Here's how to cook bacon in the air fryer so every strip comes out ultra crispy: 350°F for 10-12 minutes, with one cheap trick that keeps your kitchen from filling with smoke.
The air fryer is my favorite way to cook crispy chicken wings, and crispy chicken thighs, so why not use it to cook crispy bacon?
I’ve tested just about every way to cook bacon: oven, skillet, microwave, you name it, and nothing comes close to the consistency of the air fryer. The even heat circulation makes every strip perfectly crisp without the greasy mess or constant flipping. I tested this recipe at multiple temperatures before settling on 350°F. At higher temps, the strips cooked unevenly and the dripping grease smoked out my kitchen.
My background in nutrition has taught me how much small cooking changes can affect fat content and texture, and the air fryer really does make a difference here. It cooks the bacon evenly at the right temp, lets the excess grease drip away, and delivers that irresistible crunch.
If you’ve ever struggled with soggy edges or smoke-filled kitchens, this method will show you exactly how to make perfectly crispy bacon with less cleanup and no guesswork.
Why You'll Love Cooking Bacon in an Air Fryer
- Ultra crispy, less grease. Grease drips away through the basket.
- Done in 12 minutes, hands-off. One flip and no standing at the stove!
- No splatter to scrub. When you use the air fryer, you don't have to scrub the stovetop or backsplash when you're done cooking.
WATCH: How to Make Bacon in the Air Fryer
Watch the video below to see exactly how I cooked my bacon. It’s so easy! You can find more of my recipe videos on my YouTube channel.
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What Bacon to Buy
- Regular Cut- I recommend using this cut given my experience during testing. I primarily used it for recipe testing since it is the most common type people will have on hand.
- Center Cut-cooks faster and dries out
- Thick Cut- you can use thick cut but cook time will be longer and it will require more space in the air fryer.
How to Cook Bacon in the Air Fryer
- First, preheat the air fryer to 350°F or 175°C.
- Place torn pieces of bread in the bottom of the air fryer, under the basket.
- Arrange bacon in the basket.
- Cook 6 minutes, flip, then 4-6 more minutes until crispy and cooked through.
Turkey bacon
I also tested this method for turkey bacon and it works great! Here are some tips for cooking turkey bacon in the air fryer
- since it's leaner, you won't need the bread slices as the air fryer does not smoke
- turkey bacon seems to cook through quicker, so I recommend reducing the cook time to 10 minutes total
- while it's tempting to cut the bacon to fit, it flew around the air fryer and didn't cook well at all, so I recommend leaving the pieces whole
- note that turkey bacon is much leaner and does not get as satisfyingly crisp as regular bacon. It is slightly crispy and also a bit chewy.
Tips for Crispy Air Fryer Bacon
- While it's OK to have a small amount of overlap in your bacon slices, you don't want complete overlap; this prevents bacon from cooking through evenly
- When cooking batches, dump out grease from the bottom of your air fryer between each batch
- Depending on the size of your air fryer model, you may be able to fit whole slices of bacon all the way across, or not. For my smaller air fryer model, I twisted the bacon ever so slightly to get it to fit properly into the air fryer basket.
- It's fine to have a bit of overlap with the bacon slices, but you don't want too much or your bacon won't cook through evenly and get crispy.
Storage and Reheating
Store the cooked bacon in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The best method I've found for reheating is in the air fryer at 350°F for 3-4 minutes, until warmed through.
One Pound of Bacon, Many Meals
- This crispy bacon is great crumbled over my cobb salad recipe.
- You can chop it and add to breakfast hot pockets.
- I also love to pair bacon with these cottage cheese bagels or with fluffy blueberry pancakes.
Air Fryer Bacon FAQs
While testing this recipe, I tried several different temperatures: 300°F, 350°F, 365°F and 400°F. The best results came at 350°F/175°C, where the bacon cooked through evenly, and the grease did not smoke excessively. At higher temperatures, the bacon was more prone to cooking unevenly, and the grease smoked out my kitchen.
The issue with cooking greasy foods in the air fryer is that the grease drips through the basket and can smoke. For this air fryer bacon, I recommend cooking at 350°F, which helps a LOT with the smoking issue.
I also recommend breaking up 1-2 pieces of bread and arranging them at the bottom of the air fryer. The bread absorbs grease as it drips down and really helps reduce smoking. Ensure you do not place the bread against the basket, as this will prevent airflow, and your bacon will not cook properly. Breaking into pieces helps disperse the bread and still allows airflow.
While the lower temperature and bread do help with smoking, there still is some that occurs. I recommend placing your air fryer near an open window or under your range hood fan.
You only need 10-12 minutes to cook perfectly crispy bacon in the air fryer!
More air fryer recipes
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Crispy Bacon in Air Fryer
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
Instructions
- Heat your air fryer to 350°F/175°C.
- Place 1-2 torn slices of bread under the basket.
- Arrange the bacon slices, twisting slightly to fit.
- Cook for 6 minutes, then flip the bacon.
- Cook for 4-6 more minutes, checking for doneness.
- Lay bacon on a paper towel-lined plate while you cook additional batches.
Tips:
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Hi, I'm Annie. With a Bachelor of Science degree, a minor in nutrition and nearly 20 year of both classical training, and self-taught experience, I've spent my career proving that home cooking can be practical, delicious and inspiring. What started in 2013 as one food blog has grown into a full-time business. Today, my husband Clayton and I run five food websites that connect with millions of home cooks every month.
When I'm not in the kitchen or behind the camera, I'm using fueling my love of travel, or chasing down new ideas that keep food fun and fresh.
Holly says
Bacon turns out perfectly crispy
Delois Yates says
the best way to cook bacon . yummy thanks for the recipe
Ben | Sweet Peas & Saffron says
HI Delois, you are welcome. Thank you for your comment.
Marion says
Insanely good!!!!!
Denise Bustard says
Yay! So happy to hear the recipe was a success for you, Marion! Thanks for taking the time out of your day to report back 🙂