Air Fryer Bacon is a very quick recipe that produces nice crisp bacon in under 10 minutes, even with thick cut bacon! There's no greasy mess all over the stove or oven, just simply wipe out your air fryer and you’re done!  This bacon recipe is gluten-free, low carb, paleo, and keto friendly.

We love serving this easy air fryer bacon on the side of a Sweet Potato Breakfast Frittata, Breakfast Tacos, Breakfast Enchiladas, or Goat Cheese Egg Bake. Learn how to very easily make crispy and tender bacon slices in your air fryer!

Best Air Fryer Bacon:

Cooking bacon in the air fryer is the best thing ever!

Crisp Air Fried Bacon in the air fryer is a game changer for us. My entire family is with me on this one: bacon is no longer cooked any other way than air fried in our home.

The bacon always comes out perfectly crisp every time! You can customize the crispiness of your bacon by decreasing the temperature you set your air fryer to. So there’s something for everyone when it comes to personalizing bacon!

The air fryer cooks the bacon up really quickly, so you have more of your morning to wake up or relax and less time manning the stove or oven!

And as previously mentioned, clean up is so much easier than cooking bacon and splattering grease all over the stove top or the inside of the oven. No messy kitchen!

How easy it is to make bacon in the air fryer?

It’s incredibly easy to make bacon in the air fryer!  I get so excited because I had no idea exactly how easy it is to get bacon that comes out perfect every single time. 

The hardest part is either separating the slices of bacon from one another or getting your air fryer out. It's a stretch to call those the hard parts of the recipe, but this recipe is so dang simple that that's truly the hardest part.

What does air fried bacon taste like?

The bacon tastes just like it does when you bake it in the oven, cook it over a hot skillet, or grilled on the grill.  But when you use the air fryer the entire process is much less greasy and turns out as crispy or as soft and tender as you like it to be, chef’s preference!

These bacon strips are perfectly tender on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside, what I like to call “bacon perfection”.

You can decrease the time and create soft bendy bacon slices or you can increase the temperature to get an even crispier bacon too.

Ways to use Air Fried Bacon:

There are a million ways to eat bacon. Here are some of the best ways:

• As an appetizer along with Maple Bacon Bourbon Popcorn!
• In a breakfast Turkey Sweet Potato frittata or omelette.
• With your favorite pasta recipe, such as sprinkled on top of Easy Goat Cheese Spaghetti and Meatballs!
• Add some crunch to a fresh delicious salad like the Spring Steak Salad with Chimichurri Dressing
• With your stir fry dishes, like Sweet Potato Stir Fry
• The most common way it is served….. as a delicious side dish to your breakfast eggs!

Types of Bacon

• Thick cut bacon. Typically seen behind the butcher counter at the grocery store.
• Turkey Bacon. "Bacon" made from turkey instead of pork.
• American-Style Bacon. The thinner strips of bacon served at many restaurants during breakfast.
• Low sodium bacon. The same American-style bacon, just with some of the sodium taken out.
• Canadian bacon. This bacon has fewer calories and less fat than American-style bacon listed above and tastes more like ham than other types of bacon.
• Smoked bacon. The bacon is cured by being smoked over burning wood chips, such as hickory, mesquite, or applewood flavors, for hours.
• Seasoned Bacon. Peppered bacon is one of the most common seasoned bacon options out there.
• Pancetta. An Italian-style bacon cured with salt, peppercorns, and cloves, and other spices.

Difference Between Cured and Uncured Bacon:

The difference between cured and uncured bacon is that the solution used in uncured bacon does not contain any artificial nitrates, the nitrates in uncured bacon coming from natural sources, like sea salt or celery juice.

Air Fryer Bacon Ingredients:

• Bacon
• +/-Seasoning of your choosing

How to Prepare the Bacon:

Unwrap the bacon from it’s packaging.  Pull apart the individual strips of bacon from one another. Season your bacon just the way you like it. You are now ready to air fry your bacon!

What is the safest temperature to cook Bacon?

Set your air fryer to 350*F.

How long to cook Air Fryer Bacon?

Bacon can vary in the air fryer based on size, thickness, marbling and brand of air fryer. You will need to vary the cooking time slightly depending on how different your items are from the ones that I use.

I like to use thick-cut peppered bacon strips from the butcher counter of my local grocery store. It turns out so tender and yet so crispy. I love biting into thick cut strips of bacon.

The peppered seasoning that's already on the bacon that I purchase allows me to shorten the amount of steps between getting the bacon prepared for cooking and the final step of devouring! It eliminates that seasoning step!

There will be a difference in time depending on how thick or thin your bacon slices are.

