How to Make Crispy Bacon

Bacon is the one item in the kitchen that people never get tired of eating. Be it for breakfast with bacon and eggs, or while making salad with bits of bacon in it or while making a dessert, people use bacon all the time! In fact, some even enjoy snacking on crispy bacon slices at least once a day even if it may not be a good choice of food for their diet.

So, how to make the perfectly crispy bacon at home? Let’s find out!

How To Cook Bacon In A Pan

Ingredients:

• Bacon

Apparatuses:

• A container made out of metal or glass ( for drippings)
• A frying pan
• Bulb Baster ( Optional)
• Tongs
• A plate
• Paper towels or Brown paper bag

Instructions

• Step 1

Begin with taking out the pieces of bacon from the refrigerator about 10-15 minutes before you start cooking. Wondering why this step is important? Well, allowing the bacon to thaw in the room temperature makes the bacon fat softer which in turn makes it easier to be cooked.

Most of its flavor comes from that fat, it is important that it has been defrosted properly. You can try placing the packet of bacon inside a bowl full of room temperature water if it’s completely frozen. This should help you defrost it faster. If you have enough time, you will just have to let it sit on the kitchen counter for a couple of minutes before it’s ready to be cooked.

• Step 2

This step requires a cast iron skillet to get started. However, if you don’t have an iron skillet, the usual frying pan that you have in the pantry will work out just fine. All you have to do is make sure that the pan is cold as you can’t preheat it. A 30 cm frying pan or skillet will have enough space for 12 pieces of bacon at the very least.

Take the pieces of bacon and place them on the cold pan side by side. But you must ensure that the pieces are not overlapping one another because this will prevent them from being cooked evenly due to the heat not being distributed equally.

Nevertheless, if you want the bacon to cook faster, we would suggest you to invest in a cast-iron skillet since bacon cooks faster in them. If not, just choose a pan with the heaviest base.

• Step 3

Step 3 is all about cooking the bacon to perfection so that you can enjoy that crispiness. The key here is to cook the bacon at a very low temperature. Hence, you have to switch the temperature on your stove to its lowest setting and wait for a couple of minutes. You will start to see the bacon curling up from all sides.

Tongs are your new best friend when dealing with bacon! With the help of a tong, you can easily flip the bacon to the other side so that it cooks evenly on each side. You may have to do this a couple of times until you begin to see the bacon turning brown in color.

• Step 4

Know that the fat will slowly begin to collect in the pan and you will have to get rid of it. If the bacon you are cooking contains a lot of fat, you can assume that your pan is going to be full of grease, which you will need to get rid of either by using a spoon or a bulb baster.

The bulb baster is a tool that you can use to suction off all the grease from the pan and gently squeeze it in a container made out of metal or glass. However, if there isn’t a lot of grease in the pan as you would have expected, you can pour it down after you have finished cooking the bacon.

Either way, you have to be extremely careful while getting rid of the grease because if it slides down the sides of the pan, it might cause a grease fire. Therefore, it will be wise to do this after you have turned off your stove. Nonetheless, using a bulb baster is a far more efficient and safer way of doing this.

• Step 5

Now, all there is left to do is wait before the bacon pieces have become all crispy and brown in color. You will have to be sure that the redness of the raw meat is completely gone before you use the tongs to place the pieces of bacon on top of a plate covered with either paper towels or brown paper bag. Wait till all the grease has been soaked up.

Make sure to not drain off the grease into your sink because it will most likely clog it. If you need to cook more bacon, get rid of all the grease before cooking the next batch.

How To Make Crispy Bacon In The Microwave

While some of you may have a pantry full of utensils required for cooking, others may not. This section is for those who do not feel comfortable frying bacon on stove and would rather do it in a microwave.

Ingredient:

• Bacon

Requirements:

• Microwave plate
• Paper Towels
• Gloves

Instructions:

• Use a plate that is safe to use in your microwave and cover it up with at least a couple of layers of paper towels. At least use 5 layers to ensure that the grease will get soaked up properly.
• The next step is to place the bacon on the plate that you have covered with paper towels in a single layer without overlapping the pieces. This is to ensure that the bacon will be cooked evenly on all sides.
• For the third step, you will need to place another layer of paper towels on top of the bacon to cover it. Again, use 5 if possible. If not, two layers should be enough.
• Pop the plate into the microwave and cook it for about 4-6 minutes. You need to pay attention while doing this because all microwaves have a different rate of cooking. You wouldn’t want it to remain raw or overcook it. So, stand next to your microwave and wait until you see the bacon turning brown in color and curling up from the edges.
• Once done, take it out of the oven with gloves on and serve it immediately.

You will have to be careful while taking the bacon out of the oven because the grease tends to be really hot and if it comes in contact with your skin, there is a very good chance that it may burn. So be careful and play it safe.

Sources:

1. Bacon Mistakes To Avoid: How To Cook Bacon – HuffPost Life
2. Oven-Baked Bacon Recipe – Allrecipes