The Best Way To Cook Bacon With Absolutely No Mess

While writers may go into ecstasies over the scent of bacon sizzling in the pan perfuming the entire house, no one waxes rhapsodic about cleaning up the greasy splatters that spread all over the stove surface and wind up on walls and ceilings. If you must cook bacon in a pan, it's best to start with a cold one (cold pan, although you could also down a breakfast brew if you wanted). A better way to make sure your bacon is relatively mess-free, though, is to bake it in the oven.

Some people consider baking in the oven to be the best way to cook bacon and it does have significant advantages. Not only can you bake a large amount at a time, but it'll cook evenly — plus the grease is contained in the pan. To bake bacon, put it on a wire rack inside a pan with sides. The rack allows for better air circulation and also keeps you from having to fish the strips out of a pool of grease when they're done cooking. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, then stick the pan of bacon in the oven and begin baking. Check it after about 10 minutes in (if it's thick cut, it may take 20 minutes or more). As far as lining the pan goes: some like to do it, but I never bother. It's just as easy to pour cooled bacon grease (which you should keep for cooking) out of an unlined pan, It's also no more difficult to clean an unlined baking pan than a frying pan.

Of course, the oven isn't your only frying pan alternative when it comes to cooking bacon. Maybe it's a hot day and you don't want to heat up the house or perhaps you're in a hurry and don't have time to bake. In that case, the much-maligned microwave can be your new best friend. While some may deride microwave bacon as rubbery, it doesn't need to be. In fact, there are two different methods for crispy microwave bacon that can achieve pretty good results in less time than it takes an oven to preheat.

The quickest way involves sandwiching bacon strips between two sheets of paper towels and then zapping them at high heat for about 30 seconds per slice. Remember to pull the paper towels off as soon as the bacon is done, otherwise they might stick. For a paper-free way to cook bacon, take a microwave-safe bowl and put it on a plate (also microwaveable). Drape each slice over the rim so it hangs down into the bowl, then cook them on high for 90 seconds apiece. As this method takes longer, you might want to rotate the bowl halfway through the cooking time to make sure all of the strips cook evenly. The great thing about this method is that not only does the bacon come out crispy with some chew, but the grease is neatly and conveniently contained right in the bowl.