The eggs are fried. The pancakes are flipped. The mimosas are poured. Only one thing is missing from your epic brunch spread: bacon. The salty, crispy breakfast icon is an absolute essential on lazy and busy mornings alike, but it can be tough to time it just right if you’re cooking for a crowd. Read on to learn how to keep bacon warm all morning long.
If you only need to wrap up, say, toast and coffee before serving the bacon, just put the cover on the skillet with a crack for air to get in (so it doesn’t get steamy) and leave it on the stove. If you need 30 to 45 minutes, transfer the hot skillet to a warm oven. You can partially cover the pan with a lid or tent it with foil—just don’t totally cover it because that will soften the bacon. If you’re cooking for a crowd, bake the bacon instead of pan-frying it on the stove, reduce the heat once it’s cooked and leave it in the oven with the door slightly cracked until you’re ready to eat.
To Keep Bacon Warm for Up to Two Hours…
Pop it in a warm oven on a rack atop a lined baking sheet so the bacon can drain. Set the oven to its lowest heat (about 200°F or so), line a baking sheet with foil and place an oven-safe rack on top. Transfer the bacon to the rack and place the baking sheet in the oven. Leave the oven door slightly ajar and let the bacon sit until you’re ready to serve it. (Oh, and don't drain the bacon between two layers of paper towel—this practice creates steam and moisture, which sucks the crispness right out and leaves you with limp bacon.)
To Keep Bacon Warm All Morning…
Use your slow cooker. To keep bacon strips crisp in a Crock-Pot, just set it to warm, give the insert a spritz of cooking spray and pop the bacon in. You can also use a chafing dish and serve the bacon buffet-style if you’re cooking for a crowd.
To Reheat Bacon…
You can quickly warm day-old bacon in the oven on a baking sheet (this is easiest for big-batch bacon) or in a skillet on the stove. The microwave is also shockingly effective, as it draws moisture out of food, and it’s particularly great for smaller quantities of bacon. Simply take the bacon out of the fridge, let it warm up for a few minutes at room temperature, then place it on a paper towel-lined plate. Microwave the bacon in 30-second intervals until it’s hot and crispy again.
However you reheat it, just remember moisture exposure is the number one reason crisp bacon turns soggy and rubbery, so avoid it at all costs. If you know you’re going to be making bacon in advance, feel free to overcook it a bit to compensate for any potential softening that could happen in reheating. (BTW, you’ll want to strain the leftover fat in the pan and store it in your fridge to make bacon grease pancakes and other savory delicacies later on.)
Before you pop your bacon strips in the refrigerator, allow them to cool to room temperature. This will limit the formation of condensation after you seal the bacon, which will help it stay as crispy as possible. Once the meat is cool to the touch, place it in an airtight bag.
Bacon can be baked 3 to 4 days ahead of time. When ready to use, wrap a few bacon slices in a fresh paper towel and re-warm bacon in microwave for approximately 10 seconds just before serving.
Set the oven to its lowest heat (about 200°F or so), line a baking sheet with foil and place an oven-safe rack on top. Transfer the bacon to the rack and place the baking sheet in the oven. Leave the oven door slightly ajar and let the bacon sit until you're ready to serve it.
You can store raw, opened bacon in its original package, backed up with a large zip-top bag or a few layers of aluminum foil. You can also store bacon in an airtight container for up to a week. Store cooked bacon in an airtight container, immediately after use, for four to five days.
Also, a study by the company Hormel (Brown, 2005) also concluded that even for severely undercooked bacon, the water activity was much less than optimal (0.89) and, if used within 17 hours after cooking, the equivalent time-temperature at 70°F to 41°F and 7 days (Snyder, 1998), there would be no significant risk.
Once the bacon is in the oven, let it bake for 8 to 10 minutes and then remove once heated. While this also requires extra clean up and is more time-intensive, in the end, it will actually save time if you're aiming to serve a large amount of bacon.
Don't bother with racks, crimped foil, or stacked baking sheets; just lay out your bacon strips on a rimmed baking sheet and bake them in a 425°F (220°C) oven until they're as crisp as you like (about 20 minutes was right for me). Drain on paper towels, and you've got a big pile of perfectly cooked bacon on your hands.
If your oven doesn't include a “keep warm” preset, aim to manually set the temperature somewhere between 170°F and 200°F to help keep food in a safe range.
How is cooked bacon made shelf stable? To make bacon safe to store at room temperature (shelf stable), it is precooked in the plant to have a water activity at or below 0.85 to control Staphylococcus aureus. The cooked yield is 40% of the raw weight.
You cook over high heat until the water boils, lower the heat to medium until the water evaporates, and then cook over medium-low heat until the bacon is done. The theory here is that the water “keeps the initial cooking temperature low and gentle, so the meat retains its moisture and stays tender.”
The general rule of food safety is to not let raw meat or cooked food sit out for more than 2 hours, and that rule applies to uncooked or cooked bacon. It's wise to be careful with uncooked pork products since they can harbor and grow bacterial pathogens like salmonella and trichinosis.
Introduction: My name is Wyatt Volkman LLD, I am a handsome, rich, comfortable, lively, zealous, graceful, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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