Don't Skip This Step For Evenly Cooked Bacon In The Oven

Are you making bacon? While there are different ways to cook bacon, the oven is one of the easiest and least messy ways to get the job done. While it can seem as simple as laying your strips down on a baking sheet and popping it into the oven, there are a few things you can do to get a perfect result each and every time.

One step you should never skip is to rotate your pan halfway through cooking. (This is the same oven tip you need for making bagels at home.) This makes sure your bacon is cooked evenly, and the rotation ensures proper browning across the board. But why do you have to do this? Well, ovens aren't perfect, and there are likely a few hot spots in yours that can cause one side of the pan to get hotter than the other. If you have only one pan with bacon, all you have to do is turn it 180 degrees to properly rotate it. If, on the other hand, you have two pans cooking simultaneously, you'll want to rotate each pan 180 degrees and switch their spots. This ensures each slice of bacon gets an equal amount of oven love — and your belly gets a perfectly cooked piece with every bite.

Now that you know that rotating your bacon is a surefire way to ensure it's cooked evenly, there are more tips you can use to get the best result. For example, if you're a sucker for crunch, there's an extra step you need to take to get crispy turkey bacon regardless of the cooking method. Or, similar to how you want to pat fish dry before frying, patting your bacon dry before cooking removes any moisture on the surface of the meat, which can otherwise cause your bacon to steam and become mushy.

Additionally, use a wire rack to truly cook your bacon properly. Wire racks are used to save veggies from becoming soggy, and they can do the same thing for your breakfast meat. By lifting the bacon an inch or two from the baking dish, you're allowing for air circulation, which helps everything crisp up nicely and keeps the bacon from sitting in its own grease. While various recipes use different temperatures, you're safe cooking your bacon in an oven that's been preheated to anywhere between 375 and 400 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 14 to 18 minutes, depending on how crispy you want it.