Air Fryer Bacon

The easiest way to get perfectly crispy bacon? The air fryer, of course! No grease splattering, just the best possible strips of bacon you could ever hope for, ready to eat in roughly 10 minutes and with minimal clean up. Breakfast, brunch, BLTs, and burgers all just got SO much better!

🔥 Why This Recipe Is So Good

• This is, hands down, the best way to cook perfect strips of bacon. Don’t get me wrong, I love stovetop bacon as much as the next person, and cooking bacon in the oven? A must-know method. But air fryer bacon? Air fryer bacon is SO easy. All you need’s an air fryer – no skillet, no baking sheet. You don’t even have to flip the bacon as it cooks. Just check on it periodically so you’re guaranteed to get your favorite bacon texture and doneness.
• Not only is air fryer bacon by far the easiest way to cook bacon, it’s also almost completely mess-free. No more grease splattering all over the stove (or you, ouch!). Everything’s contained right in the air fryer basket, so all you have to do is wipe it out and pop it in the dishwasher when you’re done.
• Did I mention this method’s super fast? In roughly 10 minutes, you’ll have perfect strips of crispy bacon ready to compliment a stack of pancakes, a plate of scrambled eggs, or the juiciest cheeseburger.
• You can cook any type of bacon in the air fryer, too. Thick-cut, thin-cut, pork, turkey, even vegan bacon! The cook times will vary a little from one type to another, so keep that in mind and adjust accordingly to avoid burning.

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef’s Tips

• A number of factors will affect your cook time, so use this recipe as a guideline rather than a hard-and-fast rule. Even two of the exact same air fryer sitting side-by-side in the exact same kitchen will behave differently. Just keep an eye on the bacon as it cooks, and take it out of the air fryer when it’s close to your preferred doneness. It’ll crisp up a little more as it rests, so be careful not to overcook it.
• For really, really crispy bacon, let the bacon rest on a wire cooling rack after cooking. If you lay it directly on the paper towels, the bacon sits in the grease that drips off, which can make it soft. With the bacon elevated on the cooling rack, the grease drips off and away from the bacon, and the bacon gets super crispy.
• If you’re cooking multiple batches of bacon, wipe out the air fryer basket really well after each batch. As the older bacon grease gets hotter, it can start to smoke. The smoke’s not only unpleasant, but it can be a safety hazard, too. Other ways to prevent smoking are to add a little water to the pan under the air fryer basket, or to add a slice or two of bread under the basket to soak up the grease.