Microwave Your Bacon

Most of the methods I've seen posted on the web for microwaving bacon have problems.

The "plate and paper towel" method only works for a very few pieces because the paper towels get saturated and you end up in effect frying the bacon in it's own grease, which pops and makes a mess in the microwave. I also found that the paper towels get glued to the bacon so badly you can't get it off, so you either toss the affected part or eat the paper.

So, I looked at the commercially-available gadgets (cost around $14 and up) and realized that all you need is something that's microwave-safe and that can hold the bacon up out of it's own grease. Duh!

Looking around the kitchen I found a Pyrex bowl and thought "a-HA!"

So here you have it. I cooked a whole pound of bacon at once and it turned out great!

(BTW this is my first Instructable. Hope you like it.)

Step 1:

You'll need a microwave-safe bowl (mine's Pyrex), plate, and bacon!

The bowl sides need to be high enough to hold the bacon up out of it's own grease when it starts to shrink.

The plate needs to be larger than the bowl in diameter so it'll catch the grease dripping off the bacon.

Step 2:

Drape bacon pieces over the edge of the bowl so that they touch each other as little as possible or they'll cook to each other (if that bothers you. Doesn't bother me!)

Step 3:

In it goes! I have a 1450 Watt oven, cooking time was exactly 15 minutes for a full pound of bacon, perfect crispiness.

I spread paper towels under the plate to catch any grease that might miss the plate - but there wasn't any. YMMV

Step 4:

Picture taken at 10 minutes - I rotated the plate at this point to ensure even cooking. You can see that the bacon shrinks itself right up out of the grease. Careful - plate is HOT! If you don't like your bacon crisp, this is when you'd want to take it out to cool.

Step 5:

Just out of the oven.

Have a pair of tongs handy and you can straighten the pieces out by laying them flat while they're still hot or just leave 'em to cool on the bowl, they'll be "U" shaped.

Note the pool of HOT grease in and under the bowl. Take out of the oven using oven mitts and great care!

Step 6:

Careful - very hot bowl and plate!

You can pour off the grease to save for cooking with, or pour into a container for disposal, or do what I do - refrigerate it then scrape off into the trash can later. (I poured off a little bit to fry eggs with this batch - mmmmm!)

OK, what's the problem with this method? I let the grease get too hard in the fridge and had to pry the bowl loose. Gotta get it when it's hard enough to scrape easily but still soft enough to get off.

That's it, let me know what you think, unless you're a troll , in which case you're invited to eat a pound of bacon - raw.

Comments

[markusallen69]

How many minutes do you suggest for a thousand watt microwave

[DconBlueZ]

I'd guess 20 minutes, but that's *just* a guess. You really need to watch it carefully the first time and make note of the correct time for your microwave to cook the bacon to your preferred level of doneness.

[ceejai]

I'm doing it as we speak I was kind of at a loss about how to cook 1 pound of bacon at one time and I was too lazy to wait for the oven method so thank you thank you thank you

[JennyB52]

Looks like a great idea. I recently purchased a 1/2 inch flattop griddle for my small breakfast cafe, but the Fire Marshall will not allow me to fry bacon on it because I have no exhaust hood. It is a pain frying it using the plate and paper towel method because I go through so much (5 lbs or more a day). I'm trying this for sure! I have found the best way to clean out the microwave is to take a towel with a very, very light bleach water solution and spread it out in the oven, close the door,then let it sit for a few minutes. It will wipe out effortlessly. Thanks for the idea.

simply

[Philip GeorgeH]

This is the most sensible and suitable methods I've stumbled upon. The paper method is ok-ish for three or four rashers of bacon but this simple system using a Pyrex or similar dish and plate really takes the bacon. Many thanks.

[OscuraD]

My mom used to make heart attack spaghetti you take half the grease and add it to spaghetti and crumble up the bacon there is probably more to it but hmm it was so good and 10x better the next day after sitting in the fridge.

[ar19dir]

This did work for the me. I need to use a bigger plate under the bowl next time. It was a little scary though, a lot of popping. I did remove the bacon from the bowl and I put it on paper towels and microwaved it for a minute more. This was a great method to get the pure bacon fat to save for future cooking. It didn't need straining.

[inkspot099]

My G.E. microwave oven looks pretty similar. That's a pretty typical design since it mounts under and between cabinets over the regular kitchen stove. Because it's back is against the wall it needs to circulate cooling air through the front.

[Papadum Express]

I want to know, what kindda microwave is that? Big fins on top. Tell me that's a classic :))

[dalston1]

Awesome. Tried it with a Coke glass and a half pound of bacon. 10 minutes and the microwave only needed a light wipe down. Thanks.

[pcounterman]

This is a great idea. I have always hated frying it, what a mess, or microwaving it in small batches. To avoid the splatter in the microwave I put a paper towel over the bacon bowl and microwaved away. Thanks DconBluZ for this great tip.

[Computothought]

Definitely different and I can see how it does a better job, but my microwave would be a mess to clean out.

[burnerjack01]

Genius in it's simplicity! As far as hardened grease goes, put back in the nuker for a minute or few. "Ta-dah!" Good 'ible.

[rocklocker]

Great idea. As far as using bacon fat I have a buddy in Kansas who stated that they used it on bread and such all the time (couldn't afford butter). A few people said this was gross but he said it tasted better than butter and had the same fat content and type. I save all my bacon grease for cooking and as a condiment. When i get too much I use it as a fire starter in my back yard fire ring.

[TheCritic]

Gotta love it. Thanks for the tip

[ClayOgre]

I save all my bacon grease for cooking stuff later. Great to saute onions in for things like chili, etc. I also found something that at first might seem a bit gross. I came across something called schmaltz brod, which is a German thing. You put something like bacon drippings on bread and eat it. Quite yummy. I also tried spreading a small amount of bacon fat on soda crackers...pretty tasty too (but don't tell my wife, she'd be after me about the cholesterol).

[DconBlueZ]

Thanks for the note. I've been looking up ways to clarify and save bacon grease, will probably start doing so with my next batch. I love to fry eggs in it.

[xtroublex]

Well done! (pun intended) I actually went out and bought a specific microwave dish for cooking bacon. Wish I would have read this first. Would have saved $20!

[Vertigo666]

At Cousins, we just throw the bacon onto a sheet of wax paper- does make a mess, but works wonderfully.

[DconBlueZ]

The wax paper doesn't cause problems? Hmmm, I may try that one myself - don't think it'd work well for a pound of bacon but for 2-3 pieces it might be just the ticket. Thanks!