Bacon is crispy if you add one ingredient to pan – not oil

When it comes to savoury treats, nothing quite hits the spot like bacon.

Whether stuffed in a sandwich, served with a cooked breakfast or added to salads, there’s something totally delicious about the salty meat. But, if you struggle to get yours crispy, you may want to listen up.

A recipe expert recently shared how to make “perfect” bacon, and it involves cooking it in a super common ingredient. Ditch your oil for this dish, as it’s not the way to get the best results.

According to Pepper PH on TikTok, the secret is letting the bacon cook in water. It may sound unusual, but it’s said to deliver amazing results.

All you have to do is place the bacon in a cold pan, and then add enough to water to cover the bottom of the pan. Once the water cooks off, you should be left with rendered bacon fat, and then you’ll be able to fry the meat until it’s crispy.

If you do this, the expert said you’ll be left with “crispy, tender, splatter free bacon” and it looks pretty amazing. The footage is enough to make any meat lover drool.

Since the video was shared, it’s been viewed more than 36,000 times – and people were quick to comment too. Many were keen to share their thoughts on the idea.

One person said: “I do the same, but with sunny side eggs. Not to get it crispy, but to cook it without burnt edges.”

Another wrote: “The perfect breakfast.” A third also replied: “Thanks for this. Over here doing this with a mimosa in my hand. Keep winning.”

Why should I cook bacon in water?

Experts say you can cook crispy bacon in water by adding a small amount of water to a cold pan. You then need to cook the meat over a medium heat until it crisps up.

The method is said to work well for strips or pieces of bacon, and is particularly good for smaller batches of meat. It works because water acts as a heat moderator, which means it stops the meat from burning before the fat is fully rendered out.

This allows the bacon to cook evenly and achieve a crisp texture once the water evaporates. The bacon will then crisp up in its own fat.

So, in a nutshell, it enables the fat to render gently while stopping the meat from burning first.