Bakin' Bacon

Do you hate frying bacon as much as I do? Do you love bacon as much as you hate frying it? Well, a few years ago, my sister-in-law Maureen, turned me on to cooking it in the oven. It ROCKS!! And yes, it gets crispy. Even Fax likes it! And it really frees you up to make other things while it's cooking, instead of standing over a hot, spattering pan for 20 minutes. Plus, it's WAY easier to clean up and you don't get grease all over everything. So here is how I do it:

What you need:
1/2 sheet pan or cookie sheet
Heavy duty aluminum foil
1 lb. bacon (not thick-sliced)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F. Line sheet pan with heavy duty aluminum foil so that it completely covers the entire pan. (See below. You can try this with regular foil, but it always rips and then you end up having to clean out your pan anyway. Which is why you use the foil in the first place.) Next line up bacon as shown below. You can really scrunch them up and shove them close together because there will be shrinkage. I can always get the whole pound on the pan. Bake for 10-11 minutes, and then flip them over. Bake an additional 10-11 minutes. (Keep an eye on them for the last few minutes. There's a fine line between crispy and burned.) Remove from pan and let cool slightly, on a paper towel-lined plate.
If you need crumbled bacon, just wait a minute or two for it to cool and will be plenty crispy.
If you want to use thick-cut bacon, I suggest reducing the temperature to 400 F, and maybe letting it cook a few more minutes. Again, keep an eye on it. It's sad to throw away a pound of bacon!

Prior to baking

Finished product
(Minus a few pieces-the kids and I were hungry!)

And here is one of the best parts. Leave the pan on the back of your stove, and once it has cooled, fold the foil into a ball and throw it away. That's it for clean up!! No trying to find a can to dump the fat into and then scrubbing the pan. Just throw out the foil and your pan has stayed perfectly clean. Seriously, it's a good thing Maureen showed me how to do this or my family would only get bacon when Fax wanted to fry some!