How To Cook Bacon in an Air Fryer Oven

You probably just got an air fryer oven, and the first recipe on your list is french fries, but have you ever tried air frying bacon?

This bacon-cooking technique is a game-changer. Bacon cooked in the air fryer oven is crispy, tasty, does not take much time to cook, and eliminates messy smoke and grease splatters.

You’ll probably never want to cook bacon another way once you do it in the air fryer oven. So, let us show the process of cooking bacon in an air fryer oven, and you could learn some really helpful tips along the way.

Bacon nutrition facts

Tips for air frying bacon

When cooking bacon with an air fryer oven, try keeping these tips in mind for the best results.

1. Check and rotate

Set the timer for half of your targeted cooking time. The pieces on the outer edges of the tray will cook faster, so check the outer edges of the bacon at the halfway point. Rotate the bacon if necessary.

2. Plan for dripping grease

To avoid bacon grease dripping on the oven, always remove the drip pan at the same time as the air fry tray. If you accidentally leak bacon grease in the oven, it will generate a lot of smoke.

3. Use bread to soak up grease

Placing 2 pieces of bread on the tray with your bacon will soak up some of the excess grease, which helps minimize smoking. If you plan to prepare more than 1 batch, replace the bread with each batch. It can burn and be less effective after a batch or 2.

You can use frozen bread for this purpose, so here’s a good tip: Keep bread heels in a bag in your freezer, earmarked for this purpose.

4. Use foil and parchment paper on the tray

The foil as the first layer on your tray makes clean-up easier. The parchment paper on top of the foil helps absorb fat and grease. Use parchment paper and bread for the best results.

5. Expect a mess

Even if you use the bread and parchment paper strategies, air-frying bacon can still be messy. The air fryer will spin bacon grease all around the inside of your oven. More on this below. If you don’t want to deal with that mess, bake the bacon instead, either in the air fryer oven or in a conventional oven.

What happens to bacon in the air fryer

In an air fryer, a high-speed fan and super-heated air are used for cooking or “frying.” Because there is a fan involved, bacon grease may be blasted around inside the oven. This is the downside of air-frying fatty foods.

Your alternatives are:

• Slow cook bacon in the oven
• Cook bacon on the stove
• Cook bacon in the microwave

Cooking bacon in an air fryer oven

Ensure to follow these steps when cooking bacon in an air fryer oven:

• Preheat the oven, set the temperature to 400°F, and select the Air Fry feature.
• Cover a sheet pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil while the oven is preheating. Place a sheet of parchment paper and two slices of bread on the foil.
• Separate the bacon and arrange it on the air fry tray in a uniform layer. Make sure the tray isn’t too crowded so that the air can circulate adequately around the food while air-frying.
• Place the air fry tray in the third position from the top when the oven is heated.
• The amount of time it takes to cook bacon depends on your preference. Air fry for 14 minutes for highly crispy bacon and 12 minutes for crisp bacon. Air fry for 10 minutes for somewhat chewy bacon and 8 minutes for softer bacon. Flip and rotate the bacon halfway through.