Is cooking bacon in a crock pot even possible? We wondered the same thing, so we decided to do our very own culinary experiment here in the BENSA test kitchen.
You might be as surprised as we were that bacon cooked in a crock pot was evenly browned, crisp, and SO DELICIOUS. You just have to follow a few simple tricks for perfect, slow-cooked bacon. Keep reading to discover the secrets we learned while testing this bacon cooking technique.
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Contents
Click on any of these headings to jump ahead:
- Why Cook Bacon in a Slow Cooker?
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- Equipment Needed
- Step by Step Instructions
- Pro Recipe Tips
- How to Store Leftovers
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- Ways to Use Slow Cooker Bacon
- Recipe
- Pin for Later
Why Cook Bacon in a Slow Cooker?
Bacon cooked in the Crock Pot is crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and sooooo delicious!
The difference between slow-cooked bacon and fried bacon is similar to the difference between a Crock Pot pork chop and a skillet-fried pork chop. Both are delicious!
Your crock pot could come in quite handy when you’re craving your favorite meaty treat. Here are some circumstances when you might use this novel cooking technique:
- You’re in the middle of a major kitchen renovation, your stove is out of commission, and you’re craving the flavor of bacon to offset the stress of remodeling.
- You need some tasty bacon, but it’s a hot summer day and you don’t feel like heating up the kitchen by turning on your oven or stove.
- You’re in a college dorm with a slow cooker, and you and your homies want BACON!
- You want to enjoy bacon in a few hours. The crock pot allows you to start a batch of bacon now, do some things, and enjoy it a little later.
(If you want fast-cooked bacon, be sure to check out our Stovetop Bacon and Microwave Bacon recipes.)
Ingredients You’ll Need
For this easy recipe, all you need is 8 strips of thick-sliced bacon. Feel free to use smoked, unsmoked, cured or uncured bacon. Be sure to use thicker slices, which will hold up best in the crock-pot.
I recommend cutting the slices in half first so they’ll fit nicely in the slow cooker. Kitchen shears are perfect for cutting bacon, or use a sharp knife.
Variations: After you’re done cooking crockpot bacon, you can sprinkle it with freshly ground black pepper for pepper bacon or red pepper flakes for spicy bacon.
Equipment Needed
Slow cooker – I used the Crock-Pot brand 4 quart oval slow cooker for this recipe.
Kitchen scissors or sharp knife to cut the bacon in half. (These KitchenAid kitchen shears are especially good for cutting bacon.)
Cutting board to cut the bacon. This is our favorite maple pig cutting board that appears in many of our photos.
Tongs – to rearrange the bacon strips while they’re cooking in the crock pot.
Paper towels – to drain the cooked bacon. Use unprinted, food-safe paper towels for this.
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat the Crock Pot to High for about 15 minutes. After cutting the bacon strips in half, arrange them in the bottom of the slow cooker.
Replace the lid and let the bacon cook.
After one hour, remove the lid from the crockpot. Use your tongs to rearrange the strips moving the cooked strips to the top and the less-cooked slices to the bottom.
Replace the lid on the slow cooker and continue cooking. Check and rearrange the bacon again in one more hour. When all the strips are browning, move the least cooked strips to the bottom of the crock pot. If some of the strips cook faster than others, you can remove them to drain when they’re done.
Because all bacon is unique and slow cookers heat at different temperatures, your total cooking time will be dependent on how quickly your bacon cooks in your appliance.
In my standard Crock Pot, the total cooking time was about 3.5 hours.
Remove the cooked bacon from the Crock-Pot and drain on paper towels.
Serve and enjoy!
Pro Recipe Tips
Cut the bacon strips in half for best results. The smaller pieces are easier to turn, and they’ll cook more evenly.
Be sure to preheat the crock pot to High before adding the bacon. This will give the strips a nice, hot start.
Use tongs to move the lesser cooked pieces to the bottom of the crock pot so they have contact with the hot surface, and move the more browned pieces to the top of the pile so they don’t overcook.
After turning off the slow cooker and letting it cool to room temperature, you can drain and save your bacon grease, otherwise known as liquid gold! Here are 25 ways to use bacon fat.
How to Store Leftovers
If you have leftover crock pot bacon (I do realize the unlikeliness of this happening) just cover it or put it in a sealed container and store in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
FAQs
Be sure to preheat the slow cooker on High for about 20 minutes before adding the raw bacon. Then simply place the uncooked bacon strips right in the crock pot.
The exact cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your bacon and how hot your slow cooker is on High. In our basic Crock Pot, it took about 3.5 hours to cook 8 strips of bacon on High.
