Microwave Your Way to Crispy (Not Flabby!) Bacon

With the stovetop method, you end up with grease splatter everywhere. With the oven method, you have to wait for the oven to preheat and then wait another 15 minutes for it to cook through (or more, if you like it supercrispy like me). But with the microwave method, you can get crispy, splatter-free bacon in 5 minutes flat. The key: paper towels.

Sandwiching the bacon between two layers of paper towels allows the towels to absorb fat as the bacon cooks, preventing grease from splattering all over your microwave. That means cleanup is as easy as sticking a single plate in the dishwasher.

It’s a technique that we love at America’s Test Kitchen Kids, and one that we turned to frequently when developing our brand-new cookbook for teens, The Complete Cookbook for Teen Chefs. There, we call on microwave-fried bacon in recipes for Breakfast Sandwiches, BLATs, savory buttermilk waffles, and more.

And while we're on the topic of microwave frying, why not learn how to microwave-fry shallots, capers, and olives, too? They make for wonderfully crispy garnishes.