How to cook frozen bacon in the oven, stovetop or Air Fryer Frozen Bacon is here. Easy way to cook meat from frozen to get it crispy and cooked thru. Quick breakfast idea you’ll love.
In a pinch and wondering how to cook frozen bacon? We have an easy kitchen hack of cooking frozen meat to get it cooked thru and crispy crunchy all over. Less grease too baking it in the oven where it drips away as it cooks. Best way to make sheet pan bacon ever. (affiliate links present)
How to cook frozen bacon in the oven
If your slab is frozen you will follow the same cook time as listed below in the printable recipe card. If it is defrosted it will take a much shorter time, you’d follow our Bacon in the Oven with Aluminum Foil timing for that. We will talk about all the best way to cook bacon here….
How long to cook thick bacon in the oven
This may take an extra minute or two. If you choose the “regular” style I’d check for doneness at minute 20 and add from there. That best way to get the meat to be tender AND the outside to be crispy golden brown is to NOT overlap the pieces Let me say we cook a lot of this stuff and I’ve spent time perfecting it soo……..
This is vital to oven baked bacon as you don’t want them to overlap or else the pieces underneath won’t get browned. Same goes for making air fryer candied bacon, separate is key. Now you need a way to keep them off of the baking sheet. Why??? This way all sides will get crispy AND the grease will drain away from the meat!
You could call this a wire rack, or cooling rack. I use them for both. When I bake cookies I put them on these so they can cool nicely without staying and overcooking on the cookie sheet. That is really the gist of things. I mean how easy can that really be?
Can you cook bacon from frozen?
Yes and no. It is necessary to first separate the pieces. The most effective method for this is to 1. unwrap the package 2. set the chunk on a microwave safe plate and heat for 1 minute. Flip it over halfway thru and this should allow you to pull or use a knife to separate them.
How to Defrost Frozen Bacon in Package
- You can put the unopened package in a bowl of cold water.
- Change that out every 30 minutes so it stays chilled and slowly becomes softer as it sits.
- It shouldn’t take longer than 1 hour to get it tender.
If you only want to use half of your package. Defrost using microwave method, just enough to separate. Store rest of uncooked bacon in a freezer bag and put it into the fridge to defrost the rest of the way throughout the day.
If cooking bacon in the oven you will follow these basic directions. I have a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post too though so you can keep them handy.
How to Cook Bacon From Frozen
If you want a really easy cleanup spray the rack with non stick spray and then throw it into your dishwasher when done. It’s a pain scrubbing these things no matter what you cook or cool on them. I use my Bosch for everything that allows it to be thrown in there.
in the oven
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil and wire rack goes on the top.
- Thawing frozen bacon is easy; Unwrap and place bacon in the microwave for 30 seconds, flip the bacon over, and again cook for 30 seconds. You should be able to separate the bacon pieces easily now with a knife.
- Alternatively to thaw bacon enough you could use defrost setting, defrost bacon in the fridge for a few hours, just enough to pull the pieces apart, or put package for about 20 minutes into cold water until softened.
- Thawing frozen bacon is easy; Unwrap and place bacon in the microwave for 30 seconds, flip the bacon over, and again cook for 30 seconds. You should be able to separate the bacon pieces easily now with a knife.
- Lay separated slices of bacon on rack and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. Timing will depend on how crispy you want it and how thick your slices are.
Have a paper towel lined plate ready to set them on to absorb the grease when done and enjoy.
on the stove
If using a frying pan separate your pieces. You can do this by running cool water over the package until it softens enough to pull pieces apart. Set in a pan over low heat until it’s warmed, softened and looking defrosted. Then turn up heat to get it crispier and cook until as crispy as you’d like.
You can enjoy as is with breakfast when done or allow to cool a bit and add into other dishes like our fried cabbage and bacon recipe pan fried to serve with dinner.
in air fryer
It takes just 10 minutes to make this in a Cosori or Ninja Foodi and turns out great, link at top of this post for temp. and time. We love pig so much we buy it online in bulk. This helps with the number of times I have to go to the store, and when you find great deals I can really load up and store for later.
You can certainly cook bacon in the air fryer from defrosted this way. If it is rock hard you could follow the microwave directions same as below. Add a few more minutes if it isn’t defrosted but check often. One minute too long can be the death of your slices of pig and that would be tragic.
1. You do want to separate your pieces first. Cooking in a large chunk will not work well as the inner slices will still be cold by the time the outsides start to get crispy. You can do this by running the package under cool water until you can pull each piece apart.
2. Give them room in your pan, air fryer or on your sheet pan so the hot temperature can circulate around each piece to thaw and then cook to crispy.
3. Start cooking low as far as the temperature goes. You need it to warm up and defrost essentially in the beginning before turning up the heat to crisp.
4. Flip a few times to rotate if using a pan or air frying, if baking on a sheet pan with a cooling rack on top this isn’t necessary as the heat can rotate around each slice.
How to store leftovers
To store leftovers you should wrap in tinfoil to keep whole, or better yet crumble and there you have homemade bacon bits. I use this stuff for everything. Whether it be inside our breakfast bundt cake or tossed into Instant Pot bacon ranch potatoes, fresh is always best.
Give it a whirl, sheet pan recipes are great. You can throw lots of things on it and make a complete meal or just one item you crave like this and make it quickly for an entire crowd. It’s. That. Easy. Y’all….. 😉
How to Cook Frozen Bacon
Equipment
- 1 sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1 lb bacon, slices, frozen
- red pepper flakes, if you want to add a bit of spicy
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with foil and place wire rack on top.
- Unwrap bacon and put on a plate. Put into microwave for 30 seconds, flip over, and again cook for 30 seconds. You should be able to separate pieces easily now with a knife.
- Lay separated pieces on wire rack and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Timing will depend on how crispy you want it and how thick your slices are.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh wow, was delicious. My family devoured it!
Thanks for all the great tips! It’s so handy to have bacon in the freezer and get it done perfectly still.
This is such a brilliant idea! I’ve always cooked bacon on the stove, and it’s messy! This is so much easier! Thank you!
Glad it saved the morning
You NEVER did say how to cook it in the air fryer – just said to PUT IT IN THE OVEN!!!!!!!!!!
Yes I did, it is in bold print (air fryer frozen bacon) near the middle of the article, and below says click the link to read that article on how. You’re welcome
Thank you so much for this! I am notorious for forgetting to take the bacon out of the freezer!
Easy and delicious, this one is a keeper. I know I’m going to make it over and over again!
What’s if I don’t have a baking rack?
@Alison,
@Alison, just take a sheet of heavy duty foil and crumple it up, then un crumple it and lay it out on baking sheet then lay bacon strips on top! The crumpled foil will let grease run off and away from your bacon.