Hi everyone.  I use a lot of bacon. My dad, brother and boyfriend love bacon so I make it a lot. But it's a pain to fry bacon every day. It spatters grease all over and you have to stand over the skillet and turn it. So what I started doing was cooking it in the oven. Heat the oven to 400. Then lay out the bacon in a roasting pan. It's ok if they overlap. Start checking the bacon after 10 minutes. When it's done put it on papertowels to drain. I use disposable aluminum casserole pans so I can just throw it away instead of washing it. I cook 2 pounds of bacon at a time. Then I freeze it. I just take out what I'm serving for breakfast and microwave it for 20-30 seconds. This is so much easier than frying it. I always save bacon grease to use for other things. If you're into healthy eating ignore what I'm about to say. Popcorn popped in bacon grease is awesome.  I just don't do that a lot because it's totally unhealthy.

That's a great way of making bacon, but never thought about bacon grease and popcorn!

Quote from: Jessica on November 28, 2017, 08:35:16 AM
That's a great way of making bacon, but never thought about bacon grease and popcorn!

I discovered it by accident. I hate microwave popcorn because it doesn't pop evenly. We actually have an old school popcorn popper with the orange dome that goes on top. It uses oil to pop the corn. Once I was getting ready to pop corn and I was out of oil so I just used bacon grease. It was so good.

Quote from: Julia1996 on November 28, 2017, 08:49:23 AM
I discovered it by accident. I hate microwave popcorn because it doesn't pop evenly. We actually have an old school popcorn popper with the orange dome that goes on top. It uses oil to pop the corn. Once I was getting ready to pop corn and I was out of oil so I just used bacon grease. It was so good.

I will have to try it at least once!  We have been hot air popping for awhile now.

For popcorn I use the whirley pop with coconut oil and Flavocol(tm). Not sure bacon grease would work in it, it's a thin aluminum. I feel like something would go horribly wrong.

I use the oven too. I also set it for 400but it usually takes 22 minutes to cook a pound. I line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and I grind black pepper over the bacon. I save the rendered fat for cooking, usually eggs.


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I use high sided cookie sheets to hold the bacon and I don't overlap it. The bacon I use is a thicker slice so it takes 30 minutes at 350 before it's done enough. I use two slices a meal so I take a long strip of plastic wrap, put two slices on it and roll the bacon/plastic wrap half a turn. Place two more slices on it and half a roll again. When I want bacon, I just unroll the wrap and remove the bacon. Two pounds of bacon lasts me about 2 months and there is far less mess.

As for the grease, I put it in a plastic cup after it's cooled a little and push some plastic wrap over it to reduce the air space. The grease is handy for frying meat or potatoes as a little goes a long way.

Oh, I should add the bacon grease is also amazing to use as a very unhealthy replacement for olive oil in sauteeing some pasta dishes. Carbonara, tetrazzini, etc. Just have to make sure you are using pure fat and none of the little burnt bits or it gets a bit off.

Two words for you: Bacon brittle.

Candied bacon..

Grill it. Fried bacon is fatty, unhealthy & the stuff of dodgy transport cafes

I've never tried freezing bacon, I live alone so I usually just fry a couple strips at a time as needed

But I would like to get one of these Gotham Steel Bacon Bonanza oven pans



You just line up the bacon strips in the rack and bake it in the oven, the fat drips off into the pan and it's all non-stick for easy cleanup

Any opinions?

uurrgghhhghhh baccccoonnnnn drooolll...

I've baked bacon wrapped around dates, it's not quick or clean but you really won't need popcorn.
I quite like cooking the ugly bits too, you know the little rindy curly bits and having with blue cheese and green apple ... so good those ugly bits!

Quote from: V M on November 29, 2017, 02:23:33 AM

You just line up the bacon strips in the rack and bake it in the oven, the fat drips off into the pan and it's all non-stick for easy cleanup

My dad uses the microwave version of that, and even in the microwave it seems to work well. Not quite up to my standards, but gets the job done and gets rid of a lot of the fat.

Quote from: big kim on November 29, 2017, 01:53:25 AM
Grill it. Fried bacon is fatty, unhealthy & the stuff of dodgy transport cafes

Bacon on a grill is good wrapped around something, particularly since it gives you nice little flare ups to get a good char going. I love a good char. Unfortunately, on its own, it seems to cook inconsistently for me and never quite crisps up on the grill.

Personally I prefer to use center cut, very low fat bacon in the pan though. Can't stand the fatty, greasy mess of most bacon both for taste and health reasons.

Quote from: V M on November 29, 2017, 02:23:33 AM
I've never tried freezing bacon, I live alone so I usually just fry a couple strips at a time as needed

But I would like to get one of these Gotham Steel Bacon Bonanza oven pans



You just line up the bacon strips in the rack and bake it in the oven, the fat drips off into the pan and it's all non-stick for easy cleanup

Any opinions?

I need to get one of those. It's really cool.

We also put foil down first to make for an easier clean up. Also, we rinse the bacon first and it seems to shrink less. We used one of the racks for wings the other day and it definitely made them crisper but haven't tried it with bacon yet.

Quote from: V M on November 29, 2017, 02:23:33 AM
I've never tried freezing bacon, I live alone so I usually just fry a couple strips at a time as needed

But I would like to get one of these Gotham Steel Bacon Bonanza oven pans



You just line up the bacon strips in the rack and bake it in the oven, the fat drips off into the pan and it's all non-stick for easy cleanup

Any opinions?

You can use aluminum foil to do that. Fold it to make pleats. Credit chef John from food wishes.


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Love it

Quote from: PaulaLee on November 29, 2017, 04:12:07 PM
We also put foil down first to make for an easier clean up. Also, we rinse the bacon first and it seems to shrink less. We used one of the racks for wings the other day and it definitely made them crisper but haven't tried it with bacon yet.

You rinse it in just plain water? Hmmm I will have to try that.