3 unusual ways to cook bacon — without making a greasy mess – CNET

In my mind, the only bad part about bacon (if you ignore the fat and calories) is the grease that flies everywhere when you fry it. So, I’ve experimented with some ways to make delicious strips without the drips.

Cooking bacon for one

My husband goes out of town often for work in the middle of no-where, meaning there are few restaurants around. He likes to cook in his hotel room using a small electric grill. Turns out, small grills — like the George Foreman Grill — are perfect for cooking splatter-free single servings of bacon.

Let the grill heat up, then place the strips inside and close the lid. Be sure to have the grease catcher under the grill, or you may end up with a puddle underneath. 

With a small George Foreman Grill, I was able to cook chewy bacon in 8 minutes and crispy bacon in 10 minutes. The strips were perfect for BLTs, but I could also see my husband making bacon for breakfast using this method, too.

Making bacon for big crowds

When you want to cook large amounts of bacon at one time, there’s no better way to sizzle up some strips than the oven method. To start, set your oven  to preheat to 400 F (204.5 C) degrees. While it heats up, lay a baking rack on a baking sheet and place your bacon on the rack. The baking rack lets the grease drip down into the pan, away from the meat, making it crispy. If you like chewier bacon, then you can put the bacon directly on the pan. 

Then, just pop the pan in the oven for 10 to 20 minutes, depending how chewy or crispy you like your bacon. The popping grease will be contained inside the oven and away from your skin. 

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Bacon plates

This tip is for anyone who’s dreamed of plates made out of bacon. Grab your waffle iron and let it heat up. Then, line the bottom side of the iron with overlapping bacon strips. Close the iron and wait for it to go through two cooking cycles. 

Be patient, the wait is worth it. When you open the waffle iron you will have a yummy disk of bacon. Here are 14 other foods that can be made in a waffle iron.

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