Crispy bacon in the air fryer is a game changer! No more mess, super easy cleanup, and delicious bacon in less than 10 minutes! Your whole family will love this easy air fryer bacon recipe!
I’m going to admit, baked bacon is my absolute favorite type of bacon. It sort of gets crystalized and it’s just the whole mouth feel plus flavor that does it for me.
BUT…it takes a long time.
You’ve got to pre-heat the oven for 15-20 minutes and then got for an additional 20 minutes and it’s not ideal when I only want a few pieces of crispy bacon.
There’s where the air fryer comes in and saves the day.
If you’re wanting to make a small amount of bacon (4-5 slices) in under 10 minutes, this is the best bacon in my opinion! Way better than microwaved bacon and cooks in less time than stove top bacon and way less cleanup!
Making perfect air fryer bacon is such an easy recipe!
Table of contents
Ingredients
- bacon – I used uncured bacon from Aldis. I’ve noticed that uncured bacon and thick cut bacon take 1-2 minutes longer to cook than normal cured bacon
- optional spices – salt and pepper
- optional balsamic glaze – if you’ve never put balsamic glaze on your bacon and then cooked it, wow! This will be a game changer for you! Just omit the balsamic glaze if you’re following a keto diet.
How to make bacon in the air fryer
This is one of those KISS (keep it simple stupid) recipes. And just by saying that I feel really old using one of those analogies, but it’s appropriate for this setting.
No need to pre-heat the air fryer (honestly I always forget anyways when a recipe calls for it and I just end up adding a few minutes to the cook time). No need for additional oil or spraying the basket since bacon is naturally a fatty food.
- Place bacon slices in the air fryer basket. Add optional spices or balsamic if wanted. Make sure to only place a single layer of bacon in the bottom of the basket.
- Change temperature to 350F and cook for 7 minutes if normal bacon and 9 minutes if thick cut or uncured bacon.
- After it’s done cooking, carefully transfer to a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
- Enjoy the crisp bacon! Store leftover pieces of bacon in a glass container in the fridge.
Recipe notes
- If using thick-cut bacon or uncured bacon, flip bacon after 5 minutes to ensure bacon gets crispy. The thickness of your bacon greatly effects cooking time and crispness.
- If using higher quality bacon I like to save the bacon fat or grease to cook with. Store in an air tight glass container such as a mason jar in the fridge.
- If after the timer goes off and the bacon isn’t as crispy as you’d like, cook the bacon for an extra minute and check for desired crispness.
If you make a few batches and have leftover bacon, try making this cast iron Brussel sprouts with bacon recipe. Simply skip the cooking the slices of bacon part and add a little bit of leftover bacon grease to the skillet.
You’ll thank me later!
Frequently asked questions
Of course! You can typically fit 3-5 slices of raw bacon in an air fryer basket depending on the size of your air fryer basket. Cooking around 350-360F will cook bacon throughly and not lead to the bacon smoking in my experience.
For regular bacon cook for 7 minutes, for thick cut or uncured bacon cook for 9-10 minutes
This is a personal preference, if you like fatty bacon then you might not like air fryer bacon because it leaves you with mostly just lean bacon. Most of the fat drips below. But this is great if you like lean bacon and like to cook with excess grease!
If you’re trying to eat bacon on a lower calorie diet, air fryer bacon will allow you to eat leaner bacon (hence lower calories) since most of the fat if separated from the protein and goes to the bottom of the air fryer.
Bacon smokes mostly when it’s cooked at too high of a temperature in the air fryer or when it’s cooked too long in an air fryer. Try cooking at 350F for 7 minutes for normal bacon and 9-10 minutes for uncured or thick cut bacon.
Air Fryer Bacon Recipe Video
More Air Fryer Recipes
If you’re addicted to using your air fryer like me (who doesn’t like saving time and easy recipes?!), try some of my favorite air fryer recipes below.
- Air fryer turkey breast – we just made this for Thanksgiving at the campground and we’ll probably be making another one around Christmas time!
- Air fryer spaghetti squash – this method is so much quicker than cooking spaghetti squash in the oven and you get the same great results!
- Air fryer broccolini – make perfect al dente broccolini in less than 10 minutes!
- Air fryer frozen Brussel sprouts – easy air fryer side dish with frozen vegetables
Delicious ways to enjoy bacon
- Keto chicken bacon ranch casserole
- Instant Pot low carb cauliflower soup recipe with bacon and cheese
- Bacon cheddar cauliflower soup recipe
- Pimento cheese-stuffed bacon wrapped dates
Crispy Air Fryer Bacon
Equipment
Instructions
- Place bacon slices in the air fryer basket. Add optional spices or balsamic if wanted. Make sure to only place a single layer of bacon in the bottom of the basket.
- Change temperature to 350F and cook for 7 minutes if normal bacon and 9 minutes if thick cut or uncured bacon.
- After it’s done cooking, carefully transfer to a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
- Enjoy the crisp bacon! Store leftover pieces of bacon in a glass container in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- I used uncured bacon for the nutrition calculation and cooked for 9 minutes
- If using thick-cut bacon or uncured bacon, flip bacon after 5 minutes to ensure bacon gets crispy. The thickness of your bacon greatly effects cooking time and crispness.
- If using higher quality bacon I like to save the bacon fat or grease to cook with. Store in an air tight glass container such as a mason jar in the fridge.
- If after the timer goes off and the bacon isn’t as crispy as you’d like, cook the bacon for an extra minute and check for desired crispness.
Nutrition
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