This Is the Secret to the Crunchiest, Crispiest, and Tastiest Bacon Ever!
If you accidentally add too much flour, gently shake off the excess.
The Best Way to Cook It
For consistently crispy bacon, the oven is one of the easiest methods.
Preheat your oven to about 400°F (200°C).
Place the floured bacon slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Avoid overlapping the slices because the areas touching each other will not crisp evenly.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and cook until the bacon reaches your preferred level of crispness.
Depending on the thickness of the bacon and your oven, this can take roughly 15–25 minutes.
Start checking earlier if you prefer thinner, lightly crisped bacon.
If you like bacon extremely crunchy, allow it to cook longer, but keep a close eye on it toward the end because bacon can go from perfectly crisp to burnt relatively quickly.
Once finished, carefully transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.
Allow it to sit for a minute or two.
The bacon will continue to firm up slightly as it cools.
Why This Trick Works
There are several reasons this technique can produce a different texture.
1. Flour Helps Absorb Surface Moisture
Moisture is one of the enemies of crispiness.
As bacon cooks, water naturally leaves the meat while the fat renders. A very thin flour coating can help manage some of that surface moisture, allowing the exterior to develop a crisp texture.
2. It Can Help Reduce Excess Greasiness
Bacon naturally releases a significant amount of fat during cooking.
The flour can absorb a small amount of that rendered fat, leaving the finished bacon with a crisp surface rather than a heavily greasy exterior.
It does not remove all the fat, and it should not be considered a way to make bacon low-fat. Bacon is still a rich, high-fat food.
3. It Creates an Extra-Crisp Surface
When flour comes into contact with heat and fat, it can brown and develop a delicate crust.
Because the coating is extremely thin, the result isn’t supposed to taste like fried batter. Instead, it adds another layer of crispness to the bacon.
4. It Can Help the Bacon Stay More Even
Bacon naturally shrinks as it cooks.
A light coating can help create a more uniform surface, which may reduce some of the dramatic curling and twisting that happens with bacon.
It won’t guarantee perfectly flat bacon every time, because the shape depends heavily on the particular bacon and how much it shrinks.
Don’t Use Too Much Flour
This is probably the most important part of the trick.
