Perfect Oven Bacon

I was mid-project on a bacon tamago sando when two chef tricks came rushing back to me out of nowhere. One: bake your bacon in the oven instead of babysitting a spitting, splattering pan. Two: add a splash of water to the tray so the fat has time to render before anything starts to char. Why choose one when you can combine both? So I did.

And that was it. This is genuinely how I cook bacon now, every single time. Easy peasy, and the result is perfect.

Perfect Oven Bacon — About the dish

American-style bacon — the thin, streaky, cured-and-smoked strips piled next to pancakes at every diner — is famously fussy on the stovetop: it curls, it spits hot fat everywhere, and it can go from perfectly rendered to burnt in seconds. The oven already solves half of that problem, since the heat is even and completely hands-off. The water is what solves the rest: by slowing down how fast the tray heats up, it buys the fat enough time to melt out of the bacon before the surface starts to catch. What you get is bacon that's fully rendered and properly crisp, with no burnt edges in sight.

Perfect Oven Bacon — Recipe

Ingredients — Advice & key points

• Bacon: go for American-style streaky bacon, the thin cured-and-smoked kind. 160 to 200g is enough for two generous servings, and the strips can overlap slightly on the tray without any issue.
• Water: about 3 tablespoons, poured straight into the tray before it goes in the oven. This single step is what keeps the bacon from crisping up too fast before the fat has time to render.

Cooking process — Advice & key points

• Use a small or medium oven-safe dish and line up the bacon strips in a single layer — a little overlap between slices is completely fine.
• Add the water to the tray before baking: it's what protects the bacon while the fat melts out instead of burning.
• Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 14 to 16 minutes, keeping an eye on it — thicker-cut bacon can easily need up to 20 minutes.
• Let the bacon rest for 2 to 3 minutes once it's out of the oven — that's when it finishes crisping up properly.

And that's it: perfect bacon, every time, with barely any effort.

Enjoy!