Crispy Air Fryer Bacon Recipe - Evolving Table (2024)

FAQs

How to make crispy bacon like a restaurant? ›

Bacon-Cooking Method: Baking on Parchment Paper

About This Method: Martha Stewart's technique promises a “spatter-free” way to get “perfectly crispy bacon.” You simply line one or two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper, arrange the bacon on top, and bake at 400°F until it is crisped to your liking.

Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Lightly oil a non-stick tray then lay the bacon over (streaky or back) in a single layer. Bake for 10-15 mins, using tongs to flip the bacon halfway, until cooked and the fat is crisp around the edges.

As with other meats, allow some room between strips, about an inch, when placing bacon in the pan. Crowding creates steam and prevents the bacon from cooking evenly, giving you limp bacon instead of crispy strips. Cook in batches if needed.

You only have to try cooking bacon in the Air Fryer once for it to become your new favorite way to cook bacon. It's perfectly crisp every time and since the air circulates, there's no need to flip the bacon halfway.

However, a small amount of oil is usually necessary to achieve a crispy texture. A drizzle or a quick oil spray is all you need for restaurant-quality fries and golden brown fried chicken, while other foods don't need any oil, like pizza or leftovers you might reheat.

They cook it the best way possible, on a sheet pan in the oven. The bonus is while it takes longer to make this way, you can make more at once, the pieces are more or less flat and they come out crispy. Or they throw it in the deep fryer once it's done.

You take strips of bacon and place them on a baking sheet, then sprinkle all-purpose flour on top and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes. I was surprised to find out how great this worked. The flour definitely helped to give the bacon a crispier texture and nicer color than the other methods I tried.

Tried and true, this is the way I learned to cook bacon: Lay the strips in a cold skillet, place over medium-low to medium heat, flip and fry until you reach your desired doneness and then transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

According to Dawn Perry, Real Simple's food director, cooking bacon in water could keep it tender on the inside while still crisp on the outside. How? The bacon fat would render into the water. Once the water evaporates, the bacon would crisp in its own fat.

He cooks it in a frying pan, starting out from cold with a little drizzle of olive oil and gradually bringing the temperature up to medium-high so the fat renders out, placing something flat and heavy on top to ensure super-even crispy bacon.

Which bacon is the most crispy? ›

Crispiest: Wright Applewood Thick Cut Bacon

While some folks are fans of thick-cut, hearty bacon, others are looking for rashers that cook up thin and crispy. If the latter sounds more like your preferred bacon style, try Wright Applewood Thick Cut Bacon.

On the stove

First, resist the urge to cook bacon over high heat. Bacon will take a few minutes longer to crisp up when cooked over medium, but the less intense heat allows for more fat to render from the bacon, so it cooks more evenly and crisps up better.

It should be browned, crisp, and tantalizingly juicy. On the stove or in the oven, most bacon fully cooks within 10-18 minutes. One thing to consider is that thick-cut bacon might take longer to fry than thin bacon.

Lay out the bacon strips without overlapping in a cold pan. This helps the fat render slowly, for consistently cooked strips. 3: Cook over medium heat — again, good for even rendering. Turn the strips as needed until they reach the desired crispness, 8 to 12 minutes.

Tantalizingly crispy Air Fryer Bacon is hands-down the best and easiest bacon you can make! Evenly cooked and perfectly crisp, it takes less time and makes less mess than the oven or stove top. You'll want to add it to everything!

In just nine minutes, you can have hot bacon ready to serve. The best part about the air fryer is that the grease collects underneath the basket in the drawer, so there's no grease splatters in the kitchen and the grease is a cinch to discard (simply tip the drawer to pour off).

Place bacon in air fryer

If you're using an oven-style air fryer, you'll want to put the bacon on an air-fry basket (basically a mesh rack) with either a solid pan or a piece of aluminum foil folded up on the edges underneath to catch any bacon grease drippings.

Overcrowding your baskets or shelves blocks the convection movement of the heated air that the machines are designed to create, and you will end up with food that is cooked unevenly, not crispy all the way around, or will take much longer to cook than the recipes call for.

Add a Small Amount of Oil and Place in Basket

Toss your food with a small amount of oil (around a tablespoon or less) to coat it evenly, then add it to the air fryer basket. You can also use a nonstick cooking spray made with a healthier oil such as avocado oil ($7, Target) with a high smoke point.

Lean bacon is key

The bacon chefs use in restaurants, however, is usually far leaner than the supermarket kind. Chefs often have the benefit of specifying with their suppliers how they like their meat-to-fat ratio, and this gives them less fatty bacon that has the perfect amount of lubrication without getting greasy.

What is restaurant style bacon? ›

Restaurant bacon is the thinnest option you can find, and it's usually cut into 1/32" slices. Because it's thin, this type of bacon crisps up quickly, and it's commonly found in diners, restaurants, and hotels.