Thick-Cut Bacon: Thicker slices take about 8-10 minutes depending on how crispy you like your bacon.

Regular Cut Bacon: Thinner slices take about 6-7 minutes to cook depending on how crispy or done you like your bacon.

How to make air fryer bacon:

*scroll all the way down for the full detailed printable step by step directions and ingredient list!

1. Unpack your bacon from it’s container. Pull the individual bacon slices from one another and season if you want your bacon slices seasoned.
2. Place Strategically. Place the bacon strips in the bottom of the air fryer.  Make sure not to overlap your bacon pieces so that they are touching or overfill your air fryer to prevent smoke from your air fryer (more on this below).
3. Air Fry. Turn on your air fryer and let it do it's magic. Once done allow the bacon to cool before removing it from the bottom of the air fryer. The majority of the grease will have dripped down to the bottom of the air fryer so you may not even need to use a paper towel to soak up excess grease. I've never had to use a paper towel for my air fryer bacon!
4. Devour. Enjoy!

Why use an air fryer?

• My new obsession has definitely been my air fryer for the past few months!
• The Air Fryer Pork Chops and Gravy, Air Fryer Asparagus, and Air Fryer Vegetables have all come from my love of the air fryer.
• Meat of all kinds roasted in the oven, or cooked on the grill are fantastic, however using an air fryer can dramatically cut down on the amount of grease  AND cuts down on the amount of time spent cooking.
• Cooking bacon in the air fryer takes just minutes where roasting bacon would normally take 20 minutes or more!
• The 6 QT. air fryer is large enough to feed a family of 4 (or more), which I think is the perfect size. No matter if I am cooking for my entire family or maybe that night where I am on my own for a quick dinner, the air fryer is perfect for it all; families or singles!
• The cleanup on an air fryer is insanely easy. The air fryer basket that air fries the bacon is dishwasher safe, so the one dish that dirties actually just gets tossed in the dishwasher. Cleanup is a breeze!
• The crispy yet tender flavors can’t be beat. This recipe guarantees that Air Fryer Bacon will be your new favorite dish!

This post may contain affiliate links to items I use in my recipes. Please read my disclosure.

What type of air fryer to use?

• I am completely in love with the air fryer that I have in my kitchen. It is the OMORC 6 Qt Air Fryer. You will find now a newer version of this Air Fryer.
• This air fryer is large enough to cook for those with big appetites or for families of four or more.
• I’ve never had any issues with my OMORC air fryer that are common in air fryers, such as smoking while cooking (the smoke is more about controlling the grease splatter!).
• It’s definitely an affordable option when comparing this air fryer to other brands out there and it’s got great reviews on Amazon.

How to Prevent the air fryer from smoking?

It's all about grease! Grease control that is.

The less grease you have, the less likely there will be any issues with your air fryer smoking.

If you are making more than one batch of bacon, after making your first batch, clean out the drip tray (the bottom of the air fryer) to avoid smoke. Just wiping it down with a paper towel will likely suffice.

Another tip I have heard of but have never needed to try out is you can put a small amount of water in the bottom of the air fryer where the grease catches (often referred to as the drip pan). This will reduce the chance of any smoke in your air fryer.

Is air fryer bacon healthy?

It sure is healthier air fried!

The air fryer allows much of the grease that comes off of the bacon during the cooking process to run off of the meat and drain down below the air fryer pot and into the drip pan, leaving you nice crispy bacon without bathing it and soaking it in grease.

• High Protein.
• Less fat and calories. Your bacon isn’t sitting in oil and drippings during the cooking process since the bacon is cooked in the raised basket of the air fryer.

What to pair with Air Fryer Bacon

Spicy Cream Pepper Pasta, Caprese Quinoa Casserole, and 6-Ingredient Honey Mustard Chicken Bake go extremely well with the air fryer bacon!

How to store leftover Bacon?

There will very likely be no leftover bacon, but if there is, you can store the bacon in an airtight container for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.

Bacon Recipe Notes:

• The more bacon you use in a batch the longer you may have to cook it and vice versa if just a few slices are being made. So the first time that you make air fryer bacon, check the bacon every minute or so to make sure that it cooks to your amount of doneness.
• If you are doing more than one batch, be sure and empty the grease from the lower basket before cooking the second batch. (See my notes on smoking and grease above!)
• All air fryer brands and models will cook slightly differently. That's why I recommend checking your bacon slices the first time you cook them in the air fryer every minute or so so that they come out to be YOUR perfect amount of doneness!

Want more air fryer recipes?

• Air Fryer Pork Chops
• Air Fryer Asparagus
• Air Fryer Vegetables