There is no better way to start the day than to sink your teeth into a buttery bacon sandwich, but many of us can be put off cooking bacon as no one wants to wash an oily frying pan.
However, Erin Clarke, a cook and founder of Well Plated, has explained the better method to cook bacon is to ditch the stove altogether and simply make it in an air fryer.
Erin said: “Tantalizingly crispy Air Fryer Bacon is hands-down the best and easiest bacon you can make!
“Evenly cooked and perfectly crisp, it cooks faster and makes less mess than the oven or stovetop.”
It may seem obvious but cooking bacon in an air fryer makes the bacon tastier as the process cooks the meat more evenly so you get a better flavour and texture.
A frying pan causes the fat on bacon to cook faster than the meat which can lead to the edges becoming charred, too crispy or even burned while the middle of the bacon will be chewy and undercooked.
The hot air in an air fryer allows the fat in bacon to render out slowly so that it cooks more evenly on all sides and has a crispy texture.
The fat will also drip away from the bacon to prevent it from becoming soggy and greasy so it can have a smokier flavour, unlike frying pan bacon which often sits in its fat which causes it to become oily with less flavour.
Erin said this was her favourite way to cook bacon rather than using either a frying pan or oven as it was incredibly quick, easy and left no mess.
She said: “Because the air fryer is compact and uses powerful convection cooking, it cooks foods more quickly than they bake in the oven. One of the best parts of making bacon in the air fryer is the quick clean up. No greasy stove.”
The best way to cook bacon an air fryer
First, cut the bacon strips in half and lay them in an air fryer basket in a single layer. Make sure the bacon is not overlapping as otherwise it will not crisp.
You can line the basket with tin foil or baking paper, but there should be much less grease than with a frying pan. All you will have to do is give the air fryer basket a quick wipe after cooking rather than having to scrub at it.
Set the air fryer to 180C and then set the timer for five minutes for thin-cut bacon or 10 minutes for thick-cut bacon. How much time the bacon takes to cook will depend on your air fryer and preference.
Once the time is up, remove the bacon, place it on a plate and season with some black pepper for more flavour. Your mouthwatering and perfectly crispy bacon will be ready to eat.
