Bacon is a staple to just about any good breakfast, and it is also a fun food that spices up just about any meal, as you can add it to almost any meal from salad to pizza to sandwiches. However, one of the problems that come with making bacon is the fact that it takes a bit of time to cook, so can you cook bacon in the microwave?
It only takes 3 to 6 minutes to cook bacon in the microwave depending on the wattage of the microwave and the size of the bacon that is being cooked. Most bacon comes with instructions on how to cook it in a microwave, but typically it only takes a few minutes.
So, now that you know that it is possible to cook bacon in a microwave, there are still many questions that you might have, along with how you can cook it to keep your microwave clean and what some of the best microwave bacon recipes are. I will cover the questions you have about microwaving bacon and also give the pros and cons of microwaving bacon. To finish I will give some of the best tools to help cook bacon in the microwave.
Easiest Way to Cook Bacon in a Microwave
Here’s What You’ll Need:
- Microwave-safe plate or dish
- Paper towels
- Bacon
How to Cook Bacon in the Microwave:
- Line a plate with paper towels. First, you are going to want to line a microwave-safe plate or dish with 2 paper towels.
- Arrange bacon on paper towels. You will then want to arrange as many bacon slices as you can fit in a single layer on top of the paper towels, while also making sure none of the bacon is overlapping.
- Top with more paper towels. After that, you will top the bacon with 2 more layers of paper towels.
- Optional, Extra Bacon: If you have more bacon to cook, you can stack another layer of bacon on top of this layer of paper towels. Just be sure to add the final 2 layers of paper towels on top to prevent splatters. These grease splatters can lead to a dirty microwave and potential grease injuries.
- Microwave. Next, you are going to microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Then, check the bacon to see if it is cooked to how you want it. If it still looks translucent, continue to cook in 30-second bursts until it’s as crispy as you like. With time, you’ll be able to more accurately estimate how long it takes to cook bacon in your microwave.
- Drain the fat. Finally, you will carefully remove the plate from the microwave using oven mitts or a towel, transfer the cooked bacon to a fresh layer of paper towel, and drain any grease for about 2 minutes. You can pat with an additional paper towel to absorb excess grease.
- Enjoy. Once you have finished cooking your bacon, enjoy it with any meal you want, whether it be for breakfast, crumbled up on a salad, or as a bacon, lettuce, and tomato (BLT) sandwich.
If you are big bacon lovers like we are, then you test different ways to cook bacon. You can cook bacon in the oven, or the microwave, and you can even cook bacon in the air fryer! Though, I have found that microwaving my bacon is the quickest and most effective way to prepare the bacon.
Pros & Cons of Cooking Bacon in the Microwave
Pros Of Cooking Bacon With A Microwave
- No Worries About Oil Splatter. Oil splattering is one of the biggest reasons that I don’t cook bacon as much as I would like to. When you get cooking your bacon, the oil begins the splatter and explode and make a mess all over your stove, which can be a big hassle to clean up afterward. You won’t have to use oil to cook bacon in the microwave, so you won’t have to worry about that cleanup stage.
- The Clean Up Is Easy. In fact, the whole process of cleaning up once you use a microwave to cook your bacon is much easier than the cleaning process when you cook bacon on the stove. The first reason for this is that the paper towels absorb nearly all the grease that the bacon produces. Along with that, you don’t have to wash any of the frying pans that you would traditionally use to cook bacon.
- Healthier (Sort Of). Microwave bacon is sort of healthier since it doesn’t sit in its own grease or oil like fried bacon.
- Quicker. Cooking bacon in a microwave only takes a few minutes. Cooking typically takes between just 3 and 6 minutes.
- The Smell. This one is up to the person cooking the bacon, but when you use a microwave instead of the stove, your home isn’t going to have a bacon smell lingering around for very long. However, this might be a con for some people.
- Free Up Stove Space. When you are making a larger breakfast it can quickly get overwhelming and very easy to run out of space on your stove to cook your bacon. By using the microwave, you leave plenty of space to cook pancakes, scrambled eggs, or really any other breakfast food you have.
- The last major pro of cooking bacon in the microwave is the fact that you can cook just about any kind of bacon in the microwave, so if you prefer turkey bacon, you can still cook it in the microwave.
Cons of Microwaving Your Bacon
However, just like every other cooking method that you can choose, using a microwave to cook your bacon also has a few cons. Most can be solved in some way, but it is up to you to take the necessary steps to remove these cons and it might just be easier for you to cook on the stove.
- Cook Time. The first con that you are going to have to be dealing with is the fact that each microwave has a different number of volts, so each microwave will take a different amount of time to fully cook the bacon. You can deal with this problem by knowing how many volts your microwave has or just by learning about your microwave and how long it takes to cook things.
