Baked Bacon

Baking Your Bacon

Now I have a short story to tell you....I used to work at a local convenience store that had a small deli counter/burrito counter attached to it! The burrito counter specialized in homemade tortilla, breakfast and lunch burritos! I worked on the other side making sandwiches, slicing deli meat and cheeses and making hamburgers, BUT when the burrito side needed help....I normally got to do the grunge work! Now the burrito side was staff by a very cool group of Hispanic ladies! All but one of them was shorter than I am and every single one of them could run circles around me working!

What they didn't know was that while the were running circles around me and having me do grunt work....I was watching and learning! Now their breakfast burritos are the best that money can buy in this area! The combination includes bacon, sausage, ham, eggs, fried potatoes, homemade pico de gallo and homemade hot sauce! All of which I either prepped for cooking or cooked for serving at one time or another!

One of the things that I remember the most...that I had never seen before was that they BAKED their bacon!?! And I thought that was the coolest thing that I had ever seen! I mean ...yeah it splatters all over your oven...but I would rather have nice evenly cooked bacon that I didn't have to stand over and get burnt by and clean my oven than the alternative!!! And it saves so much time!! You can have your bacon cooking while you make your other items on the menu!

So here is what I learned...

Line one jellyroll pan with parchment paper OR place one cooling rack on a jelly roll pan (I don't like cleaning the cooling rack afterwards, so I normally go with the parchment paper method).

Lay out one pound of bacon. (and it really doesn't matter if the bacon is touching or slightly over lapping...it's gonna shrink as it cooks)

Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for appox. 20-25 minutes! The amount of time depends on how you like your bacon!

We like ours full cooked...and a little on the soft side! I suggest you set your timer for about 15 minutes and check every couple of minutes until it reaches your preference!

Now remove from your pan and let drain on paper towels like normal!
I allow the grease to cool for a few minutes before pouring into my storage container for seasoning later! (yes I am an old fashioned cook that still uses bacon drippings as seasoning!)

Hope you have a great rest of the week!
God Bless,
Mama D