Yes, you can cook bacon in an air fryer. We love cooking in our air fryer because everything comes out so crispy and it uses less energy than the oven. Sure, we love to cook bacon in the oven but this is fantastic method to get perfectly crispy bacon. Bacon is my favorite fruit! I love bacon so much that I call it fruit so that I don’t feel bad about how often I eat it. 😍There are pros and cons of cooking bacon in the air fryer. For me, the pros far outweigh the cons but I do want to be upfront with you about it. The con is that most air fryers will not hold as much bacon as an oven would. Also, you will likely need to cut the bacon in half to make it fit. The pros are that you won’t use as much energy and the bacon will come out far crispier than if you cooked it in the oven. I also find that cleaning up the air fryer is a bit easier. Finally, you don’t need to preheat the air fryer. Just turn it on and cook. I can throw the air fryer basket and tray right into the dishwasher. It is fantastic. The pans that I use in the oven are a bit too big for my dishwasher so I have to wash them by hand.
You betcha. It is very safe to cook bacon in the air fryer. Honestly, it may be the best possible way to cook bacon. Cooking bacon in the air fryer is a great way to avoid grease splatter. It only takes about 10 minutes to cook bacon in the air fryer and clean up is super simple.
How to cook bacon in an air fryer
Depending on how much bacon that you want to cook you may need to cook it in rounds. How much bacon you can cook will vary depending on the size of your air fryer as well.
1. Prep the bacon – Air fryers come in various shapes and sizes but most of them have a round basket. Therefore you will need to prep the bacon by cutting the slices in half.
2. Cook the bacon – Arrange the bacon in the air fryer side by side. Do not layer the bacon on top of each other. It is ok if it is slightly overlapping on the edges but we don’t want it to be stacked.
3. Cook the bacon for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
4. Check the bacon to see if it has reached your desired level of crispiness. If not, use your tongs to spread the bacon out and cook it in 3-minute increments until it has.
5. Serve the bacon – Using tongs remove the bacon from the air fryer and place it on a plate lined with paper towels. Blot the bacon and serve.
Tips and tricks
• If your air fryer is smoking when the bacon is cooking a tip to prevent this is to put a piece of bread under the basket. The bread absorbs the grease. Another option is to fold up a few paper towels folded up under the basket to catch the grease.
• We use kitchen shears to cut the raw bacon in half instead of a knife.
• The time that it takes for the bacon to cook will vary depending on the thickness of your bacon. If it is thin bacon check it after 8 minutes.
• Let the air fryer cool down before you clean it. It will be hot and there is no rush.
How to cook bacon in an air fryer
Cooking crispy bacon in the air fryer is super easy to do and it is fast. Learn exactly how to cook bacon in an air fryer.
Ingredients
- 10 oz bacon
Instructions
- Cut the bacon in half.
- Place the bacon in the air fryer. Don’t stack pieces of bacon. If they slightly overlap that is fine.
- Turn the air fryer to 400 F and cook the bacon for 10 minutes.
- Check the bacon to see if it is crispy enough to your liking.
- If it needs more cooking time, rearrange the bacon and cook in 2-minute increments.
Notes
If you want to cook more bacon than will fit in the air fryer without stacking, just cook it in batches. If cooking the bacon in batches.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 7 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 190Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 682mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 14g
Lorrie Dreier
Wednesday 17th of June 2020
I want to try this! But I'm intimidated by my air fryer and never use it! However, I definitely want to try the bacon this way. I am worried about paper towels being in there at 400 degrees! Why doesn't it catch fire? I will try it and stand by. I will also try the bread idea. I love crispy bacon!
Renee Groskreutz
Tuesday 23rd of June 2020
Well, give it a try. I don't know why the paper towel trick works but it does. :) I just experiment and see how things work out.