Baking Bacon In the Oven {The Mountain Kitchen Tips

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Baking bacon is like the greatest thing since sliced bread. I recently tried baking bacon instead of frying it in a pan. I have to say, I may never put bacon in a frying pan on the stovetop again. Not only do you not have to stand over a hot spattering pan of grease, but you can also sit back and relax while it bakes.

Remember that Meatless Monday when I had a blonde moment and I didn’t set the oven timer correctly so that David and I would have baked potatoes nearly baked by the time we got home from work? Well, I tried again and was much more successful this time! The potatoes were about halfway done when we got home. For the remainder of the cooking time, I baked bacon to use to top our potatoes.

If you would like to try it, here’s what you do:

1) Line a baking sheet or bottom of a broiler pan with foil. This will make cleanup easier later.

2) Arrange bacon slices on the rack, or directly on the foil and place the baking sheet on the center rack of a cold oven. Close oven door. Turn oven on to 400°. Walk away, go do whatever you’d like.

3) Come back 17 to 20 minutes later. As soon as the bacon is golden brown, but not excessively crisp, it’s done. The exact time will depend on the thickness of the bacon slices, and on how quickly your oven reaches the target temperature.

4) Remove the pan from the oven. Transfer the bacon to another sheet pan lined with paper towels to absorb the fat.

5) Gently roll the paper towel wrapping the bacon inside. This will help get the excess grease from the bacon.

6) The bacon is ready to use, slice, dice or place it on a BLT sandwich!

I altered the instructions to suit my needs for the potatoes. First of all, I didn’t put the bacon into a cold oven. (I did this both ways and to tell you the truth, I didn’t really notice a difference). In addition, I baked it at a lower temperature (350 degrees F for an hour).

I used the chopped bacon as part of our baked potato bar, including butter, black olives, cheese, diced ham, scallions, and sour cream. What will you do with your baked bacon?