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Sandwiches · British

Bacon Butty

Crisp bacon, soft buttered bread and your sauce of choice. The great British sandwich argument, settled one bite at a time.

Hands-on
12 min
Total
12 min
Makes
1 sandwich
Serves
1

About 2 minutes to butter the bread and 8-10 minutes to fry the bacon from a cold pan. Thick rashers, or toasting the whole sandwich in the pan afterwards, take a few minutes more (up to about 15 minutes in all).

  • easy
  • british
  • breakfast
  • quick
  • bacon

Verified against at least two trusted test kitchens or food-safety guides · Last checked · What this means

Illustration of Bacon Butty
Amount
Units

Ingredients

You need: large frying pan · tongs · something flat and heavy to press the bacon (a small saucepan works) · butter knife · bread knife · paper towel

Contains: wheat · milk

Method

  1. Start in a cold pan

    Lay the 3 rashers flat in a large, cold frying pan with a little olive oil. Set it over medium heat and turn it up gradually to medium-high, so the fat melts out slowly as the pan heats.

    Ready when: The fat starts to turn see-through and the rashers sizzle gently. Not done yet.

    Otto tried this firstOtto throws the rashers into a smoking-hot pan. They curl up, spit fat at him and stay chewy at the edges. Start cold and let the heat build.

  2. Fry until crisp

    Fry, turning once, until crisp and golden on both sides, about 8 minutes in all. Set something flat and heavy on top (a small saucepan works) so the rashers stay flat and crisp evenly.

    Ready when: Deep golden all along each rasher, and the fat has turned golden and see-through, with no soft white or pink patches. A rasher is too thin to check with a thermometer, so crispness is your cue. Thicker rashers take a few minutes longer.

  3. Butter the bread

    While the bacon fries, butter both slices of bread. Spread your sauce of choice on one of them.

  4. Drain and build

    Lift the bacon onto paper towel for a moment. Lay the rashers side by side on the plain buttered slice, put the sauced slice on top and cut it in half diagonally.

Swaps

  • Instead of frying the bacon: grilling it: put the grill on full, rub a tray and the rashers with a little olive oil and grill until golden and crisp, then dip the bread in the hot fat on the tray for a few seconds before building
  • Instead of sauce: brown sauce or tomato ketchup; both are classic

Make ahead, store & reheat

Storage
Made to eat straight away. Leftover cooked bacon goes in the fridge within 2 hours of cooking and keeps 3-4 days.

If something goes wrong

  • Bacon curls and cooks unevenly Why: The rashers went into a very hot pan and nothing held them flat.
    Start in a cold pan, raise the heat gradually and weigh the rashers down with something flat and heavy.

Good to know

  • For a toasted butty, close the sandwich and put it back in the pan of bacon fat. Toast it on both sides with the weight on top, until golden.
  • Back bacon gives a meatier sandwich. Streaky crisps up more.

Safety

  • Raw bacon is raw pork. Keep it away from the bread and anything else you won't cook, and wash your hands and the surfaces it touched with soap and water.
  • Cook the bacon until crisp: that's the sign a thin rasher has got hot enough all the way through.
  • Hot bacon fat spits and burns. Keep kids back from the pan, and let the fat cool before you clean up.
  • Bread can contain milk or soy, and some brown sauces use barley malt vinegar. Check the labels if you're cooking for allergies.