Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (2024)

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Making bacon in the air fryer is the only way or method you'll want to cook bacon from now on. No more grease splatters and easy clean-up. Plus, the bacon is ready in under 10 minutes!

Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (1)

Over the past couple of days, I've been trying many different methods for cooking bacon. There's baking bacon in the oven, cooking bacon on a stovetop, and even in your microwave to name a few different methods. If you have an air fryer you're going to love cooking homemade bacon in it.

The air fryer is one of my favorite kitchen appliances. Check out some of these recipes! Air Fryer Omelette, Air Fryer Poutine, or Air Fryer Turkey Breast!

Jump to:
  • Ingredients Needed
  • How to Make Air Fryer Bacon
  • How to prevent Smoke in the Air Fryer
  • How long to cook bacon in the air fryer?
  • How to use Air Fryer Bacon
  • Recipe FAQs
  • Air Fryer Bacon

Ingredients Needed

Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (2)

Bacon - The ingredient that makes every food tasty and 100 times better! Use thin or thick slices or different bacon

Note: If possible purchase bacon at a local butcher shop. It always tastes better than what you can get at a grocery store!

How to Make Air Fryer Bacon

Step 1: Place the bacon in the bottom of your air fryer basket. Use some tinfoil or parchment paper for easy clean up.

Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (3)

Step 2: Air Fry the bacon at 400 degrees for 7 to 9 minutes. Open up the air fryer and flip the bacon. Put the air fryer basket back in and cook for another 3 minutes or until however crispy you like your bacon.

Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (4)

Notes Place a wire rack or trivet over your bacon that came with air fryer. This is optional. If you don't have a wire rack that came with your air fryer, then you don't need one.

How to prevent Smoke in the Air Fryer

Have you ever tried cooking bacon in the air fryer and your smoke detector goes off? This has even happened to me when I'm cooking bacon in my air fryer. The smoke or steam comes out of the air fryer and reaches the smoke detector.

Parchment Paper: To prevent this from happening you can cook your bacon between two pieces of parchment paper or add some water to the bottom of your air fryer basket. If you try the parchment paper method you may need to cook the bacon a little longer.

Bread Method: Place 1 or 2 slices of bread on the bottom of the air fryer basket. The sponge will soak or pick up any grease that drips from the bacon.

Water method: If you don't have any bread water works well too. The water goes underneath the air fryer basket.

How long to cook bacon in the air fryer?

Lay strips of bacon out onto the bottom of your basket. Set your air fryer to 350 degrees and follow the cooking times for different cuts of bacon below. If the bacon isn't crispy enough for you set the timer for 2 minutes longer. You can use a wire rack below to keep your bacon from flying around in the air fryer. If you don't have one, no problem.

Regular Bacon - 8 to 9 minutes

Thick Cut Bacon - 10 - 12 minutes

Turkey Bacon - 8 to 10 minutes

How to use Air Fryer Bacon

Are you wondering what you can all make with perfectly cooked bacon made in the air fryer? Try some of these tasty side dishes.

Pasta Salads: Chop up any bacon and add it to this BLT Pasta Salad or Cheeseburger Pasta.

Sandwiches: Make Ina Garten's California BLT Sandwich or a Grilled Chicken Burgers with Bacon

Crock Pot Sides: Chop the bacon up and add it to these tasty side dishes. Crock Pot Mac and Cheese, Slow Cooker Calico Beans You can add any leftover bacon to these two great slow cooker recipes.

PIzza: Bacon is always great on pizzas such as Bacon Mac and Cheese Pizza or Air Fryer Pepperoni Pita Pizzas.

Breakfast: Leftover bacon is great in these Air Fryer Egg Cups.

Recipe FAQs

Do I have to preheat the air fryer?

Every air fryer is different and some don’t require preheating and some do. Just follow the cooking instructions that came with your air fryer to see if it needs to be preheated.

How to prevent bacon from smoking?

Cook the bacon inside some parchment paper. Or, you can add some water to the bottom of the basket or rock salt.

How to prevent bacon from smoking?

Cook the bacon inside some parchment paper. Or, you can add some water to the bottom of the basket or rock salt.

Can I use turkey bacon?

Yes, it’s the same cooking time as regular bacon in the air fryer.

What air fryer do I use?


Cosori 4 Qt Air Fryer- This air fryer doesn't require any preheating and has several different functions for cooking chicken, meat, frozen foods, etc. There are 5 different functions.

How do I store leftover bacon?


Always store leftovers in clean, food-grade containers. The type of container doesn’t really matter. Use zip lock, glass, plastic, whatever!

Other air fryer recipes

  • Tuna and Cottage Cheese High Protein
  • Canned Biscuit Waffles
  • Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
  • Rotel Tacos (Tiktok Recipe)

This youtube video shows you how to make Candied bacon but it basically is the same process. Just cook it for 8 minutes instead of 12 if not using any brown sugar. Check out my youtube channel.

If you tried this Air Fryer Bacon or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you! Follow along on Tiktok @jennarecipediaries

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Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (9)

Air Fryer Bacon

5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star

4 from 5 reviews

  • Author: Jenna
  • Total Time: 13 min
  • Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe

Description

Air Fryer Bacon - You'll never want to bake bacon in your oven again!

Ingredients

Scale

  • 6 strips of bacon

Instructions

  1. Place the bacon in the bottom of your air fryer basket. I have a 3.5 quart air fryer and was able to get 6 strips of bacon on the bottom. Place the wire rack over your bacon that came with air fryer. This is optional. If you don't have a wire rack that came with your air fryer, then you don't need one.
  2. Cook at 400 for 8 to 10 minutes. Open up the air fryer and flip the bacon. Put the air fryer basket back in and cook for another 3 minutes or until however crispy you like your bacon.

