfectly crispy which is the only way I like bacon.
I have an older gas oven. What temp should I cook the bacon at since I don’t have a newer oven and it only beats from the bottom.?
This method likely won’t work well in that situation. The oven needs to use both the upper and lower elements for my method to work. Please see one of the comments below that might work instead that bakes the bacon in the oven to 350F for an hour. It takes longer than my method, but it is still hands-free, which is very helpful.
I just bake my bacon at 350 degrees and throw some potatoes on the rack next to the sheet pan so I get cooked bacon and baked potatoes. I usually cook 2-3 packages of bacon at a time (one package at a time) so the oven is usually going for an hour, plenty of time for the potatoes to get done.
Great tip! Thank you for sharing your method.