Bacon is a great thing to have on hand, especially this sheet pan bacon. It’s so easy and saves you a ton of clean up. Make a batch, have some now, and stash some in the fridge for last minute meal additions!
Here are my top three reasons for making sheet pan bacon in the oven:
- It saves you from a greasy mess all over your stove
- It keeps the bacon from scrunching up (without using a press)
- It’s passive and thus saves you time
I always make bacon this way now and I’ll never go back to the stove top method!
How To Make Sheet Pan Bacon In The Oven
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Take a large baking sheet and line it with parchment or aluminum foil (unbleached parchment is healthiest).
- Lay out all your bacon, fitting as much onto the pan as you can without overlapping.
- Bake for 17 minutes.
- Check for doneness. At this point you can flip the bacon over if you want, or turn your pan around if you have a hot spot in your oven.
- Bake an additional 3-5 minutes, depending on how crispy you want your bacon. Keep a close eye on it for the last several minutes to avoid over cooking.
- Drain on a paper-towel lined plate and serve.
Storing Cooked Bacon
One great thing about making a whole sheet pan of bacon at once is that there’s always leftovers. Here’s how I make sure my bacon is as good the second time around:
- Make sure your bacon is cooled to room temperature or there abouts.
- Remove as much grease as you can with paper towels.
- Place in an airtight container like a silicone or plastic zipper bag.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week.
Reheating Bacon
My favorite way to reheat bacon is in a pan on the stove top. Unlike with cooking it on the stove top, you don’t have to worry about splatter or scrunching.
If you’re throwing it in something like a breakfast burrito, you can cook it in with the scrambled eggs.
You can also just throw it into whatever dish you’re cooking, like casseroles, pasta carbonara, or quiche.
If you want to heat it up for something like a BLT or bacon cheeseburger, just put several slices in a frying pan on low heat and keep an eye on it for a few minutes. It only takes a few minutes to get hot and crispy again.
Is Bacon Good For You?
As with almost anything, it all comes down to quality.
Most of the time when studies are done on things like different kinds of meat, dairy, eggs, and the like, one thing that isn’t taken into consideration is what the animals are being fed. As well as they’re living conditions and treatment.
We’re all on different journeys and I never want to make anyone feel shamed for the types of foods they feed their families.
It’s a tough job!
But I’m sure we can all agree that bacon from an animal on a local farm that is fed non-GMO, organic food, that has access to pasture and sunlight will produce a better product than one from a factory farm in much worse conditions.
Some people say ‘you are what you eat’, and some people go as far to say, ‘you are what your food eats’! If you’re able to get a high quality bacon from a farmer you trust, make bacon a staple!
If you can’t afford or don’t have access to that, no big deal. Make bacon a “sometimes food”. Just keep that 80/20 rule in mind. 80% healthy, 20% not stressing it.
We’re all doing the best we can š
That being said, good quality bacon is a great way to get in some protein and healthy animal fats, as well as B vitamins, niacin and iron.
Why Bacon Is Good For Meal Prepping
Bacon is one ingredient that can take a dish from bland to exciting.
Because this dish is so simple and passive, you can easily throw a pan in the oven while performing other kitchen tasks. Let it bake while you feed your sourdough starter, start a batch of Instant Pot yogurt, or clean your counters.
Once you have it drained, cooled and stored, it’s ready and waiting to crumble over a bowl of creamy soup, throw on a sandwich, or turn into breakfast burritos.
The more ingredients you can prep ahead of time like this, the easier and quicker a meal comes together. And that means you’re more likely to actually stick to your meal plan!
Ideas For Using Sheet Pan Bacon
- Breakfast burritos
- As protein alongside a tasty muffin for an easy breakfast
- BLT on sourdough bread
- Crumbled over soup or chowder
- Atop a Cobb salad with chicken and hard boiled eggs
- On English muffin breakfast sandwiches
- Added to baked beans
- Broken up and stored as bacon bits for any salad
- Sprinkled over a baked potato
- Extra protein and flavor in a grilled cheese sandwich
- A yummy addition to potato salad
- In a wrap with turkey, cheese, lettuce and mayo
- A topping for homemade pizza
- Alongside French Toast Casserole
What sort of recipes do you love to throw bacon into?
Leave me a comment and let me know!
Grab your printable recipe here and let me know how you find it.
By the way, do you realize how helpful it is to bloggers to leave comments, share posts, and tag them on social media like Facebook and Instagram?
There are so many moms out there starting these small businesses and every time you interact with their content, you’re helping them out š
Every page view, comment, and Pin on Pinterest is not only super encouraging but could make all the difference for a blogger to monetize their blog and help support their family.
So thank you so much for reading! It really means a lot š
Sheet Pan Bacon In The Oven
You'll never want to make bacon on the stove top again. This sheet pan bacon made in the oven saves time, mess, and keeps the bacon from scrunching up. It turns out great every time!
Ingredients
- 15-20 strips bacon
- sheet pan
- parchment paper or aluminum foil
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Take a large baking sheet and line it with parchment or aluminum foil (unbleached parchment is healthiest).
- Lay out all your bacon, fitting as much onto the pan as you can without overlapping (sides just touching is ok).
- Bake for 17 minutes.
- Check for doneness. At this point you can flip the bacon over if you want, or turn your pan around if you have a hot spot in your oven.
- Bake an additional 5-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you want your bacon. Keep a close eye on it for the last several minutes to avoid over cooking.
- Drain on a paper-towel lined plate and serve.
Notes
If your bacon is cured (the package will say 'uncured' if it isn't), then you don't have to worry about the bacon coming to a safe temperature like with most meats. As with things like hotdogs, it's safest to 'reheat to steaming', but essentially you just want to cook bacon as long as it takes to reach the desired crispiness.
Store cooled bacon in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
I like to leave my pan at room temp until the bacon grease solidifies (a couple of hours) and then discard the parchment paper. This saves a lot of clean up, and there's usually no residual grease on the pan, assuming your parchment was the right size.
You can also save and reuse bacon grease (lard) if you have a good quality source of bacon!
See full post for more tips and ideas for using up bacon, besides just eating it straight away.
Please consider leaving a 5-Star Review if you enjoyed this recipe!
I know you and your family are going to find this sheet pan bacon method helpful as well as delicious. And that’s always my goal!
Don’t forget to Pin it for later, and check out some other posts while you’re here.
Until next time,
-Tara š
Leave a Reply