Perfect Bacon

17 Feb 2010 2 Comments

by cobyscorner in Food, Recipes, tutorials Tags: bacon, baking, cooking, crispy bacon

I love bacon….mmmmmm bacon! As promised in the Chicken Bacon Alfredo Bake post, here is a tutorial on my perfect, freezer friendly bacon. Bacon can be such a mess to cook! I have recently discovered a new way to cook bacon that I absolutely LOVE! I bake it. Yep, baked bacon. That just sounds funny, baked bacon! Anyway, I used to make it in the microwave, but it doesn’t cook evenly in there and I like crispy, evenly cooked bacon. In the microwave it takes a lot of paper towels to not make a mess and I hate using paper towels, mostly because I’m cheap  er..um.. frugal. In my kitchen, we have moved to all cloth, but that is a post for another day. On the stove the grease just splatters everywhere. I don’t know about you, but cleaning up splattered bacon grease from my cooktop is not my idea of a good time! This is what I do:

Perfect Bacon

Buy the safeway thick cut smoked bacon in the 3lb pack from Von’s or your safeway affiliate…you really don’t have to do this…it’s just my favorite and reasonable at $2.66/lb (here in CA anyway!) 

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil, make sure it has sides or you will have a mess!

Lay bacon on the cookie sheet, no overlapping.

Put cookie sheet in the oven, DO NOT PREHEAT. Turn the oven on to 400° and bake for 17-20 minutes or until crispy. Remove from pan and drain. I save the grease off the cookie sheets for future cooking, then wad up the foil and throw it away. No mess!

To make this freezer friendly. Underbake a little. I do mine for 17 minutes, so it’s mostly done, but not all the way crispy. Remove from pan, drain and cool. Place in a freezer bag with wax paper separating the layers and freeze. To use, heat in microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute for 2-3 pieces. If you are heating more, it may take a bit longer. This is great for being able to just pull out a few strips for a weekday breakfast or a BLT sandwich and not have to cook a whole pound for a few slices!

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