How to Make Perfect Bacon with Zero Mess

Oh, the lengths I used to go to for perfect bacon!

Hot spitting grease inflicted tiny burns upon my arms and tiny stains upon my clothing, splattering my stove top with a greasy film. And despite my best efforts at hovering over the frying pan to keep the precious strips from burning, I always charred at least one batch.

Such an arduous process!

If you can relate, you will love this method for making perfect bacon with zero mess! After years of cooking bacon this way, I have perfected the process.

How to Make Perfect Bacon with Zero Mess

Cook it in the oven!

When you cook bacon in the oven instead of on the stove, the process is relatively hands-off.  Simply pop the bacon in the oven and focus your attention on scrambling eggs or frying potatoes.

Using the oven instead of the stovetop means less mess and less risk of burns from hot bacon grease.  Plus, you can tailor the cooking time to achieve your desired level of crispiness, or lack thereof.

Here’s the process:

1. Preheat oven to 350-375° F, depending on your oven.  I cook my bacon at 375.
2. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Arrange bacon strips on the parchment paper, overlapping slightly to maximize the space. (The bacon will shrink as it cooks.)
4. Cook at for 20-28 minutes, depending on the thickness of your bacon and your desired level of crispiness.
5. Transfer bacon to a plate or dish lined with paper towels to absorb the grease. Alternatively, use a cookie cooling rack to drain the bacon over the same tray in which it cooked.
6. Allow bacon grease to cool slightly, but not solidify.*
7. Carefully fold the parchment in from the outer edges, until it reaches a manageable size for pouring the grease.
8. Pour grease into a jar, and save in the fridge for other yummy purposes like sauteing spinach, making bacon biscuits, or scrambling eggs.
9. Here’s the best part: if you’re careful with the parchment paper, your baking sheets will be perfectly clean. Simply put them away! No washing necessary!

**If you have the time and the counter space, go ahead and leave the tray out, allowing the bacon grease to solidify on the parchment paper.  When it’s completely cooled, simply scrape into a jar or container.

Note: If different family members prefer varying degrees of crispiness, it’s pretty easy to slip the baking sheet out of the oven and transfer softer pieces earlier. Then return the rest of the bacon to the oven and cook until nice and crispy, which is my personal preference and the, ahem, right way to eat bacon.

I love to make a big batch of bacon and reheat the leftovers throughout the week. In this case, I remove some of the bacon from the oven earlier than usual. These softer pieces will crisp up nicely during the reheating process later. I use a cast iron skillet to reheat small batches of bacon on the stove top.

Have you tried this method of cooking perfect bacon in the oven?