Oven Bacon at 400°F: No Flipping, No Splatter

Bacon flat on a foil-lined sheet, 400°F, 15–20 minutes, no flipping. Check at 12: thin bacon burns at 15 while thick-cut is fine at 20. Pour the grease in a jar; it's free cooking fat.

Serves 1. One serving: 6 slices.

Ingredients

• Bacon (check label: no sugar added)

Steps

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and fold the edges up.
2. Lay the bacon flat on the sheet. Don't let the strips overlap.
3. Bake at 400°F for 12–20 minutes, until it's as crispy as you like: thin bacon takes 12–15, thick-cut 17–20. You don't need to flip it.
4. Save the grease in a jar, it's free cooking fat for everything else.

Label check: a lot of bacon is sugar-cured. Look for 0g sugar on the label to keep it clean.

Air fryer version

Air fryer, 350°F · 8–12 min

1. Lay the bacon in the basket in a single layer. A little overlap is fine; it shrinks. Pour a tablespoon of water into the bottom of the drawer so the drippings don't smoke. Set the air fryer to 350°F.
2. Cook 8–12 minutes, until it's as crispy as you like. For thick-cut bacon, flip it once at 6 minutes.
3. Pour the grease from the drawer into a jar; it's free cooking fat for everything else. Grease left under the basket makes smoke, so empty it between batches.

Per serving

225 calories · 16 g protein · 17 g fat · 0.8 g net carbs (USDA FoodData Central, for the serving above)

Food safety

Bacon is cured and cooked until crisp; there's no probe temperature for strips. Look for 0 g sugar on the label if you're keeping it carnivore. Every cut's pull temp and USDA minimum is on our meat temperature chart.