- Paper Towels. If you don’t have any of the helpful tools that I talked about, you are going to go through a lot of paper towels each time you make bacon. Over time, this will slowly add up and cost you quite a bit of money, however, there are plenty of people who are okay with using a bunch of paper towels when cooking bacon.
- Paper Towel Stickage. Because the bacon grease is getting the paper towels wet, when you take the bacon out, it will stick to the paper towel and you may taste the paper towel on the bacon when you eat the bacon. This doesn’t happen every time, but when it does happen it is very annoying.
- Goodbye To Bacon Fat. This is another aspect that can be considered a pro or a con depending on who you are asking, but for those who like to save the bacon fat so they can use it while cooking another meal, the fact that microwaving the bacon gets rid of all the great is going to be disappointing. Using one of the tools below will help you still collect the grease, but using paper towels will result in the loss of all the useful grease. Another option that is quick and allows you to still get the bacon grease is to air fry your bacon.
Cooking Safety With Microwaves
Safety When Handling Hot Materials
When you first take the bacon out of the microwave, it will be extremely hot. Make sure you use oven mitts or a towel to take the plate of bacon out of the microwave and don’t touch it for a few minutes afterward.
If you forgot to place paper towels on top of the bacon to absorb the grease, you will be in danger of getting a severe skin burn or scalding injury. Disturbing the bacon grease can cause eruptions of the grease, which when heated in a microwave oven, is heated very quickly and can very easily scald or burn your skin if it gets on you.
You will likely hear the bacon grease popping while your bacon is cooking in the microwave. This is normal, but the grease can continue popping when the bacon is fully cooked. You might want to cover your arms and hands while taking the bacon out of the microwave if you want to avoid getting relatively minor grease burns.
General Microwave Safety
Microwave radiation can heat body tissue the same way it heats food. Exposure to high levels of microwaves can cause a painful burn. Two areas of the body, the eyes and the testes, are particularly vulnerable to RF heating because there is relatively little blood flow in them to carry away excess heat. Additionally, the lens of the eye is particularly sensitive to intense heat, and exposure to high levels of microwaves can cause cataracts. But these types of injuries can only be caused by exposure to large amounts of microwave radiation.
Most injuries related to microwave ovens are the result of heat-related burns from hot containers, overheated foods, or exploding liquids. Most injuries are not radiation-related.
If you suspect a radiation safety problem with your microwave oven, contact the microwave oven manufacturer. You may also report any suspected radiation-related problems or injuries to the FDA by completing and mailing the Accidental Radiation Occurrence Report form.
Additional Tools to Help Microwave Your Bacon
If you’re going to be microwaving bacon somewhat regularly, you might consider purchasing one of these bacon cookers so you don’t burn through your roll of paper towels so quickly. These tools will help you save money on paper towels, and along with that, they are going to make the whole process both easier and lower the likelihood of any injuries being caused by the bacon or the grease. Here are a few top-rated cookers that reviewers are raving about.
Presto PowerCrisp Microwave Bacon Cooker
This cooker from Presto is essentially a clothesline for bacon. Simply hang your bacon strips on the vertical racks and place the whole thing in the microwave. The drip tray catches excess grease so you don’t have to bother with so many paper towels.
You can purchase it for $16 on Amazon or Walmart.
Prep Solutions Microwavable Bacon Grill
This $10 bacon “grill” has over 12,000 5-star reviews on Amazon. The elevated ridges keep the bacon lifted so the fat drips off, and the vented cover helps to prevent grease splatters. The best part? You can save the rendered fat for future use!
You can purchase it for $10 on Amazon or Walmart.
Makin Bacon Microwave Bacon Cooker
Costing just $15, this microwave bacon cooker has well over 10,000 reviews and comes in with a great score of 4.3 stars. Another bacon cooker that is like a clothesline and has a tray for the grease, this bacon cooker also has a handle to easily transport your bacon to and from the microwave.
Purchase it for $15 on Amazon or Walmart.
Different Ways to Cook Bacon
In the oven. We like to cook bacon in the oven when we have to cook a lot of bacon at one time. It is a great way to prepare bacon for a group or prepare bacon for the week.
In the air fryer. If you have jumped on the air fryer train, you are going to love preparing your bacon in the air fryer! It only takes about 5 minutes to cook bacon in an air fryer.
On the stovetop. Bacon on the stovetop is one of the more common ways to cook bacon. You place bacon in a skillet and cook it in its own grease, flipping each strip every few minutes. Though this leaves you with delicious and cooked bacon, your kitchen may have smoke in it and there will be grease slatters almost everywhere.
