How to make Bacon Jerky in Air Fryer?

Bacon Jerky is a unique and slow-cooked variation of sweet bacon. Achieving a perfect chewy consistency requires slow cooking to effectively eliminate extra fat. You don’t need a plethora of ingredients to create a tasty bacon jerky snack.

It is popularly dehydrated — removing excess water or fluid from food — not dried to remove excess fat. When made with an air fryer, you get almost the taste and sweetness of candied bacon jerky. However, you should be careful not to meddle with the cooking temperature because if it is not cooked at the right temperature, you get crumbled texture instead of a chewy and crunchy texture.

What you should know about Bacon Jerky?

The snack Bacon jerky is made from a long narrow piece of bacon that is dry. Its creation was a mistake, as it came when a team was trying to make thicker precooked bacon. You can make bacon jerky candied by coating the bacon sugar— brown sugar — and other spice you like before cooking them. To make bacon jerky, you can use the oven, the air fryer or, a dehydrator. America is a country where bacon jerky is owned, and their favorite flavor is barbecue sauce, sriracha, and maple syrup. There is a slight difference in the making of bacon jerky between the traditional way and the new way. Bacon is first covered with spice and other ingredients they want to use and then dried, but it is just smoked or dehydrated in the new method.

What temperature would Cook Bacon Jerky?

350°F is the most suitable temperature to cook bacon in the air fryer if you do not want smoke in your apartment; this is because bacon reaches its smoke point at a temperature higher than 370°F. This is when the fat in the meat starts to smoke after oxidizing. So if you are cooking either thicker or thinner bacon, the only difference in cooking settings should be the cooking time, not the temperature. You can set your cooking time to 9 minutes for thicker bacon, and for thinner bacon, set the cooking time to 5 minutes. If you like, you can add more time if it is not done to your taste yet, as long as you get a great result.

How to make your Air Fryer Smoke-Free when Cooking Bacon Jerky?

One of the easiest ways to make an air fryer smoke-free is to add water to the lower pan so that when the fat drips, it goes directly into the water. And also, a piece of bread will do the trick too.

You can use parchment paper, especially ones that are made for the air fryer. You line your air fryer basket with it. Those parchment papers produced for the air fryer have tiny holes, and this allows circulation of air.

What do you need to Cook Homemade Bacon Jerky?

The ingredients you will need are 11 slices of bacon and any other ingredient or spice.

How to make Bacon Jerk?

Start by dividing your bacon in half and place the first set into the air fryer basket.

After that, set the cooking time to 9 minutes and the cooking temperature to 350°F. Remember that thinner bacon cooks faster than thicker ones, so you might want to set less time cooking thinner bacon. You can check halfway while booking to see if it needs rearrangement. Please do not use your hand; your bacon will be too hot by then, so it is advisable to use a tong.

After it is done, allow it to cool for some time and serve.

Please note:

You might want to add extra minutes if you feel like it is not done enough. Once that is done, and you are preparing to line the second batch in, make sure to drain the fats and clean the basket by wiping it out completely; after you have finished cooking. Let the air dryer cool off and clean. Take a moist cloth or paper towel and clean any grease inside the air fryer thoroughly. This will prevent your air fryer from smoking when next you are cooking.

Make sure you do not increase the cooking temperature by more than 350°F to avoid smoking. It can mess everything up once it starts smoking. And if by any chance your air fryer smoked before knowing it, make sure you clean immediately after cooking.

How to Reheat Frozen or Leftover in an Air Fryer:

• Start by preheating the air fryer to 350°F.
• Then, spread the pieces of bacon on your air fryer basket; make sure you line them up in a single file. After that, put the basket back into the air fryer.
• Cooking time may differ, considering the size of the bacon. If it is a thing, bacon book for 5 minutes, and if it is a thicker one, cook for 9 minutes.
• You can check halfway through cooking and if it is done to your taste, then remove the bacon jerky from the air fryer when it is done.
• Do not eat hot; allow it to cool before serving.
• You now stand a chance to enjoy your breakfast once you follow all you have read in this article. You can now cook bacon within a short time. The air fryer makes cooking bacon jerky impressive and comfortable.

How do you store bacon jerky?

1. If you do not want your leftover bacon jerky to go bad, you should consider storing them for later. And you can do that by putting the cooked bacon jerky into a safe container or an airtight bag then put it in the fridge; this will help keep it in good shape for 4 to 5 days.
2. And if you are a type that wants to store for a long time, then, after packaging it in a container, transfer it into a freezer. It can last for a month in the freezer.

Bottom Line

When you follow all that is written in this article correctly, you find it easy to make yummy bacon jerky. You can add your preferred ingredient or spice to it. Do not forget to constantly clean the air fryer after use, especially after cooking bacon.