I'm about to take you from mundane dinner prepper to gourmet chef in no time at all. I can get you a freezer full of delicious bacon, on the cheap, cooked and ready to eat or crumble to add to all of your favorite dishes. In fact, if you bake up a few pounds of bacon in the oven during dinner tonight, you'll be set with bacon for months!
When I switched to all freezer cooking (which was life changing!), one of Jon's favorite parts of it was having bits of crumbled bacon added to almost everything. It took no extra time for me at all to make a basic side dish into something that looked like Martha Stewart whipped up. The only rule is that you can't tell your family you didn't fry bacon from scratch to sprinkle in their salads. In fact, I would mention the extra effort involved several times in hopes that they'll clean up from dinner while you take a bubble bath. All's fair in love and dishes.
We freeze bacon all the time now. We buy it in sale and batch cook it all in one night.
Try Bacon in your Mashed Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese, Salads, Breakfast Sandwiches, Eggs, Potato Salad, Steak, Pasta Salad, English Muffins, Sautéed Veggies, Burgers, and Sandwiches.
- Packages of Bacon (I use 5 at a time, do as many or as few as you want)
- Freezer Bags (Gallon Sized Preferred)
- Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
- Line Baking Pans with foil to make clean up easier.
- Line the bacon in a single layer (I scrunch them together a bit to fit 1 package on each pan) in the
- bacon pans. You can usually fit 2 pans of bacon in the oven at a time.
- Bake for 20 to 40 minutes (depending on the thickness of your bacon and how crispy you like it).
- Let cool on paper towel lines plates.
- Line a baking pan with wax paper, a layer of bacon, another sheet of wax paper, and another layer of bacon, repeating these steps until all of the bacon is on wax paper. Cover with wax paper and freeze in freezer for a minimum of 2-3 hours (or overnight).
- Transfer the frozen bacon to a gallon sized freezer bag(s). This ensures that you can grab just a slice or two without having all of the slices frozen together. Freeze for up to 4 months.
- To Thaw: Either thaw in fridge overnight or microwave for 30 seconds from frozen. Crumble or enjoy whole!
Once you fall in love with the convenience of frozen bacon, head over here to learn about freezer batch cooking, and say goodbye to the nightly dinner stress forever!
What do you love to sprinkle bacon on?
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Billie says
February 3 at 4:34 pmThis is indeed how i make my bacon nowadays ! I LOVE the no grease mess & easy clean up! Have you tried seasoning your bacon before baking? Sometimes we do fresh, ground, black pepper or have done a little brown sugar on before cooking! Yum! Endless options!
The Busy Budgeter says
February 8 at 3:21 amHow have I never thought to season bacon?!? Well, I guess we know what I’m doing in the morning!
BRIER says
September 9 at 1:12 pmSo, I’ve tried several times to cook bacon in the oven and, although the bacon turns out fantastic, my oven/house gets filled with smoke when the bacon splatters while cooking. Any tips??
The Busy Budgeter says
September 24 at 5:44 pmHi Brier! One thing you can do is try to use a deeper pan and possibly a little less bacon per pan. (I know, I know, less bacon is a horrible thing!) There are commercially available splatter screens that you can find, but all I can find are round shapes. You could try a set like these, and layer them over the baking sheet. Splatter Screens
Queannah says
September 14 at 10:57 amI’ve been baking bacon for years now. When I bake it I also use cooling racks (I use cheap ones from the Dollar Tree) to bake it on so more grease drips off. Trying to make bacon a little more healthy (If that’s possible). My husband loves to eat bacon and eggs every weekend for breakfast. I never thought to freeze it. Then My house will only smell like bacon once instead of every weekend. Have you ever just had the thawed bacon on it’s own, not crumbled or on a burger? How is it?
Deb says
March 4 at 4:29 pmHi
Sounds amazing such a time saver!! When you reheat the bacon does it stay as crispy as it was before you freeze it?
The Busy Budgeter says
March 4 at 4:59 pmIt totally does! 🙂
Deb says
March 5 at 4:19 pmGreat!! Thanks
Natalie says
May 18 at 6:17 pmIs it easy for the bacon to break in the freezer?
Judy says
January 6 at 1:51 pmDo you have to turn the bacon half way through baking?
Scott says
May 6 at 7:56 pmNope it will cook evenly.
Nick says
August 4 at 6:16 pmCan you cover the baking pan with foil to prevent splatter?
Willie says
October 11 at 10:10 amOne other thing, don’t waste that bacon grease. After it cools a bit pour it through a fine strainer into a sealable glass jar and keep it in the fridge.
Voila! Bacon butter.
You can use bacon butter to add that bacon smoky flavor to dishes. I add it when popping popcorn. Drizzle with some real maple syrup and you got some maple-bacon popcorn.