Avoid Bacon Splatter By Using This Handy Kitchen Tool

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Hot grease jumping from the pan can burn your hands, stain your clothes, or leave your stovetop a total disaster. Sure, cooking bacon is easy enough, but the splatter can be such an annoying mess. Bacon splatters so much because the fat heats up fast against the colder pan. When the oil hits water or moisture in the pan, or even in the bacon, it pops. If you are standing too close or flipping the strips with a fork, there is a greater chance you may get covered in grease. However, there is one handy kitchen tool that can make a huge difference: tongs. A great pair of tongs can help keep you stay clean and safe while cooking your bacon the way that you prefer.

Tongs let you flip, shift, or even lift bacon slices without your hand being anywhere near the oil in the pan. They're such a convenient kitchen tool and can be used for anything from saucing your pasta to turning your grilled cheese sandwich. If you've got a nonstick or ceramic pan, we'd recommend Eddeas' silicone-tipped tongs. These won't scratch your pan's surface, which in turn will also keep bacon from sticking. For cast-iron or stainless steel pans, stainless steel tongs are ideal. They give you a better grip and can handle high heat without melting or bending.

What's great about using tongs to prevent bacon oil splatter is that tongs also let you move faster. Instead of chasing each strip with a spatula, you can just pinch and flip. You don't even need to rest your hand over the pan for long. That means less splatter near your wrist and more time to pay attention to the bacon's level of crispiness. For even more safety or when cooking with a large pan, it's best to use longer tongs — they're usually either sold as 9-inch or 12-inch tongs. If you don't own any tongs, be sure to pick up a simple pair of locking tongs rather than more specialized wooden tongs, serving tongs, or long-toothed pasta tongs.

Tongs give you full control from start to finish. Want to lay the bacon flat in the pan without touching it? Use your tongs. You don't even have to touch the raw meat at all if you don't want to. Sometimes bacon strips curl up or cook unevenly, but with tongs, you can gently push down the bacon or shift it to a hotter part of the pan.

Cleanup gets easier with tongs, too. Because tongs help you work more cleanly, you don't end up with greasy fingerprints on every knob and handle. Since you aren't using a fork or spatula that might be slinging some oil when you lift, your counters and stovetop can also be a little cleaner — especially if you keep a spoon rest beside your stovetop. Science already says bacon goes with everything, but that oil splatter can become an inconvenience. So skip the forks and spatulas, and pick up the tongs.