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Curly Bacon Recipe

Now you can cook curly bacon in the oven and get the fun look of pan-fried wavy bacon with this simple trick! It’s super easy, the bacon cooks evenly, and you’ll get curly bacon that looks great on the plate!

One of our favorite ways to cook bacon is baking it in the oven. The only downside is that baked bacon tends to stay very flat. Flat bacon is perfect if you’re making a sandwich, but sometimes you want curly, twisted bacon to pile on a tray for a party or a brunch buffet.

A white serving dish filled with a dozen strips of curly bacon.

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Equipment Needed

  • Baking Sheet
  • An oven-safe baking rack
  • Aluminum foil

Step by Step Directions for Oven-Cooked Wavy Bacon

Here’s how to make groovy, squiggly bacon that looks great and tastes even better.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 C) and line a baking pan with foil. Tear off a sheet of foil about 3 inches longer than the long edge of the baking sheet and cut it in 3 long strips. Use your hands to gently crush and shape the strips to make three long snakes, like this:

Three aluminum foil ropes arranged on a baking sheet rack ready to cook curly bacon.

Now lay the bacon on the pan, shaping the bacon gently around the foil pieces. It’s easiest if you use one bacon slice on each end to anchor the foil.

Two strips of bacon arranged on foil cylinders on baking sheet.

Now you can arrange the rest of the bacon slices on the pan.

Nine strips of raw bacon arranged on wavy foil cylinders on a baking rack.

Pop the pan in the preheated oven and bake it. Your baking time will depend on the thickness of your bacon. Regular sliced bacon should be done in 15 to 20 minutes.

Here in the BENSA test kitchen, we used Wright’s thick-sliced hickory smoked bacon.

Our baking time was about 28 minutes. Here’s how it looked in the pan:

Nine strips of golden brown curly bacon jus tout of the oven still on the foil lined baking sheet.
closeup of six curly bacon strips just out of the oven.

Peek on the bacon about halfway through cooking. If the ends of your bacon strips are starting to overcook, just cover them with a strip of foil to prevent over-browning. Your bacon will be perfect!

Cooked curly bacon piled in a white serving dish with wavy edges.

For more fun things to do with bacon, be sure to check out our recipes for Bacon Lardons and Bacon Swizzle Sticks!

Let’s get cooking! Here’s the recipe for Curly Bacon:

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Cooked curly bacon piled in a white serving dish with wavy edges.

Curly Bacon

Eliza Cross
Curly bacon is fun for breakfast or brunch! Best of all, it's easy to make wavy oven baked bacon with a minimum of fuss and easy cleanup.
5 from 11 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Bacon Breakfast Recipes
Cuisine American
Servings 4
Calories 206 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 baking sheet
  • 1 oven baking rack
  • aluminum foil

Ingredients
  

  • aluminum foil
  • 8 strips thick sliced bacon

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. Top with an oven-safe baking rack.
  • Tear off 3 sheets of aluminum foil 2 inches longer than the baking sheet. Use your hands to form each piece into a "snake' that is the length of the baking sheet and about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
  • Lay the foil snakes on the baking rack, about 1 1/2 inches apart.
  • Arrange one piece of bacon on the foil snakes, using your fingers to shape it so it lays over the foil in waves.
  • Arrange another piece of bacon on the opposite end of the foil snakes, repeating the process so it lays over the foil in a wavy design.
  • Arrange the remaining bacon strips on the foil.
  • Bake until bacon is golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. (The exact time will vary depending on the thickness of your bacon.)
  • Drain on paper towels and serve.

Notes

Peek on the bacon about halfway through cooking. If the ends of your bacon strips are starting to overcook, just cover them with a strip of foil to prevent over-browning.
 

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Nutrition

Serving: 2stripsCalories: 206kcalCarbohydrates: 0.5gProtein: 14.1gFat: 15.9gSaturated Fat: 5.2gCholesterol: 42mgSodium: 878mgPotassium: 215mgCalcium: 4mgIron: 1mg
Nutritional Information Disclosure
Keyword bacon, bacon brunch, bacon recipe, bacon recipes
Did you make this recipe? We love seeing what you made! Be sure to leave a review, and show us your bacon creations on Instagram! Tag us at @BensaBaconLovers!

Are you on Pinterest? You can share or save the recipe with this pin:

Finished curly bacon in a serving dish on top, and uncooked curly bacon ready to bake on the bottom.

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We love seeing your bacon culinary creations! If you prepare this recipe and post a photo, tag us on Instagram at @bensabaconlovers or use the #BensaBaconLovers hashtag.

If you prepare Wavy Bacon, we’d love to hear what you think in the comments section of this post!

Enjoy,

Your friends at BENSA

eliza cross

About Eliza & BENSA

BENSA was founded by bacon expert Eliza Cross, author of more than a dozen cookbooks. She has written three bacon cookbooks including the award-winning Bacon Beans and Beer, the bestselling 101 Things to Do With Bacon, and the popular sequel 101 More Things to Do With Bacon. Learn more about BENSA...

11 thoughts on “Curly Bacon Recipe”

    • Jenette, thank you so much for writing to let us know you like the Bacon Crackers recipe! Your kind words mean so much!

      Reply
  1. 5 stars
    I love this trick! It’s a great way to cook a big batch of bacon in the oven. No sticking, no sputtering of oil, and the bacon was perfectly crispy.

    Reply

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