Need bacon cooking tips to spice up your breakfast game? If you haven’t mastered the technique of baking or frying bacon the way experts do, these tips and tricks should help you out. Cook yourself smoky, crisp bacon strips with these bacon cooking tips!
Bacon Cooking Tips For The Best Baked And Fried Bacon
Cooking bacon is like frying sunny side up eggs–it only sounds and looks easy. I still haven’t figured out how to do it right every time, like how they do it at the diners. Somehow, something will not turn out how I expected or wanted it. A burnt side here and there, a sloppy strip today, then stiff as a stick tomorrow. Fortunately, we found help from sympathetic home cooks and professionals, who perhaps, went through the same misery, but made a comeback with these brilliant bacon cooking tips.
How To Cook Bacon On A Frying Pan
You Will Need:
- Bacon
- A wide, flat-bottomed 12″ skillet
- Paper towels
- A pair of tongs
1. Before you turn on the stove, prepare the skillet and bacon first to get frying.
2. Arrange the strips and line them up the pan close to each other but not overlapping.
3. Cook the bacon nice and slow over moderate heat.
4. When bacon starts to twist and swirl, lift and flip the strips over to the side with the tongs.
5. Continue tossing and flicking until the bacon is evenly brown and cooked to your satisfaction.
Tips For Frying Bacon On The Stove Top
1. Run bacon under cold water before cooking. This will reduce shrinking by half.
2. Start with a cold pan. No need to preheat your pan, prepare your bacon first before you turn on the heat.
3. Use the right tools. While a nonstick skillet is recommended, you can use any flat-bottomed 12″ frying pan. Use tongs instead of a flipper for turning the bacon to avoid painful splatter.
4. Pick the best bacon. We all have different preferences in bacon, but natural or nitrate-free is best.
5. Save the bacon drippings. This rich, fatty goodness will work wonders in your other recipes or dishes.
6. Dealing with the mess. Add water to your frying pan and bring it to a boil. Cleaning will come easier after.
Frying bacon on the stove top comes with some hassles like oil splatters and grease, and hard-to-clean dishes. That’s why, this is especially recommended only when frying a few strips, say just for breakfast or just for two.
How To Cook Bacon In The Oven
You Will Need:
- Bacon
- Aluminum foil
- Baking sheets
- Tongs
- Paper towels
1. Turn on the oven and preheat to 400°F.
2. Line the baking sheet with tin foil to make clean-up after easier.
3. Arrange the bacon on the baking sheet so they are close but not overlapping.
4. Bake the bacon for 15 to 20 minutes or until bacon is a deep golden-brown and crispy.
5. Cooking time will vary so begin checking at around 12 minutes.
6. Pour off grease as needed so the bacon isn’t drowning in fat.
Tips For Cooking Bacon In The Oven
1. Let bacon sit on a cooling rack over the baking sheet. This will make your bacon crispier through and through with the elevation allowing even cooking on all sides.
2. You can also use a broiling pan for even cooking and for the grease to drip down to the foil-lined pan.
3. Use oven for cooking big batches of bacon. No more mess, grease, and painful splatter with lots of bacon to flip, turn, and fry. Don’t forget to save all the bacon drippings and bits for your other bacon recipes.
Improve your main course with this fresh garlic potato salad on the side.😋
👉Recipe here – https://t.co/dPF1cUgy3v #SummerRecipes pic.twitter.com/bKcmwTDjoX
— Homemade Recipes (@BestHomeRecipes) July 11, 2017
How To Cook Bacon In the Microwave
You Will Need:
- Bacon
- Microwave-safe dish
- Paper towels
1. Prepare a microwave-safe dish and line it with at least four layers of paper towels.
2. Lay bacon strips in a single layer on the dish and cover it with two more layers of paper towels.
3. Set the microwave on high and cook the bacon for 1 minute per bacon strip.
4. Cooking time will vary, so you may want to check the bacon and take a peek under the paper towels.
5. You may want to cook your bacon for a few more seconds until the desired crispness.
Tips For Cooking Bacon In The Microwave
1. Use the microwave to cook a few strips of bacon, and if you have no use for bacon drippings,–which is a shame since bacon drippings are rich and flavorful.
2. Transfer the cooked bacon to cool in a dish, if you don’t want the strips sticking to the paper towels.
Breakfast sandwiches, pasta recipes, and scrambled eggs aren’t complete without the savory, smoky goodness of bacon. Whether it’s pan fried, baked, or microwaved, bacon is undeniably here to stay. With these bacon cooking tips, I’m sure we’ll finally get around to cooking bacon the way we like it and how the experts do it!
How did your bacon cooking turn out this time? We’d be glad to hear all about your experience in the comments below!
Up Next: How To Poach An Egg
Want to remember these tips for later? Save this infographic or share it with your friends!
*EDITORS NOTE* This post was originally published in September 2017 and has been republished for accuracy and relevancy
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