The Ziploc Hack That Makes Bacon 10x Crispier

Bacon is a beloved addition to countless dishes, from sandwiches to chili cheese fries, and its popularity has led to many debates over whether chewy or crispy is the best texture. If you land on the side of crispy, a simple Ziploc hack will give your bacon an even more satisfying crunch. Just add flour to cook up delicious strips.

All-purpose flour is the most common choice, but this will also work with cornstarch, rice flour, whole-grain flour, or gluten-free varieties. They all serve the same purpose of creating a dry surface. The drier a piece of meat is, the better it will brown and form a crust due to the Maillard reaction. Any moisture present needs to first evaporate to allow browning, so meat with more surface moisture will not crisp up as much.

The Ziploc bag is there to contain any potential mess and makes dredging the bacon simple and quick. Pour in enough flour to coat the amount of strips you're cooking and shake up the bag until each one is evenly coated. Pop the bacon in the oven to bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit, turn it over after 10 minutes to ensure each side is cooked, and cook another 10 minutes for long, crispy strips. Putting bacon in the oven is a good way to consistently achieve that desired crunch, and combining this method with a flour dredge elevates the results.

Once you've cooked the bacon and gotten those drool-worthy strips you love, you could eat them as-is for a breakfast side. However, this extra-crispy pork lends itself to more uses than that. Break a few bacon strips in half to make them fit onto a classic BLT or a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. The rigid structure created by the flour will make them easier to halve or crumble into salads, meaning you can skip the artificial, store-bought bacon bits.

If you prefer pieces over bits, break the strips up and add them to a cheese dip, casserole, or pizza. Some creative ways to use leftover bacon strips include adding them to oatmeal as a topping or making them into chocolate bacon bark. The extra crispiness will allow them to hold up better within the melted chocolate which means you'll get bark that has an excellent snap. No matter how you eat it, crunchy bacon brings that smoky, salty flavor every time.