Nothing is better than a buttery roll stuffed with crispy bacon for breakfast, but some may hate cooking them due to the mess left behind. It is really common for grease to spit and splatter all over the stove while cooking bacon, and then you have to spend time scrubbing at a burned pan afterwards.
However, Marie Saba, a cook, has revealed there is an really easy way to make really tasty bacon without having to deal with oil or butter, as all you need is an air fryer. Marie said: “As for cooking bacon, hall pass please! When cooking on the stove top, bacon grease splatters all over the stove. And in the oven, a layer of hot grease on a thin cookie sheet always makes me nervous.
“So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered crispy air-fryer bacon! In just nine minutes, you can have hot bacon ready to serve.”
Bacon is already quite fatty, and when you cook it on a stove with oil or butter, the white fat will cook very quickly compared to the pink meat.
This results in a burned outer edge on the bacon while the centre can still be raw and chewy, so you are left with rubbery strips as well as having to deal with a great deal of grease.
Cooking bacon in an air fryer allows it to crisp up properly as the hot air will cook every part of the meat at the same time, so you do not have to worry about it becoming overcooked.
This method might seem simple, but it is much quicker than using the oven and results in much tastier bacon without it being soaked in grease or having to do a big clean up afterwards.
How to cook air fryer bacon properly
To begin, place your air fryer on 200C and let it preheat for two minutes before cooking the bacon, as this helps the meat cook more evenly.
Next, add your bacon slices flat in the basket or tray in the air fryer. Make sure the bacon slices are in a single layer and not touching, otherwise they will stick together while cooking.
Set it to 200C and cook the bacon for seven minutes. Check the bacon halfway through the cooking time and flip it as this also helps it crisp up properly.
Regular bacon will take roughly seven or even 10 minutes depending on how crispy you like it. However, thick cut bacon will take about 10 to 12 minutes to cook, so keep an eye on it as air fryer times can vary slightly.
Once the bacon has fulled cooked, transfer it onto some paper towels so they can soak up any excess fat. Your crispier and tastier bacon without any grease will then be ready to eat.