How to Bake Bacon

Learning how to bake bacon is a great way to free yourself of the greasy mess that happens when bacon is fried in a skillet on the stove top. All you need is your oven, a stainless steel cookie sheet, and a pound of raw, sliced bacon. (If you want to use an aluminum cookie sheet, I highly recommend that you line it with parchment paper first).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Separate the slices of bacon and lay them in a single layer on the cookie sheet, in parallel to the short side of the sheet. You may need two cookie sheets if you want to cook the whole pound at once.
Bake the bacon at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. If you like your bacon crispy, leave it in for about 25 minutes.
When you take the pan out of the oven, I would suggest a mitt type pot holder, because the liquid grease that accumulates on the pan can pop, and will create a nasty burn, plus you might drop the bacon. Talk about a mess.
Pour off the liquid grease into a glass jar or bowl. (Plastic will melt!)
Transfer the bacon to a plate covered with paper towels if you want to drain the remaining grease. Otherwise, transfer to a plate and enjoy!

Bacon grease can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 months or in the freezer for many months.

Here are some ways to use cooked bacon:

Slice a raw tomato into thin slices. Spread each slice with a little mayonnaise, pile on a crispy slice of bacon and enjoy.
Crumble the cooked bacon on top of avocado slices.
Chop up a small tomato and avocado and combine. Mix in some mayonnaise and crumbled bacon
Crumble into a salad
Mix it with some smashed blue cheese and spread it on whole pecans.
Mix it into your scrambled eggs at breakfast.
Mix it into a quiche.

Ways to use leftover bacon grease:

Use it to make kale chips.
Saute mustard greens or cauliflower with bacon, bacon grease and onions for a tasty side dish.
Make bacon mayonnaise.
If you have a dog, pour a little over his or her food. They will love you for it.
Fry your breakfast eggs in it.
Fry your dinner meats in it.
Fry anything you want to taste good in it. :)