Air Fryer Bacon (No Smoke) - Recipe Diaries (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep bacon from smoking in an air fryer? ›

Once your air fryer is cool, wipe it out with a damp cloth to prevent further smoking. I have also read you can place a slice of bread in the air fryer basket when making bacon to absorb excess grease and prevent smoke.

Bacon is a high-fat food and releases a lot of grease as it cooks, which can coat the bottom and inside of your air fryer (and isn't fun to scrub out). Too much grease can also start smoking in the fryer, which is never what you want to see when you're cooking.

In just nine minutes, you can have hot bacon ready to serve. The best part about the air fryer is that the grease collects underneath the basket in the drawer, so there's no grease splatters in the kitchen and the grease is a cinch to discard (simply tip the drawer to pour off).

When using the Air Fry Tray, put a baking sheet on a rack or two below the Air Fry Tray. This keeps drips and crumbs from landing on the oven bottom, where they can burn and create smoke. For additional protection, place some foil-lined parchment paper on the baking sheet.

It's too hot. Medium/low heat will keep climbing to high temps (approaching the temp of the burners themselves), it just takes longer than higher heat. If there isn't food in the pan to absorb heat, the pan and fat / residue will get hotter and smoke.

use parchment paper for easy clean up; I don't recommend aluminum foil as the bacon tends to stick to it; the thicker the bacon, the longer the cooking time; adjust accordingly; save the bacon grease and use it in place of oil in other dishes.

It's the spitting hot stuff we use paper towels or baking sheets to sponge off our cooked bacon. Bacon grease is about 40% saturated fat and has a smoke point of 325 degrees. This puts it slightly above butter (302 degrees) but a bit below olive oil (410 degrees).

If you pan fry bacon too hot you will get some residual smoke as the drippings reach their smoke point. This can be alleviated by turning the temperature down and cook under a hood with the exhaust fan running. Don't have a hood? Cook in the oven.

Preheat an air fryer to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C) according to manufacturer's instructions. Lay bacon in the air fryer basket in a single layer; some overlap is okay. Fry for 8 minutes. Flip and continue cooking until bacon is crisp, about 7 minutes more.

Should you put water in the bottom of an air fryer when cooking bacon? ›

Preheat the air fryer at 320°F for 5 minutes. Pour 1/4 cup of water into the bottom of the air fryer to minimize smoke. Place bacon in a single layer into the preheated air fryer basket.

Where does the grease go when you air fry bacon? If the bacon is sitting on a crisper or air fry basket, the grease will fall through the holes. In a basket-style air fryer, it will collect on the bottom, which makes cleanup easy as you just need to dump the cooled grease – wait until it's cool!

It's due to the fat in the bacon turning into grease in some parts, so when you cook bacon with even heat all around it it won't curl up as much because grease is being formed at the same rate on both side.

Be sure to use parchment paper. I get mine on Amazon. That makes it safe to cook bacon in the air fryer. It soaks up the excess grease and will help keep the air fryer from smoking.

Starting with a Hot Pan

I won't keep you waiting: always start with a cold pan. Whether you like your bacon shatteringly crisp or chewy, the goal is strips that are evenly cooked, without burnt bits of meat or rubbery pockets of fat.

Place bacon in air fryer

If you're using an oven-style air fryer, you'll want to put the bacon on an air-fry basket (basically a mesh rack) with either a solid pan or a piece of aluminum foil folded up on the edges underneath to catch any bacon grease drippings.

Air fryers work by circulating hot air, which originates at the bottom of the fryer. Lining it with foil can constrict the air flow and your food won't cook properly. If you are going to use aluminum foil in an air fryer, use a small amount in the bottom of the basket, making sure not to cover the food.