Oven baked bacon is the flat, crispy, hands-off way to cook a whole pound at once, and starting it in a cold oven is the trick that keeps the strips from curling. No splattered stovetop and no grease burns.
I love bacon, but I don't love cooking it. It's greasy, it splatters all over your counters, burns your hands, and then you just end up with a big pan of grease. So I learned a little trick thanks to Pinterest. Instead of standing over a scorching pan, simply lay out strips of bacon on a baking sheet covered in aluminum. Bake at 400°f for 20 to 25 minutes until your bacon is golden brown and crispy. So easy! After it is done I transfer it to a plate lined with paper towel as usual. One of my favorite parts about this method is that you let the baking sheet cool, then remove the aluminum foil and throw it away.
Start it in a cold oven
The one tip that makes the difference is putting the bacon into a cold oven and turning it on with the bacon already inside. Just like you start bacon in a cold pan, a slow warm-up lets the fat render gradually, so the strips relax and cook flat instead of seizing up and curling into tight, unevenly cooked ribbons. By the time the oven reaches 400°F the bacon is already rendering, and it finishes crisp and even. This is also the way to cook for a crowd, since you can run two or three sheets at once with no extra effort.
Foil for cleanup, a rack for all-around crisp
Line the sheet with foil and the whole job cleans up by lifting the foil off and tossing it, grease and all. If you like bacon that is crisp underneath as well as on top, set a wire rack on the foil so the strips sit up out of the rendered fat and the heat reaches every side. Either way you get a flat, even batch with none of the stovetop mess, a low carb breakfast of champions. It is a building block for half the plates in my low carb breakfast ideas guide.
Sources:
USDA FoodData Central, nutrient reference for bacon
Sugarfreechic test kitchen, oven baked bacon notes
