My childhood was a complicated mess, but one clear memory I have as a child is of my Grandpa sending me off to the butcher’s to fetch bacon and sausage for breakfast. What would follow was a feast that can never be described – perfectly cooked bacon, sizzling sausages, warm tomato halves, eggs, baked beans, and sadly – at least of me – kidneys. These were the days of innocence and bacon.
Cooking bacon can be a skill and an art, with several variations of cuts and cooking techniques available these days. We have a simple guide on how much bacon should be served per person here and a few tips on how to choose the best bacon cooker here. I prefer my grandfather’s way and for larger groups, I list a few approaches below. In all oven-based cooking, use a rimmed tray to catch the drippings.
All versions start the same way: Start with a cold pan or tray. Do not add oil or fat. Line the surface with bacon rashers and apply some heat, turning the slices once they start to sizzle to achieve an even cook.
Mind you, if you are looking for ideas on how to select the best bacon cooker, why not jump to this page?
Baking bacon, best for American thin-sliced bacon, best for large (5+) crowds:
This approach is the best-known approach for most people. It is fast and convenient and does not create too much mess. It is really hard to burn the bacon this way. The best part of this method is how easy it is to scale right up for larger groups. As the amount of bacon required goes up, simply add more trays to the oven… Using the oven also means that the stovetop is free for making eggs and sausages, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Plus, as you do not have to monitor the bacon, you can simply cook the rest at the same time. Multitasking at its best.
When you are done, simply wrap the foil or parchment up, and the trays can be reused immediately!
- Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, and lay out the bacon, fitting it snuggly as it tends to shrink
- Place the tray in a cold oven
- Turn on the oven to 400 degrees F and bake until crispy, roughly 30 minutes (25-35 min)
For a recommendation on a perfect baking sheet please use this link to our recommended cooking utensils page.
Grilling bacon, best of UK or thicker-sliced bacon, best for 5-8 people:
This is how my grandfather cooked his bacon. He would snip the fat at 3 places to avoid the bacon curling up as it cooked. The bacon always came out perfectly, but it does take some practice as one has to keep an eye on the bacon. Too close to the grill and some burns before the fat is crispy, too far away and it goes dry.
- Turn on the grill or broiler to maximum
- Line a baking sheet with foil and lay out the bacon, fitting it snuggly as it tends to shrink. Do not use parchement paper as it will burn
- Place the tray in the hot oven, about 10cm (4 inches) form the grill, leave the door of the oven slightly open
- Grill until the desired crispiness is achieved.
For a recommendation on a perfect baking sheet please use this link to our recommended cooking utensils page.
Frying bacon, best for flavor and visual effect, best for 3-4 people:
This is my personal go-to method. I simply cannot resist the theater of it all, the sizzling bacon in a pan, the smell of bacon fat, and of course the anger in my wife as she realizes that I have, again, made a mess of her kitchen. There is something about making bacon in a skillet or griddle pan, the way a piece of bacon catches and chars on the pan that gives it an extra dimension. Once you have finished, all of the lovely bacon fat left behind can simply be used to add flavor to eggs, mushrooms, or even an omelet.
Use a griddle or a wide, flat-bottomed frying pan, around 12″. This can be metal, cast iron, or non-stick, it does not matter as the bacon fat will lubricate the pan nicely. Cast iron is my favorite as it does allow the bacon to “catch” a bit. The edges of the pan should really be at least 1-inch high as it prevents the bacon fat from splashing too much.
- Place the bacon flat into your cold pan. Let them touch if you want.
- Place the pan on the stovetop and turn on a low heat.
- Cook the bacon low and slow. When the slices start to sizzle a bit, they will also gurl up a bit. Shake the pan to check that the strips are loose.
- Turn the slices over and cook further on the other side, turnign regularly to cook the bacon evenly.
For a recommendation on a perfect frying pan please use this link to our recommended cooking utensils page.
Air-frying bacon, no mess, no fuss, great taste all around, best for 1-2 people:
As the air fryer is basically a miniature, high-powered convection oven that is on your countertop, air frying bacon is the same as using the oven, just on steroids…
The reason why I love this approach is that it is so fast and does not make a mess, while the rashers themselves curl up more like their pan-fried cousins. The best bit? The fat just drips down the air fryer when you are done, so you can leave the bacon in the cooling air fryer for a little while.
The ideal temperature to cook bacon in the air fryer is 350 degrees F. This will yield crispy bacon with little mess.
- Cut the rashers in half. This seesm to stop them from flying all over the palce while cooking
- Just lay the rashers down in the basket of the air fryer
- Cook them in the airfryer for 5 to 9 mintues at 350 degrees F, depending on how thick the bacon is.
- If making batches, just place the rahers on some brown paper (ideally) and allow to drain before serving.
Bacon fat tends to smoke at 400 degrees F, and the heating elements of the air fryer can be much hotter than this. There is therefore a possibility that if you set the air fryer to 400 degrees F, some of the fat droplets will be blown into the heating elements b the fan, where they will burn up and create smoke. At 350 F, the air fryer is hot enough to melt the bacon but not so hot to make a toxic smoke.
For a recommendation on an air fryer please use this link to our recommended cooking utensils page.
How to Cook Bacon for a Large Group and Reheat it for Best Effect?
When preparing bacon for a large group, it is important to know how to reheat meatballs from frozen. Firstly, cook the bacon in batches using a large pan or oven. For reheating, place the frozen meatballs on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven. This ensures that the bacon retains its crispy texture and the meatballs are heated thoroughly for the best effect.
Best tools for cooking bacon:
If you can, grab some tongs and a spatula as the bacon will need to be turned frequently. A fork is not good enough as the bacon strips will slide off, splashing hot fat everywhere.
How to drain your bacon:
No matter how you prepared your bacon, if you do not drain it properly, it will be greasy. Great bacon has a lot of fat or marbling in it and it is this fat that renders out during the cooking process that gives it the unique taste and smell that is bacon. Sadly, if you leave the fat on after you take the bacon off the heat, it will solidify and give you the impression that the bacon is greasy – not pleasant.
When draining the bacon fat from the rashers it is best to use a cutup brown paper bag or newspaper. I find that the kitchen towel simply falls apart too easily and clings to the bacon. Simply place the paper on a plate for extra support and place the bacon on top.
What to do with bacon drippings:
Drippings are leftover fat in the pan. This is flavor town, pure gold to chefs as all of the concentrated taste of bacon can be found in this fat. If you can, let the fat cool down a bit and save the drippings into a clean, air-tight glass jar or metal can. This will be a great starting point for a pasta sauce as the lingering taste of bacon will tease your guests without their finding the bacon bits.
How to make bacon go further: