I’m sure some of you will tell me this is the oldest trick in the book, but Scott (bro-in-law), and fellow Swagger contributor, recently taught me how to bake crispy bacon in the oven (thank you, Scotty). Yep, the ultimate hack of baking bacon right in the oven. It saves time, stovetop space, and perfectly crisps the bacon every time.

When you’re cooking bacon for a larger crowd (or even just yourselves), it’s clutch to be able to throw it in the oven so you can focus on your eggs and home fries on the stovetop (while drinking brunch cocktails). We’ve all been in that horrible situation where you’re stuck with cold bacon because NOW you need to scramble those eggs and cook those home fries.

How to Bake Bacon in the Oven

There are a few different approaches to baking bacon, but I like to stack a cooling rack on top of a foil-lined 11X17 pan. The rack helps with 360-degree cooking (no flipping) and the foil prevents a scorched pan (no scrubbing).

Arrange bacon on the baking sheet/cooling rack tightly but with no overlap. I always use thick-cut bacon and bake at 400 °F for a good 25 minutes. I think regular bacon is too thin and shrivels up too much. No one likes thin floppy bacon at brunch.

How to Bake Crispy Bacon

Some swear by placing the bacon directly on the pan to better fry/crisp up the bacon within the grease. While others prefer the drip pan method to keep the bacon more tender in the center but crispy around the edges.

Personally, I think it comes down to how long you bake the bacon in the oven, regardless of the method. I like my bacon crunchy around the edges, but still slightly tender in the center. Sound like the perfectly prepared bacon? I think so.

Test the bacon at 20 minutes and add more time if needed. Just remember bacon benefits from resting and will continue to crisp even after it’s taken out of the oven.

Brunch Recipes You’ll Love

• Avocado eggs benedict
• Bloody mary
• Sweet potato hash browns
• Corned beef hash and eggs
• French 75 cocktail

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