Can you freeze cooked bacon?

Quit standing by the stove getting splattered by bacon grease. Learn to bake bacon and freeze cooked bacon for later — so you can enjoy more bacon, more quickly and more often!

Save time and money when you bake and freeze cooked bacon for later, making it more convenient to add just a bit here and there to recipes, like Bacon Quiche or Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad or to pull a few slices out to serve with breakfast.

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• Why Do This
• Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• FAQs
• Uses for Bacon
• Tell us what you think!
• How to Freeze Cooked Bacon

Bacon just may be a magical meat. There’s just something incredibly delicious about that combination of salty, chewy, crispy, mouth-watering, little-bit fatty flavor of bacon. Swoon-worthy for sure.

All by itself, bacon wins a few medals. But, then add it to other dishes? Bacon elevates a simple turkey sandwich into a delectable club sandwich; a humble pasta dish into food for a king; a basic quiche into something amazing.

Bacon, in a word, ROCKS.

However, there are a few stumbling blocks between you and bacon.

• It can be expensive.
• It takes forever to cook on the stove — and it makes a bit mess with grease splatters. And trust me, you want to cook without messes!

Thankfully, both of these stumbling blocks can be solved quite simply when you bake and freeze cooked bacon.

Why Do This

You can stock up on sale. Since bacon is not typically a cheap food — I’ve seen it as high as $8 or 9/pound — it’s important to buy it on sale. I usually stock up on bacon anytime I see it for $4/pound or under. Buy as much bacon as you can at a good price and then store it in the freezer, either in the package or already cooked.

You can stretch a purchase. If you cook and freeze bacon, you can use just a little bit here and there to add flavor without adding a lot of cost to your recipes. It’s amazing what a few slices of bacon can do to Loaded Potato Salad. Make your bacon last longer by freezing cooked bacon in easy to use freezer bags.

You save time when you need it. Oven baked bacon is quick and easy so you don’t have to babysit it at the stove. When you freeze cooked bacon for later, you’re not fussing with it right before serving. It’s a win-win no matter how you slice it.

Ingredients

All you need to bake bacon is sliced, uncooked bacon. This is often sold in 3 to 16-ounce packages, but you can also buy bacon from the butcher in whatever weight you need.

You can use bacon that has been previously frozen. Thaw it in the fridge before baking and freezing for later.

Turkey bacon can be baked as well, though you will want to watch the cooking time. Turkey bacon has less fat and cooks more quickly than pork bacon.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Baking instructions

Baking bacon is my preferred method. It’s quick and easy, hands-free, and contains the mess in the oven, not my stovetop. Here’s how to do it:

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil. You can use parchment paper as well, but there is a fire risk with paper and the grease will seep through to the sheet pan. Using heavy duty aluminum foil makes clean up much easier.

Some people like to bake bacon on a baking rack over the lined baking sheet. This will create crispier bacon, but also give you more dishes to wash.

Separate the bacon slices and lay them on the sheet in a single layer. Try to avoid overlapping if you can.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the slices over about midway through cooking time. Use cooking tongs so you don’t burn yourself.

As oven temperatures and thickness of bacon can fluctuate, check often to prevent burning. Thick cut bacon will take longer to cook. You want your bacon crispy, but not burnt.

Drain on paper towels and serve. Store cooked bacon in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Freeze cooked bacon for longer storage.

Freezing instructions

• Place the bacon strips on a cooling rack until cool, then chill it in the fridge.
• Lay the cooked and cooled slices out on a sheet of parchment, plastic wrap, or wax paper and roll it up.
• Place the roll in a ziptop freezer bag. Freeze until ready to use.
• Frozen baked bacon should be good for up to a month.
• For homemade bacon bits, chop the bacon finely and open freeze it on a tray before bagging it up and storing in the freezer.

FAQs

Uses for Bacon

This post was originally published on February 20, 2019. It has been updated for content and clarity.