For my particular oven, I cook my Costco bacon (low sodium) in 2 batches for 17 minutes apiece. But what works for you will probably be different, so be prepared to experiment. However, once you know the right duration you will be able to create perfect bacon any time you want it. Yum!
I started baking bacon this way long before I started my diet. I adapted this recipe from Justin Warner's, "The Laws of Cooking: And How to Break Them".
Requirements
- Bacon
- Cookie sheet
- Silicone baking sheet or parchment paper (preferred for easy cleanup)
- Baking rack (optional)
- Plate
- Paper towels
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (350 or 300 for thick-cut bacon)
- While the oven is warming, line the cookie sheet with the baking sheet or parchment paper
- If you have one, place the baking rack on top of the sheet/paper
- Lay the bacon in a single layer on the sheet/paper/rack
- You might cut the bacon in half
- Bake the bacon for your perfect duration
- While baking, line a plate with 2 layers of paper towels in preparation for later
- Remove the bacon from the oven
- Transfer the bacon from the cookie sheet to the paper towels
- Enjoy!
If you need to cook another batch of bacon then:
- Drain the liquid fat from the cookie sheet
- If you use the baking rack, you do not need to drain anything
- Repeat steps 3 through 7
Finding the Perfect Duration
To find the perfect duration for your particular oven and bacon,
- First bake for 15 minutes
- If the bacon isn't at the consistency you want, bake for 5 minutes and check again
- Continue to check on the bacon every 5 minutes until it is perfect
- Remember the total time it took to bake the bacon
- Next time (or in your second batch) repeat this timing check, but at 1-minute intervals around the duration you found for step 4.
- This final timing is your perfect duration
Notes
Preheating
It's important to let your oven finish preheating before putting the bacon in the oven. If you put the bacon in early then it will take longer for the oven to get to the desired temperature which means it takes longer to get to perfect bacon. In addition, if you make multiple batches then you will have a longer duration for the first batch than the second batch which means you need to remember 2 separate times and you have to remember which time goes with which situation.
Just learn a single perfect duration and make your life easier.
Thick Bacon
If the bacon is too thick you will find that it either blackens before thoroughly cooking, or that it doesn't seem to cook properly. In situations like this I recommend reducing the temperature (to 350 or 300, depending on what works for you). A lower temperature will mean it takes longer to cook, but the bacon will heat all the way through instead of just cooking the outside.
Single Layer
If you try and squeeze the entire pack of bacon onto the cookie sheet you will probably find that there is not enough space to fit the bacon into a single layer. You will also find that cramming the bacon will mean a longer cooking duration and inconsistent results--some of the bacon will cook quickly while other parts will stay uncooked for a long time.
For greater consistency and absolute bacon-y perfection, you should make sure the bacon is in a single layer and that there is some space between each strip. It might take more batches to cook all of the bacon but the results will be better.
Salt Levels
Following this recipe tends to concentrate the salt within the bacon. If you do not like that level of salt then I recommend using a low-sodium bacon.
Some bacon has inconsistent salt levels from batch to batch. You might get a bad batch which has little to no salt--in which case be prepared to salt the bacon after cooking.
Some bacon has inconsistent salt levels from batch to batch. You might get a bad batch which has little to no salt--in which case be prepared to salt the bacon after cooking.
Conventional Pork
I recommend employing pasture-raised pork, but finding such bacon can be difficult. So far, the closest I've found is bacon from pigs which are "allowed to root" meaning they live in pens with deep mulch that they can poke their noses into. Allowing a pig to root tells me nothing about the kind of food it ate (and thus the health of the pig). I have tried a few different brands of allowed-to-root bacon, but unfortunately I have not noticed the same big difference in flavor that I noticed with grass-finished beef.
Consequently I still use conventional bacon I procure at Costco; it's inexpensive and tastes like bacon. The one big down-side for me is that an hour after eating I feel hungry again. I suspect this hunger is because the bacon is not as nutritious as my body would like.
If I can find a better brand of bacon I will let you know.
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