10 Best Bacon Cookers

Buying Guide

Whether you like your bacon crispy and slightly burned, barely cooked or something in between, you know it can make a big mess when you fry it on the stove. It ends up splattering all over the place, which is not only messy but can also be dangerous. If you’ve ever gotten hot bacon grease on your arm, you know the sting hurts. However, there is a great alternative to making bacon on the stove, and it’s the bacon cooker.

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There are two main types of bacon cookers: microwave and electric. Both of them work well – it’s a matter of deciding which type works better for your needs. The microwave bacon cooker is essentially a special tray or rack that you place the bacon on. You then put the tray or rack into the microwave and let it do the cooking for you. The tray typically has slots so that the bacon grease can drain out underneath the bacon. The racks require you to hang the bacon on the spindles, so that the grease can drain down onto the tray.

Most microwave bacon cookers come with lids, so any grease that splatters is contained inside. This keeps your microwave clean. These cookers are also typically dishwasher safe, so cleanup after you’ve made the bacon doesn’t take very long. Cooking the bacon in the microwave only takes a couple of minutes, and you can control how crispy you want it.

Electric bacon cookers are like an electric skillet. They have a slotted bottom similar to microwave bacon cookers, allowing the bacon grease to drain out. The key difference is that they don’t require a microwave to cook the bacon. Instead, the skillet is plugged in and heats up, cooking the bacon itself. Many also come with lids to prevent splatter in your kitchen. These are useful for families that don’t have or use a microwave or those who want to reserve stove space for other foods.

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• If you want to keep your kitchen clean while making bacon, then you need a bacon cooker that comes with a lid. This is a sure-fire way to contain the mess. However, if you’re using a microwave bacon cooker without a lid, you can also try placing some sheets of paper towel on top of the bacon to sop up the grease splatters as the bacon cooks. However, this trick doesn’t work with electric bacon cookers and can actually be a fire hazard.
• Tray-style bacon cookers typically only have a capacity of a few pieces of bacon. If you are cooking for a large group of people, then a rack-style bacon cooker for the microwave is the way to go. It can accommodate a lot of bacon and it cooks it quickly in the microwave, so it’s easy to do multiple batches if you need it.
• Bacon grease and stuck-on bacon can be difficult to clean, especially if you have to wash the cooker by hand. Opt for ones which can go in the dishwasher. Most microwave bacon cookers can go in the dishwasher, though electric ones cannot. These typically need to be wiped down with a wet cloth.
• If you like your bacon very crispy, try not to crowd the bacon cooker. Keep the strips of bacon far apart so they can fully crisp up on all edges. If you overlap the bacon and crowd the space, the bacon will not be able to get as crispy.