BY: Courtney PUBLISHED: 21 Comments UPDATED ON:
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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 ourbacon 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 Cuisinartair 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 ofwater 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 Turkey Burgers
Air Fryer Oreos
Air Fryer Bacon
Author: Courtney
Make Air Fryer Bacon for breakfast, crispy crunchy, and cooked to perfection. Step by step photos and comparison of air fryer basket and air fryer oven.
5 from 10 votes
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Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Keyword: air fryer, air fryer bacon, bacon
Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 3
Calories: 183kcal
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
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 183kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 29mg | Sodium: 291mg | Potassium: 87mg | Vitamin A: 16IU | Calcium: 2mg | Iron: 1mg
The nutritional information is automatically calculated and can vary based ingredients and products used. If the nutrition numbers are important for you we recommend calculating them yourself.
nutrition disclaimer
Tried this recipe?Mention @courtneyssweets or tag #courtneyssweets!
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About Courtney
Family, Food, and Photography are Courtney's passions and you'll see all of that on this blog. She is happily married to her husband Chris and together they have two amazing kiddos!
Reader Interactions
Comments
- CM
So which level do you place the basket? Top or bottom?
Reply
- Courtney Lopez
We do thin on the bottom thicker on the top. 🙂
- B
cannot wait to try this. thanks
Reply
- Courtney Lopez
You’re welcome! We hope you enjoy 🙂
- Debbie
I am new at this air fry thing. Do I need to preheat?
Reply
- Courtney Lopez
With our Cuisinart Air Fryer we do not need to preheat, it may depend on your air fryer. 🙂
- Michele
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.
- Courtney
Great tip about timing! It will definitely vary by thickness. I notice my Cuisinart is taking much longer since it’s older now 😮
- Sue
How much water do you add to the tray?
Reply
- Courtney Lopez
I usually add about 1/3 cup to my Cuisinart tray, hope that helps! 🙂
- Amy Jones
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!!
Reply
- Courtney Lopez
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!
- Chris
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.
Reply
- Courtney
We suggest cleaning with a wet cloth when it’s cool enough to do so safely.
- Rodessa Robbins
You don’t give complete instructions as to what pans to use
Reply
- Courtney
We use the pan that is provided with our air fryer. No additional or added pans.
- betty dallas
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.
Reply
- Courtney
yes!! definitely try it! 🙂
- Frustrated
Epic fail followed directions exactly cooked for 10:00 mins still not cooked cooked another 5:00 mins still not cooked went another 5:00 still not al the was cooked gave up
Reply
- Courtney
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!
