Can You Cook Bacon From Frozen?

Bacon is arguably one of the most delicious foods in the world, and it's so popular you can even find things like bacon-scented candles for folks who just can't get enough of it. Now, if you love bacon, chances are you have packages of it stored in your freezer, ready to pull out when needed. But what happens when you're craving bacon and don't have any thawed out? Can you cook it from frozen like you would ground beef? Well, technically, it is possible to cook bacon from frozen, but there's a caveat. 

Unless you've frozen your bacon in individual strips — which is unlikely but possible — when you take out frozen bacon, you'll have a hard block that's impossible to separate. If the strips of bacon aren't separated, they won't cook properly. So, you have a few options in this instance. One is that you can put the block of bacon into a skillet with a couple of tablespoons of water and cover it so the steam thaws the bacon enough to separate it for cooking. Incidentally, a bit of water is the secret to perfectly cooked bacon, and it helps you get perfectly crisp edges. Alternatively, you can quickly defrost the bacon in your microwave until it's tender enough to pry apart either with your fingers or a knife. 

As you've probably noticed, both of these cooking methods involve thawing the bacon in some capacity before it's cooked. However, it is possible to cook frozen strips of bacon without thawing, you'll just need a bit of prep work before the bacon is frozen. 

There are a lot of mistakes that can ruin your bacon, one of which is keeping it in the fridge for too long. Freezing bacon is necessary to keep it fresh, but you shouldn't toss the whole package unless you want to spend some time thawing and separating the strips when you need to cook it. This is where freezing the strips individually really comes in handy, even though it will take a bit of prep work. 

Freezing bacon in individual strips is a game changer because it allows you to quickly grab the amount of bacon you need, toss it in a pan, and get cooking. Alternatively, you can cook bacon in the oven to reduce grease splatters and free up your stovetop. Either way, being able to cook individual slices from frozen without thawing is quicker, simpler, and much less time-consuming than other methods. 

To freeze individual bacon slices, lay out a sheet of wax paper and place a slice on the very edge. You'll then want to fold the paper over that slice and place another on top. Think of it like making a paper accordion, and alternate your folds as you add more bacon slices. Once all the bacon is added, place the bundle into a freezer bag. The wax paper will keep the individual slices separate while ensuring you can quickly grab them whenever you need them.