Ways to Use Slow Cooker Bacon
What can you do with delicious, perfectly cooked bacon? Here are some of our favorite recipes:
Shall we make some tasty bacon? Here’s the full, printable recipe:
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Cooking Bacon in Crock Pot
Equipment
- 1 Slow cooker
- 1 Pair Kitchen Scissors
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 pair tongs
- paper towels
Ingredients
- 8 strips thick-sliced bacon
Optional Additions:
- freshly ground black pepper
- red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the slow cooker to High and heat for 20 minutes.
- Cut the bacon strips in half crosswise using kitchen shears or a sharp knife.
- Arrange the bacon strips in the bottom of the slow cooker, spreading them out to create even layers.
- Replace the lid and let the bacon cook. After one hour, remove the lid from the crockpot. Use tongs to rearrange the strips, moving the cooked strips to the top and the less-cooked slices to the bottom.
- Replace the lid on the slow cooker and continue cooking. Check and rearrange the bacon again in one more hour. When all the strips are browning, move the least cooked strips to the bottom of the crock pot. If some of the strips cook faster than others, you can remove them to drain when they’re done.
- Cook until all the strips are golden brown. (Because all bacon is unique and slow cookers heat at different temperatures, your total cooking time will be dependent on how quickly your bacon cooks in your appliance. In my standard Crock Pot, the total cooking time was about 3.5 hours.)
- Use tongs to remove the bacon strips and drain on a double layer of paper towels. Serve and enjoy!
- *Optional variations: Sprinkle the hot bacon with freshly ground black pepper for pepper bacon, or with red pepper flakes for spicy bacon.
Notes
ADD YOUR OWN PRIVATE NOTES
Whenever you come back to this recipe, you’ll be able to see your notes!
Nutrition
Got questions? Just ask! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this Slow Cooker Bacon recipe, I’d be thrilled if you clicked the little stars above and gave the recipe a 5-star rating.
You might also enjoy the Slow Cooker Bacon web story.
If you post your creations on social media, tag #BENSABaconLovers so I can share! Thank you for your support. – Eliza
Nutrition Disclaimer: All nutritional information shared on this site is an approximation. I am not a certified nutritionist, and any nutritional information should be used as a general guideline.
Pin for Later
If you use Pinterest to save and share ideas, here’s a handy pin:
Yum! These turned out great! I never would have thought to cook bacon in my crock pot but this method is so easy. Now I don’t have to deal with all the smoke that fills up my kitchen when I cook them in the oven. Thanks for this great recipe!
This is my first time cooking a roast with bacon in my crock pot . Can I leave it in there until my roast is done
Tim, I have not personally prepared a roast with bacon in the Crock Pot, so I can’t answer your question with authority. But my hunch is that it will be fine. I’d love to hear your experience!
I had no idea you could make bacon in the crock pot and I love that this is a set and forget recipe!! Can’t wait to make it soon!
I just learned something new! Good to know that I can make bacon in the crockpot. These look so Crispy and delish. YUM
Who knew? I never tried cooking bacon in the slow cooker before but glad I tried it. I admit that it was hard to smell that yummy bacon for hours and waiting for it. I liked that the bacon didn’t seem to shrink so much and was so crispy.
This bacon looks seriously tasty! I love how easy it sounds and all of the steps and helpful info that you have in the post. Can’t wait to give it a go, thanks for sharing!
This is a game changer! Definitely my new favorite way of making bacon from now on!
What?!? I had NO idea that you could do this! :) What a great way to cook bacon.
This recipe is magical! I never knew this was possible and now I will use this recipe all the time! Delish!
Gave this method a try this morning and it couldn’t have been easier! Turned out perfectly juicy, crisp and delicious!
I was skeptical about cooking bacon in a crock pot, but this recipe completely blew my mind! The bacon turned out perfectly browned and incredibly crispy, just the way I like it. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to achieve such delicious results. Thanks to the secrets shared in this recipe, I’ve found a new favorite way to cook bacon. Can’t wait to try it again!
This is a good idea! Love this recipe and will try this tonight! :)
Brilliant! I didn’t know this was even possible.
Thank you, Lynn! It’s fun to try new ways of enjoying bacon, isn’t it?
Who knew!? My oven has been out and I had some bacon to bring to a potluck breakfast, this was fantastic! Thanks for all of your great tips Eliza!
I’m so glad the bacon crock pot recipe was helpful in a pinch, and hope your stove gets repaired quickly! ~Eliza
I so cannot wait to try Bacon in a crockpot! I love my crockpot and love bacon!
It’s such a fun way to cook bacon. Hope you love slow cooked bacon!