Bacon is delicious and many people want to be able to enjoy it as often as possible. You might make bacon for breakfast pretty often, but some choose to enjoy it only on special occasions.
If you’re going to be cooking for many people, then you’ll need to make quite a bit of bacon. One of the challenging aspects of making a lot of bacon to serve many people is keeping the bacon warm.
How can you keep the bacon warm so that everyone can enjoy it while it’s hot? Is there an easy way to go about keeping bacon warm?
Continue reading to learn the best methods for keeping bacon warm. This should make it so that you’ll be able to enjoy hot and crispy bacon with your friends and family.
1 – Keep Bacon Warm for a Little While by Covering the Skillet
If you only need to keep the bacon warm for a little while, then just covering the skillet should be enough. You might simply need enough time to finish up the rest of breakfast before you serve the bacon.
In this case, you’d just want to cover the skillet that you cooked the bacon in. Put the lid on the skillet and ensure that the stove is set to “warm.”
It’s usually best to have a crack in the lid so that air can escape. This keeps the bacon from getting steamy.
Another method is to partially cover the skillet using aluminum foil. If you allow the skillet to get steamy, then it’ll wind up softening the bacon.
If you’re hoping to enjoy crispy bacon, then you’ll want to avoid steam. A lid that isn’t fully on or partially covering the skillet with aluminum foil will do the trick.
2 – Keep Bacon Warm in the Oven
Of course, you can keep bacon warm in the oven if you need more time. Sometimes you might need to keep bacon warm for hours, and it might not be practical to keep the bacon in the skillet for that long.
In this situation, you’re going to want to transfer the bacon to a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Set the oven to the lowest setting that you can to keep the bacon warm.
Generally, you’ll need to set the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the baking sheet on the top rack of the oven and it should do an admirable job of keeping the bacon warm.
Now, leave the oven door slightly open. You don’t want it to be open too much, but you’re leaving it open just a bit to try to keep the bacon crispy.
It should be fine to keep the bacon warm for two hours or so using this method. That should be more than enough time to do what you have to do.
3 – Keep the Bacon Warm Using a Slow Cooker
Keeping the bacon warm using a slow cooker is a very practical choice. If you own a slow cooker, then this might be the best thing that you can do.
This is an excellent idea when you need to keep bacon warm for longer periods of time. If you have a large slow cooker, then it should be easy enough to keep a good amount of bacon inside.
All you need to do to get this done is set the slow cooker on the “warm” setting. Spray the inside of the slow cooker with a little bit of cooking spray and then put the bacon inside.
Whenever you need to grab more bacon, you’ll be able to get inside of the slow cooker and pull strips of bacon out. This is a convenient and simple solution for anyone who needs to keep bacon warm for quite some time.
Slow cookers aren’t that expensive either. If you don’t already own a slow cooker, then it’s well worth looking into buying one.
You could easily get one or two slow cookers if you’d like to. Having various slow cookers of different sizes might prove useful if you cook meals for groups of people often.
You Can Always Reheat the Bacon
If the bacon does wind up getting cold, then you could choose to reheat it. Reheating bacon isn’t tough at all, and there are a few different ways that you can go about doing it.
One of the best ways to reheat bacon is to use the stove. You’ll need to place the bacon on a baking sheet again to get this done.
Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Next, place the baking sheet in the oven and set it on a fairly low heat setting.
Keep an eye on the bacon so that you don’t burn anything. It shouldn’t take too long to heat the bacon up this way.
If you don’t have a large batch of bacon to heat up, then it might be easier to use the skillet. You can place bacon back in the skillet and heat it up on the top of the stove.
Heating up smaller batches of bacon will be simple if you use the microwave. All you need to do is place the bacon on a plate and then microwave it.
Ideally, you should let the bacon warm up by sitting out at room temperature for a few minutes if it has been refrigerated. After this, you can start microwaving the bacon in 30-second intervals.
Whenever you’re reheating bacon, it’s simply best to avoid moisture exposure. Moisture can cause bacon to become soggy and it’ll eliminate the crispy quality that you enjoy so much.
Final Thoughts
You can enjoy your bacon to the fullest so long as you understand how to keep it warm. Whether you’re making bacon for a large group of people or if you’re just making a small breakfast for your family, it’s important to keep the bacon warm until it’s time to eat.
There are different ways to keep bacon warm, and which one you’ll want to use might depend on the situation. If you only need a bit of time to finish making toast and eggs, then keeping the bacon warm in the skillet makes sense.
Just cover the skillet with a lid that is slightly askew. It should be able to keep the bacon warm while you finish things up.
Keeping the bacon warm for a longer period of time might require you to put it in the oven. You can transfer the bacon to a baking sheet so that you can keep everything warm for hours.
Setting the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit should do the trick. Line the baking sheet with either parchment paper or aluminum foil first.
If you want to keep the bacon warm all day, then using a slow cooker is ideal. These slow cookers are very convenient for keeping many types of food warm, and they’re easy to use.
Simply put the bacon in the slow cooker and set it to the “warm” setting. It’ll be ready when it’s time to eat the bacon.
If necessary, you’ll always be able to reheat the bacon later. This can be done by reheating the bacon in a skillet, using the stove, or microwaving it.
Now that you know what to do, it’ll be easier to make the perfect breakfast. Enjoy delicious bacon with your friends and family whenever you’re ready.
I have a bachelor’s degree in Film/Video/Media Studies, as well as an associates degree in Communications. I began producing videos and musical recordings nearly 15 years ago. I am a guitarist and bassist in Southwest MI and have been in a few different bands since 2009, and in 2012 I began building custom guitars and basses in my home workshop as well. When I’m home, I love spending time with my three pets (a dog, cat, and snake) and gardening in my backyard.