Bacon is a beloved breakfast food for many, adding a savory, smoky flavor to everything from eggs to pancakes But with its high fat content, bacon is not the most diet-friendly option This leads to the question – is baking bacon a healthier cooking method than frying?
Let’s explore the pros and cons of frying versus baking to determine which is better for you
Why Bacon is Traditionally Fried
Frying is the traditional way most people cook bacon It’s quick, easy, and gives the bacon a crispy texture To fry, slices of bacon are placed in a skillet with a small amount of oil or butter over medium-high heat.
The hot grease helps the bacon cook fast while also lending more flavor. The meat sizzles and browns, the fat renders, and after a few minutes you have hot, crispy bacon right off the stovetop. It’s convenient for hurried breakfasts and bacon cravings.
Potential Downsides of Frying Bacon
While delicious, frying bacon has some potential health and safety downsides:
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Added fat and calories – Frying adds extra fat and calories from the oil or butter in the pan. Bacon itself is high in fat already.
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Messy splatter – Hot grease can pop and splatter, creating a mess and potential burns.
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Carcinogens – Cooking at high heat produces potentially carcinogenic compounds like nitrosamines.
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Hard to control crispiness – It’s easy to burn the bacon or end up with undercooked soggy spots when frying.
For these reasons, many people opt to bake their bacon instead for a healthier result.
Why Baking Produces a Healthier Result
Baking bacon in the oven has gained popularity as a healthier cooking method. Here’s why it’s better for you than frying:
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Less fat – Grease drips off while baking, keeping it away from the meat. No added fats are needed either.
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Fewer carcinogens – The lower oven temp helps minimize potentially harmful compounds.
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More even cooking – Oven heat surrounds all sides for consistent crispiness.
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Easier cleanup – A baking sheet contains grease spatter for fast cleanup.
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More flavor control – Spices and flavors can be easily added before baking.
Overall, baking results in crispy bacon that’s lower in fat and calories than frying.
How to Bake Perfect Bacon Every Time
Baking bacon is simple and just takes a few steps:
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Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or parchment.
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Arrange bacon slices in a single layer on the sheet, making sure not to overlap.
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Bake for 12-18 minutes, until crispy and browned. Thinner bacon may take less time.
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Remove from oven and transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
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Pour away excess grease from the baking sheet and cleanup is easy.
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Enjoy your crispy baked bacon! Add spices, brown sugar or maple syrup before baking for flavored bacon.
Baking times can vary based on bacon thickness, so keep an eye on it.
Nutritional Comparison of Frying vs. Baking
Let’s look at the nutrition facts of fried versus baked bacon.
For fried bacon, 3 ounces (about 6 slices) contains about:
- Calories: 220
- Fat: 18g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Sodium: 570mg
For the same 3 ounces of baked bacon:
- Calories: 147
- Fat: 9g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Sodium: 537g
As you can see, baked bacon contains significantly less calories, fat, and saturated fat while still providing that crispy, savory flavor.
Should You Avoid Bacon Altogether?
While baking is healthier than frying, it’s worth noting that bacon should still be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet. The World Health Organization classifies processed meats like bacon as “carcinogenic to humans.”
Bacon, even baked, still contains a lot of sodium and saturated fat. These have been linked to increased risks of high blood pressure, heart disease, and other health issues.
For optimal health, the American Heart Association recommends limiting processed meat to no more than 2 servings per week. One serving is 2-3 strips of bacon.
So savor baked bacon as an occasional treat, not an everyday food.
Healthy Ways to Enjoy Baked Bacon
Here are some tips for enjoying baked bacon in moderation as part of a healthy diet:
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Crumble a few bits over salads for a smoky flavor punch.
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Add baked bacon to roasted Brussels sprouts or green beans.
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Top baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with just a sprinkle of crunchy bacon.
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Fold a couple slices into an omelet with veggies for breakfast.
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Swap bacon crumbles for croutons in soups.
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Mix bacon bits into healthier dips and spreads.
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Add small bacon pieces to sandwiches instead of full slices.
Potential Concerns with Bacon Consumption
While baking bacon is undoubtedly healthier than frying, there are still a few concerns to keep in mind:
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Nitrates/nitrites used in cured meats may be linked to cancer. Look for uncured or nitrate-free bacon.
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Processed meats contain high amounts of sodium, which may contribute to high blood pressure.
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Carcinogens form when cooking meat at high temps. Bake at moderate temps.
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Pork quality matters – opt for pasture-raised heritage breed pork when possible.
As with any food, moderation and quality are key when incorporating bacon into your diet.
The Bottom Line
Baking bacon is healthier than frying. The hot oven crisps the bacon by rendering the fat evenly, rather than soaking the meat in it. Baking results in bacon that’s lower in fat, calories, and carcinogens.
However, bacon should still be eaten in moderation as part of a vegetable-focused diet for optimal health. Used wisely though, a little baked bacon can add a tasty crunch and smoky flavor to healthy recipes. Crispy low-fat bacon without the mess and splatter makes baking the clear winner.
The ideal strip of bacon never touches a pan
International Bacon Day is an unofficial holiday that takes place on the first Saturday of September. InsideHook’s Bacon Week is a collection of old and new stories that celebrate salt-cured pork (and sometimes non-pork or even non-meat) in all its sizzling glory. What’s the point?
