Baking Bacon Baby!

Ok, so maybe some of you already know about this but I am gonna blog about it anyway! I love baking bacon!

I have always hated the mess that frying bacon caused. I also didn't much care for the pretty constant tending that one must do when they are frying bacon. I don't like for hot splatters on my hand and ....ok, you get the idea! :)

I found out about baking bacon and my life has been a happier, more content one ever since! No more splatter screen, no more cleaning the backsplash, no more babysitting the fry pan!

I have made bacon in the oven a variety of ways and all of them have their great points. You can heavily pepper the bacon for a peppered bacon (the grocery store charges big bucks for peppered bacon, you can do it for pennies!), you can also rub the bacon down with brown sugar (I love this!) and have your own instant brown sugar bacon. You can also rub liquid smoke on the bacon for hickory smoke flavor. One of the things I like to do is bake bacon en masse and then crumble it (and refrigerate!) to be used through the week for salads, baked potato toppers, etc. This is so much cheaper than buying those packaged bacon pieces and is probably healthier too! If you don't use it up just freeze it!

So, what I do is line a bottom pan (cookie pan) with aluminum foil. This will catch the grease and can be easily tossed afterwards for a speedy clean-up! Then I place the rack on top of the pan. I place as many slices of bacon as I want or will fit. Usually going crosswise on the rack is preferable. On my pictures above my husband placed the slices :) I preheat the oven to 350 and bake the bacon for approximately 20 minutes. Thickness of bacon, temp of your oven, etc. will have times vary. Until you get comfortable with your situation check at 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, etc. When the bacon is done you can place it on paper towels to drain any remaining fat; however, there is not near as much fat as what you find in the fried variety. Some folks have said that this makes your oven dirty. I have never experienced that and I am fortunate enough to have a self cleaning oven that takes care of it. Also, if I want crispier bacon I go to 375 degrees.

I've talked more than any one person should about baking bacon. Thanks for indulging me!

PS. Sorry about the pre-cook picture. Lighting is a problem for me but I hope to resolve my issues soon!