Bacon and crispy fried eggs
The diner plate you can make half asleep: crisp bacon, then eggs fried in what it leaves behind so the edges go golden and lacy.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $2.48 a serving
- 660 calories
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 8 slices bacon
- 4 large eggs
From your pantry
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch black pepper
Each serving has about 660 calories, 26 g protein, 2 g carbs and 60 g fat, and costs about $2.48 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Lay the bacon in a cold large in a single layer, cutting slices in half if they don’t all fit.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Dolly’s tip: Starting cold lets the fat melt out slowly, so the bacon cooks flat and crisp instead of burning at the edges.Turn the heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, turning the slices now and then, until deep and all over.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Cook bacon until it’s crisp and no longer translucent.
Move the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels to .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Medium heat
Take the pan off the heat and carefully pour all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat into a heatproof mug.
Dolly’s tip: Never pour bacon fat down the sink. Let it harden in the mug, then throw it out.Set the pan back over medium heat, crack in the eggs with space between them, and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Nervous about shells? Crack each egg into a small cup first, then tip it into the pan.Cook without touching for 3 to 4 minutes, spooning a little hot fat over the whites, until the whites are fully set and the edges are and lacy.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Clear, wobbly white near the yolk means it wants another minute.Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Slide the eggs onto plates with a spatula and serve with the bacon.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
