A Better Way to Bacon

As mentioned previously, I despise cooking bacon.  Grease gets everywhere, it takes forever, you have to babysit it the whole time, it often doesn't cook evenly, and it leaves a lingering grease smell that drives me nuts for days afterwards!  Because of this, I rarely make it.  This is good for my waistline, but bad for my taste buds!  I would like to partake in bacon every now and again, but it usually has to be some sort of special occasion before I'll make it. 

Well, I tried a new method for Father's Day brunch and it is SO MUCH EASIER!  And I didn't get the lingering smell problem! 

What did I do?  I baked it in the oven!


Here's how: 

     - I lined a baking sheet (I guess you'd call it a jelly roll pan, the kind with sides) with foil.

     - I arranged the bacon on the sheet (It's okay if the strips are touching or slightly overlapping as they'll shrink during the cooking process).  I was able to get a full pound of center cut bacon on my large baking sheet.

     - I popped the baking sheet into a preheated 375 degree oven and baked for 15 minutes.  Then, I used tongs to flip over each piece of bacon and baked for another 15 minutes.  (We like our bacon crispy, for less crisp I would suggest flipping after 10-12 minutes and only cooking another 10-12 minutes before pulling it.)

     - Then, I pulled the baking sheet out of the oven and placed the pieces of bacon onto a plate layered with paper towels to drain as usual. 


Clean up was a breeze!  All I had to do was allow the baking sheet to cool and then I was able to crumble the foil up and throw it away.  The bacon came out nice and crispy, evenly cooked, AND each piece was nice and straight and didn't get curled or bent like it sometimes does when fried in a pan!  Not to mention it frees up your attention and pans to do other things. 

Not only was this a lot easier and take a lot less time with better results, but since the grease was contained and smoke wasn't floating out into my kitchen there was no lingering, stale bacon smell for days afterwards! 

Hallelujah!  It's a revelation! 

Oven fried bacon: good for my taste buds, bad for my arteries!