Crispy Air Fryer Bacon Perfectly Cooked

Published 4/26/2023 • Updated 7/14/2024 If you’re anything like us, you love bacon! Whether you only have 10 minutes and prefer to cook your bacon in the microwave, or if you’re cooking bacon for the masses and enjoy oven-baked bacon. Today we’re chatting all things –> AIR FRYER BACON! We love this method for a few reasons. It clears up space in your oven, it doesn’t smoke, it cooks bacon fast, and it’s perfect for 1 or 2 people.

What kind of bacon should I use for air frying?

Cooking bacon in the air fryer works with all kinds of bacon, whether it’s thick, medium, or thin-cut bacon. So, buy your favorite and you’re good to go.

How to Cook Bacon in the Air Fryer

Do I have to cut my bacon in half?

If the size of your air fryer permits, you can keep your bacon while. You can fold it over itself a little bit, but we don’t suggest stacking the bacon.

Thin: 6-7 minutes Medium: 8 minutes Thick: 9-10 minutes

Air Fryer

Is your bacon smoking?

Through many tests of this recipe, we’ve found the main cause of bacon smoking is setting your air fryer too hot. We started with 400ºF and that was much too hot, causing the bacon to smoke. So, make sure to preheat your air fryer to no hotter than 350ºF to prevent smoking. A quick tip: always remember to remove the excess grease on the bottom of your air fryer pan after each round of cooking.

Air Fryer Bacon Tips

Thickness matters: This is true for cooking bacon in any method, the thinner the bacon the faster it is going to cook. See below for our cook times at 350ºF.

Thick: 9-10 minutes Medium: 8 minutes Thin: 6-7 minutes

Drain excess grease: If you’re planning to make more than one batch of bacon, make sure to drain excess grease that will drip onto the bottom of your pan. This will help prevent smoking. Flip: For even cooking, make sure to flip the bacon around halfway through the cook time. No overlapping: As much as possible, try not to overlap the bacon so that it can cook as evenly as possible. They will shrink as they bake. Don’t walk away: When in doubt, don’t walk away! All air fryers are different and so is bacon thickness. Until you’ve made one batch of air fryer bacon with your specific bacon, we suggest staying close and using your nose in case you do end up over cooking.