Mary Berry has shared her top tips for cooking bacon to perfection, including a simple trick to make it extra crispy every time – and it’s all about the oil you use
12:14, 10 Nov 2025
Mary Berry loves pairing crispy bacon with rosti and eggs(Image: Getty)
Perfect for breakfast or a midday snack, bacon provides a tasty option whilst being fast and easy to cook, making it a brilliant go-to ingredient when time is short. Cooking it has just got much easier as Mary Berry has shared her method for achieving perfect crispiness.
The culinary expert has disclosed her top tips from her cookbook Mary Berry Everyday, endorsing the classic pan-frying method to get those tender strips sizzling to perfection. For those looking to pair their bacon with something extra, Mary’s crispy bacon rosti with fried eggs recipe is a simple yet satisfying choice, requiring only basic ingredients.
The whole dish takes several minutes to make and is sure to keep you satisfied all morning, reports the Express.
Ingredients
For the bacon
- Two rashers of smoked back bacon
- Sunflower oil, for frying
To make the rosti and eggs
- One small white onion
- 500g floury potatoes
- Two free-range eggs
Method
Start by preparing the bacon. Mary suggests chopping the rashers into small pieces if they’re going into the potato rosti, or leaving them whole for other dishes.
Get a large eight-inch frying pan with a lid and warm a tablespoon of sunflower oil – it’s the secret to getting that extra crunch.
Once the oil is hot, add the bacon and let it cook on high heat “until crispy”, as Mary advised. Chopped bacon will be done in just minutes, whilst whole rashers may need around 10 minutes and should be flipped halfway through.
Pop the lid on to speed up the cooking and maintain that crispiness. Set the bacon to one side for later if you’re making the rosti, or tuck in straight away if you simply can’t resist.
For the rosti, start by grating your peeled potatoes and chopping the onion. Chuck the onion into the pan and fry briefly, then pop the lid on, turn down the heat, and cook for 15 minutes.
Next, wrap your grated potatoes in a clean tea towel and squeeze hard to get rid of any excess moisture. This stage is vital to avoid ending up with a soggy rosti.
Combine the drained potatoes with the cooked onion and bacon in a bowl, season well, and mix everything together properly. Turn up the heat under your pan, add another splash of oil, and once it’s hot enough, spoon in your potato mixture.
Press it down with the back of a spoon to create an even layer, then let it cook on a low heat for five to 10 minutes. When it’s time to flip, Mary advised: “The easiest way is to turn it upside down onto a plate and then slide it back into the pan (you may need to add a little more oil into the pan first). Cook the other side for another five to 10 minutes, until golden and crisp.”
Finally, fry your eggs in a hot, oiled pan however you like them, slice the rosti into portions, and crown each piece with an egg to serve.
