How To Make Bacon With A Waffle Iron

Bacon is quite possibly the ultimate breakfast meat, and an optimal delivery method for salty, fatty, crispy goodness. As such, any bacon lover should be prepared to make their favorite treat in any given situation, regardless of what cooking utensils they have access to. You should be aware of splatter-free, relatively healthy ways to cook bacon. It wouldn't hurt to know a game-changing bacon recipe or two, either. It's also good to know about some of the biggest bacon-cooking mistakes out there, just to avoid tarnishing the ingredient's good name with the sad sogginess of a badly made bacon treat.

But what if you find yourself in a situation where you have precisely zero access to things like frying pans and ovens? Will you sigh and resign yourself to a breakfast completely devoid of bacon? Of course you won't. Instead, you adapt to the situation and overcome it with whatever you have at hand — such as, say, a waffle iron. Here's how to make bacon with one.

According to Sari Kamp of Real Simple, waffle iron bacon is entirely doable, though the end result is a bit of an acquired taste. Because waffle irons tend to be too small for regular-sized bacon strips, you probably have to start by cutting the strips in half. Then, you put the slices in the iron once it's hot — Kamp used the medium-hot setting — and fry away for 10 minutes, or until it seems cooked. 

The thing about waffle iron bacon is that it's impossible to fit the strips snugly in the iron, on account of it being designed for a significantly thicker treat. The bacon's contact with the iron is insufficient for it to acquire a proper crisp. Chances are the end result is a spotty affair that's super crispy in the places where the strips touched the waffle iron's indentations, but rather chewy in the parts that don't. As such, unless you enjoy this peculiar textural play, this is by no means a flawless bacon-cooking method — and if you're in a pinch, you might be better off cooking your bacon in a microwave.