Bacon is not difficult to cook, but it is messy, and there are still ways to tie it. That said, even burnt or bendy bacon is better than none at all.
Due to big bacon, I have used a combination test (by side) of recipes to see which ones yield shiny, tempting strips with less difficulty, aka clean-up.
For this experiment, I cooked bacon three ways: in frying panof the oven and of air fryer. I’ve also cooked a few strips in the microwave, but let’s get one thing out of the way: while the microwave can indeed make edible bacon, it produces the most satisfying result, by far.
So, get ahead of your competitors.
frying pan
- Cooking time: 10 minutes
- Suffering: 8/10
- How much bacon: 7-8 strips
I grew up on fried bacon but my experiments revealed that there is a better way.
This is how I grew up cooking bacon and it’s really good. It doesn’t take much skill to fry bacon in a pan, although almost every cake I’ve ever made sends a healthy splatter over the stove. In the worst cases, that infernal oil lands directly on my skin or my clothes, presenting two separate but equally aggravating problems.
Pan-fried bacon soaks up a ton of grease, which is why many turn to paper towels to drain it after cooking. Frying these pieces of pork belly is usually done by rolling them into small balls. While that doesn’t affect the taste, it can make for a less than ideal presentation.
I feel splatter bombs looking at this picture.
Another drawback of cooking bacon in a frying pan is its limited capacity. A 10-inch frying pan can only hold about 7 medium-sized slices at a time, although you can add more as they shrink during cooking.
Then there is the matter of cleaning said pan after use. It is not recommended to put a lot of cookware in the dishwasher, so you will have to manage that greased area yourself.
The oven
- Cooking time: 18 minutes
- Suffering: 6/10
- How much bacon: 10-12 strips
Oven bacon is best for cooking large batches.
Although it involves more preparation, bacon in the oven there are clear advantages over frying. For one, there is little concern about capacity, as a standard cookie sheet or baking tray can hold almost a full package of bacon, making the oven ideal for cooking large quantities.
Using a baking tray and rack allows for more damage to the drippings below. That makes the results crispier, with less oil, but creates a headache when it’s time to clean up. Cookie sheets and baking trays don’t go well in the sink, and there’s often enough grease that you don’t want to use in your dishwasher.
You can line a baking tray with aluminum foil, but it takes a lot of foil, and most of the time, bacon grease finds its way under or through it.
Oven bacon takes longer than pan-cooked bacon — about 18 minutes — but if you plan to cook the whole package and don’t want to lean on the stove while you cook, your oven is your best bet.
Air fryer (winner)
- Cooking time: 7 minutes
- Suffering: 4/10
- How much bacon: 6-7 strips
Because of its quick cooking time and hassle-free operation, the air fryer is my new favorite way to make bacon.
There’s almost nothing I wouldn’t try to make in the air fryer, but surprisingly, this is my first attempt at bacon. I was expecting a faster cooker, as air fryers heat up about 25% more food than a regular oven.
The air fryer has proven to be my favorite way to make bacon, with one major caveat (more on that later). Mine favorite glass-bowl air fryer cooked those strips for about 7 minutes at 375 degrees F – faster than both the oven and the frying pan. Because air fryers include a crisping rack, the grease naturally drips into the pan below, so there was no need to clean it with a lasagna paper towel.
The grill tray drained the excess fat while the bacon was cooking.
The bacon turned out crispy and kept its shape better than when fried in a pan.
And the pollution was minimal. Because the cooking chamber of the air fryer fits easily in my sink, I was able to wash it in seconds with a sponge and soapy water. My glass fryer is also airtight, so another option would be to wipe off the oil and stick it in the dishwasher. dishwasher.
Air fryer bacon is really crispy.
Major warning: Power
I use modesty 4-quart air fryerso I can put in about six strips at a time. That’s a lot for me and my partner, but if I were making bacon for a group, I’d have to cook in batches or invest a lot of money. a large model.
That means…
Not having to guard a sizzling, splattering pan or negotiate a greased baking tray pulled from the oven is worth bringing back another time to feed a group. There’s also no heating required, unlike an oven, and the speed and cleanliness gave the hot air an edge over other methods I’ve tried.
