How to cook bacon in the oven with aluminum foil on baking sheet or without one is here. Crispy baked bacon is a great way to cook this in bulk. Fresh or frozen bacon in oven comes out great this way.
If you have ever thought about cooking bacon in the oven, this is how to do just that. Using a sheet pan is easiest but if all you have is foil you can just use that too. A great method to use if you have a bunch of guests coming over for brunch or a holiday. (affiliate links present)
Jump to:
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven
Like I said, we are speaking specifically about a fresh or thawed pack here. If yours is right out of the freezer you’d need to click on the link above and use that timing. Let’s talk about the main star of the show here and which is my favorite type;
If I had my druthers I would choose regular thickness, uncured, center cut bacon. That is by far my favorite. I don’t like thick cut bacon slices because they doesn’t get as crispy as I like it to be, ever. Uncured gives it a ton more flavor than anything else and center has the most meat to it. Those are my reasons. Sometimes that is too expensive so I get whatever…..
How long should bacon cook in the oven at 400?
You are going to want to set aside between 15-20 minutes. Yes there is a decent range because everyone likes a different crispiness to it. Bacon is done when it is a rich golden brown color overall but as far as how soft or hard they are, that is up to you.
If you wanted to make this into candied bacon you could sprinkle some brown sugar with a drizzle of honey on top. That is a wonderful treat to have during a brunch or get together. It is both sweet and savory at the same time. Or you could use it crushed on top of things like ice cream sundaes or cupcakes.
Remember that once it is done you want to remove off the pan so it doesn’t sit in the grease. If you transfer it on to a cooling rack it will give them a bit of time to get as crispy and crunchy as possible. For a faster option just move on to a few paper towels to absorb the bacon grease on the outside and enjoy.
How to Cook Crispy Bacon in Oven
The basics of this are simple. Since your meat is already salted and sliced you just need that and a baking sheet with foil wrapped around it. Other alternatives to a foil lined baking sheet would be a wire rack on top of your sheet or use parchment paper.
This is for an entire package that has been defrosted. You could make just half with the same timing and instructions. For double, if they are on the same middle rack things wouldn’t change. If on two racks the bottom will need more time. If yours is still hard follow our air fryer frozen bacon instructions.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Separate your batch of bacon into slices and place onto the foil
- I like to scrunch it with your fingers so it’s shorter and they can all fit.
- Keep bacon in a single layer. Pieces can touch but not overlap.
- Place on the middle rack. Bake for 17 – 20 minutes or until done to your liking.
- Ovens bake at slightly different temps so there is a range.
- If you’re just cooking until crisp but still pliable to make our smoked jalapeno poppers let’s say I would cook for about 10-12 minutes.
- I recommend checking at 15 minutes.
Bacon in Oven without Baking Sheet
If you don’t have a baking sheet use 2 pieces of thick foil on top of one another and fold up all 4 sides creating high sides to catch the grease. You need to be VERY careful this way when you take it out as the hot grease can seep out and burn you, I wouldn’t recommend this unless placed on something hard and flat.
Remove from oven and using tongs remove bacon from pan and on to paper towels to absorb some drippings, then serve. You can also lay them on a cooling rack to drain. That could be used on your baking sheet instead of on the foil to keep the grease away from the food entirely too.
How to Cook Bacon in Oven Without Splattering
This is a great way to avoid splatters. That can be dangerous especially if you have children and don’t have a splatter screen. You may have a few spats inside your oven that will need to be wiped down at the end but typically not. If so they don’t fly high enough to hit the inside walls.
Looking for other bacon recipes?? Well as for just cooking it other ways the other two we have tried is smoked bacon on our Traeger and Ninja Foodi bacon using air crisp. As for using this in recipes once it is done I mean there are TONS of things you can make with it. I will name just a few of our favorites here;
- Our Instant Pot bacon potatoes are to die for.
- You can crunch it up and add it into our breakfast bundt cake with cheese too.
- For beyond amazing lay it inside our smoked meatloaf with cheese and roll that baby up!
Can I Make Bacon Again and Reheat?
You can. This is kinda’ the method of precooked you can buy at the store in the refrigerated section. It is cooked, but not to the point where it’s crispy. So for that you would do the same thing, cook a fraction of the time, like for 10 minutes. Lay on a wire rack and let them cool. Store in a freezer bag in the fridge until later.
How to Reheat Cooked Bacon
When you are ready I would highly recommend throwing them into your air fryer. 400 degrees for about 2-3 minutes will do the trick to make them alive again! You could throw them into the oven again for the last 5-10 minutes you would have done here start to finish. OR you can lay on paper towels and microwave for 1 minute and check then!
I would opt to air fry for best results and crispiness myself. Nuking it surprisingly works quite well actually. The hot air sucks the moisture out and makes it crunchy in no time again, and it is the fastest method by fall overall. Use whatever method makes you most comfortable and you have at home.
What is great about cooking bacon on a sheet pan or a few pieces of foil on top of one another is you can do it while camping too. Set on top of your grate over a campfire when the flames die down a bit and let it go. You would want to loosely set another piece of foil on top to avoid the splatters for this method.
Before you go I want you to sign up for my free newsletter!! You will get all my new recipes emailed to you a few times a week that will help with meal planning for the week.
Want to see a few of my favorite things that I am totally obsessed with?? Take a peek and see how many you might already have…twinsies!
Looking for more easy family recipes and tips? LIKE The Typical Mom Facebook page because we share all our new creations there every single day. And follow me on Pinterest for more inspirations! 😉
***** If you LOVED this recipe give it 5 Stars below and let everyone know what you thought about it. 😉
How to Cook Bacon in the Oven with Aluminum Foil
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet optional
- aluminum foil
Ingredients
- 1 lb bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bacon onto the foil and scrunch it with your fingers so it's shorter and they can all fit.
- Keep bacon in a single layer. Pieces can touch but not overlap. Place on the middle rack. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until done to your liking.
- I recommend checking at 15 minutes. Remove from oven and using tongs remove bacon from pan and on to paper towels to absorb some drippings, then serve.
- ** If you don't have a baking sheet use 2 pieces of thick foil on top of one another and fold up all 4 sides creating high sides to catch the grease. You need to be VERY careful this way when you take it out as the hot grease can seep out and burn you, I wouldn't recommend this unless placed on something hard and flat.