Q&A for How to Cook Bacon

It depends on what you’re going for. Cooking bacon in a non-stick or cast-iron skillet will give you crispy and delicious results, but you’ll have to deal with lots of spatters and grease. It’s also super easy to cook bacon in the oven on parchment paper, but that takes a bit longer (about 20 minutes at 400°F). If you’re looking for a healthier alternative, cook your bacon on a grill or bake it on a wire rack so the grease drips away as it cooks.

If you heat up the skillet first, this should take about 6-8 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon.

It’s unlikely to kill you, especially since bacon is heavily cured and seasoned so that it doesn’t spoil as easily as most meats. However, eating raw or undercooked bacon can increase your chances of getting food poisoning—which is potentially fatal, especially if you have a weakened immune system. Undercooked pork can also carry a variety of parasites. To be on the safe side, it’s always best to cook any pork product thoroughly.

No, not significantly.

It depends on how crispy you want your bacon. If you don't want it to be too crispy, I suggest you do not use a lid.

Neither. The oven method is best. One healthy benefit of baking bacon in the oven is that all of the grease drips out of the bacon and onto the pan, reducing the greasiness, calories and fat. Once it is cooked, place the bacon onto a paper towel to further absorb the fat and oil. As a result you will have crispier, healthier bacon.

If you plan to eat all of it within an hour and a half, you should be fine. However, if you're cooking the bacon well in advance or keeping leftovers for another time, it should be refrigerated within two hours at the latest, but earlier is better.

When cooking bacon in the oven, it depends on the oven. I've used some where the oven cooks evenly and I have used some where they do not, so in those instances I have turned the pan 180° and sometimes I had to flip for an even baked bacon. As such, it's suggested you try it to see if it improves the bacon but your oven may work well and not require you to do this.

You can add anything you like on your bacon before or after frying. Feel free to drizzle a bit of flavored oil and vinegar over it for more flavor.