Sous Vide Bacon: Overnight Method, Time and Temperature

Sous vide bacon cooks at 145°F (62.8°C) for at least 8 hr and up to 48 hr, in its original sealed package. After the bath the strips are seared in a hot skillet, about 2 minutes on the first side and about 15 seconds on the second.

The result is bacon that is crisp outside after searing and very tender inside. The settings on this page come from the calculator.

Why cook bacon sous vide

Anova's sous vide bacon guide describes pan-cooked bacon as crisp in some areas and rubbery in others.

Sous vide separates the tenderizing from the crisping. The long bath makes the bacon tender, and a short sear makes the surface crisp. The Anova guide describes the finished bacon as crisp and moist at the same time.

The tenderizing takes hours because of how connective tissue behaves. Douglas Baldwin's guide to sous vide cooking explains that collagen in meat begins to dissolve into gelatin above 122 to 131°F (50 to 55°C). The change takes time: Baldwin gives 24 to 48 hours for a tough beef roast in a bath of 131 to 140°F (55 to 60°C).

Bacon is a fatty cut. Britannica defines it as a side of a pig that, after the spare ribs are removed, is cured, either dry or in a pickling brine, and smoked. It notes that bacon has an extremely high fat content.

There is also a practical reason. The bath runs overnight, and the finish in the morning takes a little over 2 minutes a batch.

Bacon temperature

The calculator has one setting for bacon.

The Anova guide reports tests on American bacon from 135 to 165°F (57.2 to 73.9°C). At 135°F (57.2°C) the bacon took the full two days to become tender. Above 155°F (68.3°C) the leaner sections started to dry out and stayed dry. It settled on 145°F (62.8°C).

Fresh, uncured pork belly has its own settings in the calculator, and the pork belly guide covers them. Other pork cuts are in the pork temperature chart.

How long to sous vide bacon

The minimum is 8 hr and the maximum is 48 hr. The window is wide enough for an overnight cook: start it in the evening and finish it at breakfast.

Thickness is not an input for bacon. This is a tenderizing time, and thickness changes it very little.

The sealed package cooks as one block. The times are for a package up to 1 in (2.5 cm) thick, measured through the thickest part of the package. A thicker package heats too slowly and is not covered. Split it into thinner packages before cooking.

Published times for this method differ. Anova's guide lists 6 to 10 hours in its chart and says that bacon cooked for more than 10 hours starts to fall apart. Anova's overnight bacon recipe says at least 8 and up to 48 hours. The calculator uses the recipe's window. Its 8 hr minimum covers pasteurization, and its 48 hr maximum is a texture limit from the source recipe, not a safety limit.

The overnight method, step by step

1. Heat the bath. Set it to 145°F (62.8°C).
2. Check the package. The bacon cooks in its original sealed package. Look for holes or a broken seal. If the package has been opened or is damaged, move the slices to a vacuum bag, or to a zipper-lock bag sealed with the water displacement method.
3. Put the package in the water. Keep it fully under the water. With more than one package, keep them in a single layer and not overlapping. Crowded or overlapping bags heat more slowly, and the times shown will be too short for them.
4. Check the water level. Water evaporates over a long cook. Fill the bath well above the package before you leave it for the night.
5. Cook for at least 8 hr and up to 48 hr.
6. Sear now or chill for later. The Anova guide says the cooked bacon can be chilled and refrigerated for up to one week, or frozen for longer storage.

Finishing sous vide bacon in a pan

The bacon comes out of the bath pale and soft. The bath cannot brown it. Baldwin's guide says the browning reaction becomes noticeable around 265°F (129°C) and gives good browning around 300°F (149°C), far above the bath temperature.

The Anova recipe finishes the bacon this way:

1. Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Lay the strips in the pan and press them gently so they sit flat against it.
3. Cook the first side for about 2 minutes, until brown and crisp.
4. Turn the strips and cook the second side for about 15 seconds, just long enough to remove the pale color.
5. Move the strips to a plate lined with paper towels.

Pressing matters because only the parts of a strip that touch the pan brown. A spatula or a bacon press keeps the whole strip in contact.

Cooking bacon from frozen

A frozen package can go straight into the bath. The minimum from frozen is 8 hr 45 min at 145°F (62.8°C), and the maximum is 48 hr 45 min. The extra 45 minutes allows the center to thaw and heat.

The frozen times also apply only to a sealed package up to 1 in (2.5 cm) thick. Split a thicker package before you freeze it.

For storing uncooked bacon, FoodSafety.gov's cold storage chart lists 1 week in the refrigerator and 1 month in the freezer. The guide to cooking from frozen explains how frozen food behaves in the bath.

Safety notes

The minimum time covers pasteurization. Bacon held at 145°F (62.8°C) for the full 8 hr is pasteurized, so do not shorten it.

FoodSafety.gov's chart of safe minimum internal temperatures has no entry for bacon. The 48 hr maximum is the upper end of the range in the Anova recipe.

Keep the package fully under the water for the whole cook. A package that floats has part of the bacon out of the water, and that part is not at the bath temperature. The sous vide safety guide explains why time at temperature matters.

Common problems

The bacon is pale and soft out of the bag. That is the expected state before the sear. The color and the crisp surface come from the pan.

The lean parts are dry. The bath was too hot. The Anova tests found that the leaner sections start to dry out above 155°F (68.3°C). Use 145°F (62.8°C).

The bacon is not tender. The cook was too short or the bath was too cool. Use the full 8 hr at 145°F (62.8°C). In the Anova tests, bacon at 135°F (57.2°C) needed two days.

The package floats. There is air in it. Weigh it down, or move the slices to a bag and push the air out.

There is water in the package. The seal leaked. Next time check the package before it goes in, and rebag the slices if you see a gap in the seal.

The strips brown in patches. Parts of the strip lifted off the pan. Press them flat for the first 2 minutes.

Seared strips also go into egg bites: the recipe in that guide puts half a slice of cooked bacon in each jar before the egg mixture, and the jars cook at 172°F (77.8°C) for 1 hour.

If you cook several packages at once and chill them, the meal prep guide covers storing and reheating cooked food from the bath.