Air Fryer Bacon
You could be eating perfectly crispy Air Fryer Bacon in about 10 minutes! No grease splatters. No smoke. No leftovers!
Why We Love Air Fryer Bacon
- Traditional stove-top bacon cooking methods leave you with grease splatter all over the stovetop, but by using an air fryer you get crispy perfect bacon in a short amount of time with minimal cleanup and no splatter!
- Air frying your bacon takes away the chance of smoking up your kitchen, or unevenly cooked pieces of bacon.
- I made four pounds of bacon testing this recipe to get it absolutely perfect for you. This means the right temperature, the right amount of water, the perfect amount of time, and the best technique.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Air Fryer Bacon
Bacon: Whichever cut of bacon your family prefers, thick or regular, will work just fine.
Water: This is the secret to perfectly cooking and not having bacon grease smoke leave a cloud in your kitchen.
How to Cook Bacon in an Air Fryer
Jump to RecipeSTEP 1 Pour the water in the bottom of your air fryer. Add the bacon to the air fryer basket and pop it into the fryer. Turn the fryer to 350 degrees F.
STEP 2 Fry the bacon until it’s cooked through. It will look slightly underdone, but that’s okay. Rest the bacon on a paper towel until cooled and crisped up. Repeat cooking with the remaining strips of bacon
Tips & Tricks
- I use a Cosori 5.8-quart air fryer.
- Water is added to the air fryer to reduce the risk of smoke (and every smoke alarm in your house going off at once).
- Bacon has a smoke point of 375 F so it’s important to cook it at 350 degrees F.
- You do not need to preheat your air fryer.
- The bacon will look slightly underdone, that’s okay. It will continue to cook and crisp up after being removed from the air fryer.
- You do not need to flip the bacon. The air fryer’s convection oven heating method cooks the bacon on both sides at the same time.
- Want to make Air Fryer Twisted Bacon from TikTok? Twist the strips of bacon before adding them to the air fryer basket. Cook for 10-12 minutes (or a little longer if you like your bacon SUPER crispy) and then enjoy!
Air Fryer Bacon FAQ
How Long to Cook Bacon in an Air Fryer
For regular bacon, (AKA thinner bacon) you’ll cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
For thick-cut bacon, you’ll want to cook it for 10-12 minutes.
If you like really crispy bacon, you can add a minute or two to the cooking time. Still, the times listed will give you firm, slightly crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth bacon.
How do I store Air Fryer Bacon?
We never have any bacon leftover in our house. But if by some chance end up with extra bacon, you can put it in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to three days.
Is it safe to cook bacon in an air fryer?
Yes. We’re using a very small amount of water added to the air fryer pan so that it eliminates the smoke that bacon can create when cooking.
Yes, we are cooking the bacon at a temperature lower than its smoke point. However, any residual bacon grease in the air fryer can begin to smoke if it cooks long enough. (I’m talking repeated batches friends.)
More delicious breakfast recipes
- Baked French Toast Casserole
- Bacon Pancakes
- Belgian Waffles
- German Pancakes
- Homemade Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
Air Fryer Bacon
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup water
- 1 pound bacon
Instructions
- Add water to the bottom of the air fryer.
- Place 3 to 4 strips of bacon at a time into the air fryer basket, depending on its size. Place the basket into the air fryer and then set it to 350 degrees F.
- Fry the bacon for 8 to 10 minutes for regular bacon or 10 to 12 minutes for thick-cut bacon.
- Remove cooked bacon from air fryer and place on a paper towel-line plate. Let rest for a few minutes before serving. The bacon will finish cooking and crisping up while resting.
- Repeat cooking steps with the remaining bacon. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
Water in the air fryer? Wouldn’t that cause a mess? Also, what about the electrical element? That just sounds weird.
Hi Jennifer. Air fryers have the electrical element at the top of the appliance. This allows any oils to drain into the bottom of the pan below the basket. So it is safe to put water in the pan below the basket as well. The water is there to prevent the bacon grease from smoking while the meat cooks. It doesn’t create any more of a mess than other foods being cooked in the air fryer.