Bacon is inarguably one of the most perfect foods on the planet. Salty, crisp, and full of meaty umami flavors, bacon is a welcome food any time of day. There’s room for bacon-related debate, however, on the optimal cooking method. Most prefer to pan fry, others deep fry, and a select few simmer before frying. All of these ways are good, but according to science, baking bacon in the oven is the best (and easiest!) way to do it.
Before we talk about the best way to cook bacon, let’s look at some of the other ways to cook bacon to see which ones work and which ones don’t. A strip of bacon is constructed out of two distinct sections, essentially the meat and the fat. These two parts cook at different rates, with the fat rendering out slower than the meat. This is very important for getting the perfect bacon strip: crispy but tender, meaty with just the right amount of fat to carry the flavor. This difference makes cooking difficult because the fat and meat need to work together during the whole process.
For instance, a pan-fried bacon strip (rashers of bacon in a frying pan with a little oil) doesn’t keep the right amount of fat and meat. Often, the meat will cook in the pan before the fat can melt, which makes the food curl. This curling eliminates full contact between bacon and pan, so the fat does not always evenly render out. The result is either chewy, fatty bacon or overly crisp/near-burnt bacon. Additionally, a frying pan has size limitations, requiring batch cooking or hungry guests. For this reason, pan-frying seems like a good way to cook at first, but the end result is usually a curled, off-balance mess.
Since a deep fryer or large Dutch oven full of oil is needed, deep-frying bacon is usually only done at bars and restaurants that are already very busy. The concept, however, is solid. Hot oil quickly renders the fat and crisps the meat, resulting in shatteringly crisp slices. The drawback (aside from assembly of a deep frying setup) is the oil itself. It’s hard to get the timing right so that the fat renders and the meat gets crispy; if you’re off by even a few seconds, your bacon will be greasy or burnt. Additionally, the cooking oil will become contaminated from the bacon, so reuse is questionable at best. Though deep fried bacon can produce excellent results, the overall fussiness rules this method out for most.
Rendering bacon via simmering is the newest social media bacon trend. The logic is sound; use a small bit of water to draw out some of the fat in the bacon, then as the pan dries the bacon fat, pan fry the strips to perfection. This method does aptly render the bacon and prevents curling in the process, producing nicely crisp bacon. The pitfall, ironically enough, is not in the texture but in the flavor. If not executed perfectly, the simmering step will naturally draw out some, if not all, of the smoke and salt from the bacon. The result is a strip of bacon that looks amazing on social media but doesn’t deliver on the plate.
So why bake bacon? The answer lies in the strengths of the previously mentioned methods. Optimal bacon cooking renders out a bit of the fat before the meat fully cooks. Then, the fat and the meat cook and crisp at the same time, making a perfect piece of bacon with a great balance. Putting a cold pan in the oven before baking does just that. This gives the bacon a gentle start to its roasting journey, similar to the simmering method. As the fat melts, the baking sheet acts like a deep fryer and cooks the bacon just right in the rendered fat. The bacon is cooked perfectly, and the cooking sheet is easy to clean—just take the bacon off and pour off the grease, like you would when you pan fry.
This method below produces slightly-chewy-yet-crisp bacon, which is an all-around method. If you want a crunchier slice, turn the heat up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want more bendable bacon, turn the heat down to 375 degrees. Also note: the thickness of the cut will greatly impact cooking time. Thin cut will be closer to 15 minutes, while a thick butcher’s cut will approach 25 minutes.
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Servings: 1/2 pound of bacon
- 1/2 pound bacon
- rimmed baking sheet
Directions
- Set a rack one step below the middle of the oven and heat it to 400 degrees F. Place bacon strips on the baking sheet one on top of the other, making sure they don’t touch.
- Roast the bacon for 20 to 25 minutes, and after 15 minutes, check to see if it’s done.
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FAQ
What is the healthiest way to cook bacon?
Does baked bacon have less fat?
Does bacon lose calories the more you cook it?
Is bacon in the air fryer healthier?
Should you bake Bacon in the oven?
In addition to the most obvious end (gobbling the slices directly from the plate), baking bacon in the oven is an ideal method any time you have a recipe that calls for adding cooked, crumbled bacon, or if you want to make a standard recipe a little more decadent.
Is Bacon healthy?
Yes, bacon is delish. But it’s not always the healthiest choice. Just three slices of bacon contain 161 calories, 12 grams of fat, and 581 milligrams of sodium (per Very Well Fit ). So how do you cook your bacon so it’s as healthy as possible, yet still crunchy, and yummy every time?
What temperature should Bacon be preheated before baking?
We recommend baking bacon at 400 degrees F. For most recipes, you’d wait for the oven to preheat before you start baking. When baking bacon, however, we suggest sliding the sheet pan into the cold oven so the bacon sits inside as the oven comes to temperature.
Can you cook bacon in a cold oven?
Place the bacon into a cold oven that has not been pre-heated. Once the bacon is in the oven, then start pre-heating the oven. Why? When you heat up bacon slowly, it renders out its fat and ends up super crispy – far crispier than if you had started cooking the bacon in a hot oven.