Bacon is one of those things that's hard to mess up, thanks to all that delicious fat. Even subpar versions are worth eating, but cooking bacon well while keeping cleanup minimal is a different challenge altogether.
For large batches of bacon, I'd recently ditched my skillet for an oven approach, but the furious rate at which I use my air fryer had me wondering if there was an even better way.
To find the best method, I ran a three-headed test comparing bacon made in the frying pan, the oven and the air fryer. The goal was simple: the crispiest strips with the least hassle. I did try the microwave, too, but let's be honest: It technically works, and that's about the kindest thing I can say about this method.
So then, on to the primary contenders.
Frying pan
Cooking time : 10 minutes
: 10 minutes Hassle : 8/10
: 8/10 How much bacon: 7-8 strips
I grew up on pan-fried bacon but my test revealed there's a better way. Mike Mackinven/Getty Images
This is the way I grew up cooking bacon and it's perfectly fine. There isn't much skill needed to fry bacon in a pan, though just about every batch I've ever made sends a healthy splatter over the stove. In more unfortunate instances, that infernal grease lands directly on my skin or clothes, which presents two different but equally aggravating problems.
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