Air Fryer Bacon – better than the oven
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Crispy, crunchy, Air Fryer Bacon cooked to perfection. Step-by-step photos and comparison of the Cuisinart Air Fryer Oven and Ninja Air Fryer.
You may be wondering, can you cook bacon in an air fryer? YES!! And it’s the best bacon ever. Before air fryer toaster ovens we would cook bacon in the oven, in the microwave, or even on a frying pan. It would take so long, and would mostly sit in the grease, but it was crispy, mostly. Make extra for our bacon egg salad, cheesy bacon potatoes, or breakfast egg muffins.
The air fryer is a game changer for making the best crispy bacon that everyone will enjoy and the cleanup is easy too!
why should you make bacon in the air fryer?
Cooking bacon has never been easier! Here are the top reasons:
- Cooking time is reduced thanks to the air circulating the bacon.
- Bacon grease drips down when air frying thanks to the holes in the racks or baskets.
- CRISPY bacon without burning.
How to cook bacon in air fryer
Simply place strips of bacon in a single layer onto the rack or basket. For the ninja we found that placing a whole strip caused them to curl up, so we find that slicing them in half works best for this basket air fryer.
Our Cuisinart air fryer can fit 6 pieces of bacon, whereas we fit only 5 in our Ninja air fryer. That being said, we’ve been able to squeeze an entire package of bacon on the Cuisinart Rack with some manuvering.
To prevent the fryer from smoking up we put a little bit of water or a piece of toast onto the bottom pan, this will catch the bacon grease.
Otherwise, the grease would hit the bottom of the pan and start to smoke.
You may need to flip 5 minutes in depending on your air fryer.
Once the bacon is fully cooked you’ll want to remove the bacon from the air fryer and place it onto paper towels or whatever you use to absorb the bacon grease.
Recipe tips and notes:
- If you’re using thick cut bacon you may need to add 1-2 minutes to the total cook time.
- If you like your bacon chewy and less crispy you can cook for 8-9 minutes instead of 10 if using thin sliced bacon.
- An air fryer oven can fit more bacon than the Ninja, but some basket air fryer models can fit more.
- Basket style air fryers tend to use more air circulation than an oven style and the bacon will blow around a bit, just shake or flip as best as you can between the cooking time.
more air fryer recipes
Air Fryer Bacon
Ingredients
- 6 strips bacon
Instructions
- Place the strips of bacon onto the air fryer rack.
- Air fry the bacon at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes, flipping once in between.
- Once the bacon is fully cooked remove the bacon from the air fryer and place it onto paper towels or whatever you use to absorb the bacon grease.
Video
So which level do you place the basket? Top or bottom?
We do thin on the bottom thicker on the top. 🙂
cannot wait to try this. thanks
You’re welcome! We hope you enjoy 🙂
I am new at this air fry thing. Do I need to preheat?
With our Cuisinart Air Fryer we do not need to preheat, it may depend on your air fryer. 🙂
I did not add water to the tray, and 10 minutes was way too long in my Cuisinart air fryer-the bacon was burnt. After some tweaking, I found that 6 minutes made the perfect bacon.
Great tip about timing! It will definitely vary by thickness. I notice my Cuisinart is taking much longer since it’s older now 😮
How much water do you add to the tray?
I usually add about 1/3 cup to my Cuisinart tray, hope that helps! 🙂
I have the same air fryer you used. Followed your recipe exactly and found I actually had to add a minute to get the crispness I like. But, I know, as do *ahem* MOST people, things like altitude, humidity and your ovens actual temp vs set temp affect cooking times. I liked your idea of adding the water to the bottom, too. All in all, this is a great recipe! Thanks, Courtney!!
Thank you for the review, Amy!! Yes, so many different variables even down to the cut and type of bacon with this one. 🙂 Glad it turned out great for you as well!
Won’t the bacon make an oily mess in the oven from the splatter- even if its not as bad as it would be in the oven or stovetop? What is the clean up like? That would be the bigger deterrent for wanting to try this in my air fry oven.
We suggest cleaning with a wet cloth when it’s cool enough to do so safely.
You don’t give complete instructions as to what pans to use
We use the pan that is provided with our air fryer. No additional or added pans.
I air fried bacon last night before I read this. Now I know why my air fryer oven was smoking. Thanks for the tip about adding water. Love my air fryer oven.
yes!! definitely try it! 🙂
I’m so sorry you didn’t have a good result with air frying the bacon. Would love to help troubleshoot for you! Did you use a Cuisinart air fryer? What kind of bacon did you use? Thanks!