Notes

myWW points Blue 5; Green 5; Purple 5

If possible purchase bacon at a local butcher shop. It always tastes better than what you can get at a grocery store!

Place a wire rack or trivet over your bacon that came with air fryer. This is optional. If you don't have a wire rack that came with your air fryer, then you don't need one.

  • Prep Time: 3 min
  • Cook Time: 19 min
  • Category: Side
  • Method: Air Fryer
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 37
  • Sugar: .1
  • Saturated Fat: 2.8
  • Carbohydrates: .1
  • Fiber: 0
  • Protein: 2.7
Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

How to air-fry bacon without smoke? ›

Directions
  1. Step 1Cut bacon in half and place in a cold air fryer basket, making sure the pieces don't overlap.
  2. Step 2Set air fryer to 300°F and cook until bacon is crispy, 18 to 20 minutes. If using thin-cut bacon, reduce cooking time to 14 to 16 minutes.
Jan 29, 2021

Why shouldn t you cook bacon in air fryer? ›

Bacon is a high-fat food and releases a lot of grease as it cooks, which can coat the bottom and inside of your air fryer (and isn't fun to scrub out). Too much grease can also start smoking in the fryer, which is never what you want to see when you're cooking.

Is it normal for air fryer to smoke when cooking bacon? ›

Here's why: Bacon doesn't require any excess oil or butter to cook because it's so full of fat. So when hot air is circulated around the bacon, your air fryer will fill up with rendered bacon fat, which will then burn and maybe even release smoke from your machine.

How to make baked bacon without smoking? ›

Recipe Instructions
  1. Prep the oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Prep the pan: Line a large rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  3. Prep the bacon: Lay bacon slices on the foil-lined baking sheet. ...
  4. Cook: Cook bacon for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the bacon is as crispy as you like.
Feb 12, 2024

How do you air fry without smoking? ›

Don't overcrowd the food on your baking sheet or on the Air Fry Tray. If air can't circulate around each item, the cooking and crisping process may slow down and allow more grease to settle or drip. If your catch-tray is smoking, try placing parchment paper on it to hold grease.

What is the best way to cook bacon in an air fryer? ›

Preheat an air fryer to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C) according to manufacturer's instructions. Lay bacon in the air fryer basket in a single layer; some overlap is okay. Fry for 8 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until bacon is crisp, about 7 minutes more.

Where does the grease go when you air fry bacon? ›

In just nine minutes, you can have hot bacon ready to serve. The best part about the air fryer is that the grease collects underneath the basket in the drawer, so there's no grease splatters in the kitchen and the grease is a cinch to discard (simply tip the drawer to pour off).

What is the best temperature to air fry bacon? ›

Bacon grease has a smoke point of 325 to 375 degrees, so air-frying it at 350 degrees can help minimize smoking. You can also reduce the risk of smoke by emptying the grease from your air fryer after each batch of bacon you cook.

Should I use foil in air fryer for bacon? ›

Place bacon in air fryer

If you're using an oven-style air fryer, you'll want to put the bacon on an air-fry basket (basically a mesh rack) with either a solid pan or a piece of aluminum foil folded up on the edges underneath to catch any bacon grease drippings.

Why is my bacon so smokey? ›

Sometimes, you choose a wood that is just too strong. Mesquite and hickory can overpower delicate meats, leaving you with nothing but smoky flavor.

Is bacon better in the oven or air fryer? ›

Air fryer bacon is so crispy, and the grate in the air fryer allows some of the bacon fat to drip off as it cooks. This method is also a littler faster than baking bacon in the oven. The only downside to this method is unless you have a giant air fryer, you can't cook more than a few servings at once.

Does parchment paper keep bacon from splattering in oven? ›

You can cook bacon directly on an unlined, ungreased baking sheet. However, it makes quite a mess. I prefer to line the baking sheet with parchment or foil to make cleanup quick and easy when I'm finished.

Can you cure bacon and not smoke it? ›

After being cured, the bacon is rinsed off. For an extra boost of flavor and preservation, after seasoning, most bacon is placed into a smoker. If a smoker is not used, the meat is instead put into a conventional oven or left to air dry in cold temperatures for weeks or sometimes months!

How do you make crispy bacon without burning it? ›

directions
  1. Use a 4 sided pan like a jelly roll pan.
  2. Line pan with tinfoil.
  3. Fold parchment paper to fit over tinfoil in pan. ...
  4. Set oven to 400*.
  5. After lining pan lay strips of bacon on parchment paper.
  6. Put in preheated 400* for 15 minutes, I turn bacon over after 10 minutes.
  7. Take out when crispy & lay on paper towels.

Why does it smoke when I cook bacon? ›

It's too hot. Medium/low heat will keep climbing to high temps (approaching the temp of the burners themselves), it just takes longer than higher heat. If there isn't food in the pan to absorb heat, the pan and fat / residue will get hotter and smoke. This is common even at medium heat with all types of fat and oil.

How do you keep bacon grease from splattering in the air fryer? ›

Getting rid of the bacon fat can help prevent your air fryer from smoking when the next batch of bacon cooks. Add more bacon to the air-fryer basket, and repeat the process. If you want to reduce the mess you have to clean after air-frying your bacon, place a parchment paper liner in the bottom of your air fryer.

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