Air Fryer Bacon (Easy, Crispy, Smoke Free Recipe)

Cooking bacon in the air fryer is a total game-changer. It’s the least messy way to make the crispiest bacon.

Making it in the air fryer takes less time than baking it in the oven or the traditional way of cooking bacon on the stove top. And you end up with a much better texture than making it in the microwave too.

The air fryer makes preparing crispy bacon for any meal so easy that you’ll never want to make it any other way again.

Ingredients

• 1 pound bacon strips – It can be thin, regular, or thick sliced. Depending on what type of bacon you use will change the cooking time. I like bacon from Butcher Box.

Equipment

• Air Fryer
• Tongs
• Plate
• Paper towels

By the Numbers: How to Cook Bacon in the Air Fryer

Follow these simple steps to learn your new favorite way to make perfect bacon.

Step 1: Prepare Bacon to Cook

The first thing you want to do is to place your strips of bacon in a single layer on your air fryer oven racks or in the air fryer basket if you have that style.

Step 2: Air Fry Bacon

Place the trays or drawer into your air fryer and cook on 350˚ F. Cook time depends on the type of bacon you have. Make sure the drip tray is in the bottom of the basket or oven if your model has one.

• If you have regular bacon slices, you’ll want to cook them for 8-10 minutes.
• If you have thick-cut bacon, it’ll likely need to cook for 10-14 minutes.

I don’t typically rotate trays when I’m making bacon in the air fryer because it can lead to scalding bacon grease drips in your kitchen. Instead, I remove any bacon strips that are cooked before the rest since the pieces closer to the heating element will cook faster.

Step 3: Drain Crispy Bacon on Paper Towels

After your bacon is cooked to your preferred level of crispiness, remove it from the air fryer using tongs and transfer it to a plate that you’ve lined with paper towels so any excess grease can drain out.

Step 4: Serve Bacon

Once the grease has drained, you can serve your air fryer bacon.

Tips for Making Perfect Air Fryer Bacon

Answers to your questions about making the best bacon in your air fryer.

How much bacon can you cook at once?

How many pieces of bacon you can cook at once will depend on the size of your air fryer. The best air fryer for bacon, in my opinion, is the countertop convection oven style air fryers. It works great in basket-style air fryers as well, but you can’t usually fit as much bacon in those.

I have both a PowerXL air fryer and an Instant Pot Vortex Air Fryer. Even though I can’t fit as much in my Instant Pot Air Fryer, I prefer it over the PowerXL because it cooks things much faster and more consistently.

Why a single layer of bacon?

If you stack your bacon, the fat won’t render the same and you won’t get crispy bacon. If you have a small air fryer, this means you can really only make a small amount of bacon at time and may need to make multiple batches.

Can the air fryer trays be lined with foil for easy cleanup?

I don’t recommend lining your air fryer trays with aluminum foil because it blocks the flow of hot air. If you want your bacon to cook evenly, it’s best to allow air to flow around the bacon slices.

Best temperature to cook bacon at?

While a lot of recipes call for air frying bacon at 400˚ F, the smoke point of bacon fat is also 400˚ F. I prefer to avoid filling my kitchen with white smoke, so I find that the perfect temperature to set your air fryer on to avoid bacon smoking is 350˚ F .

If you still notice that your air fryer smokes, set it to a lower temperature and continue cooking while opening a window to help any smoke dissipate. Some air fryers may cook hotter than others.

How long to cook bacon?

While the times in the recipe card work well for most people, the actual cook time you need to use will depend on the model and style of your air fryer. It will also depend on the thickness of your bacon. Even thick-cut bacon varies in thickness by package.

I’ve used a few different air fryers and I find they all cook just a bit differently and at different speeds. The first time you make this recipe, just watch your bacon closely and you’ll quickly learn the best cook time for the model of your air fryer.

The best thing about air frying bacon in small batches is that if your first batch of bacon was a little overdone, reduce the cook time with the second batch. If it wasn’t quite as crispy as you like, add an extra minute or two next time.

Best bacon to buy online?

I love Butcher Box. It’s worth the extra cost because it’s thick cut, from heritage pork and it doesn’t shrink as much as other bacon. You can read my full ButcherBox review to learn more.

Does this recipe work with turkey bacon?

Yes, you can make air fryer turkey bacon using the same method as making regular bacon. The cook time will vary since turkey bacon typically has less fat than pork bacon.

What to do with extra bacon grease?

I like to keep all of our bacon grease in a jar in the fridge and then use it to cook things like Instant Pot Baked Beans or Instant Pot Refried Beans.

If you don’t keep bacon grease, you can place a piece of bread in the bottom of the air fryer drip tray of most oven-style air fryers to soak up the extra grease and make cleanup easier.

Delicious ways to eat air fried bacon?

Use it in your favorite dishes or try some of these great recipes:

If you like this Air Fryer Bacon Recipe, try our Air Fryer Pork Chops recipe next!

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