How to Make Your House Stop Reeking of Bacon

Raise your hand if your place smells like whatever you last cooked. Freshly baked banana bread and chocolate-chip cookies are welcome scents, but the lingering smell of bacon, maybe not so much. Eating bacon is glorious—until you realize your entire kitchen is coated in oil and unwanted cooking odors are drifting through your kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. And then, almost a whole day later, your couch, bed sheets, towels, and closet still reek. Sure, the smell of bacon might attract some people (hey, bacon fat candles exist). But if you find it less than pleasant, there’s no need to kick up a stink. Learn how to get the smell of bacon out of your home with these smart solutions.

First things first: Close your bedroom door—or better yet, close the kitchen door (if you happen to have one). Close your closet doors, too, because your clothes will quickly go from smelling like detergent to smelling like a diner.

Fry the bacon on medium or low to keep the bacon drippings from smoking and leave the exhaust fan above your stove running before, during, and after cooking so it can suck up unwanted odors. Also, keep the windows open. The fresh air will circulate throughout the house and carry the bacon stench out right out the window.

Smells get worse with time. Wipe the stovetop and all counters and cabinets to prevent the buildup of grease. Prolonged oil stains give out an awful odor once they go rancid. Don’t forget to take out the trash if it contains oily paper towels or napkins, and wash pans straight away instead of letting them sit in the sink. Whatever you do, just don’t pour the bacon fat down the drain—that’ll clog your pipes. Strain the excess grease into a mason jar and use it to scramble your eggs tomorrow.

Commercial air fresheners only worsen the situation, in my opinion, by merging with the smell of bacon to create a completely new smell. Mask lingering smells the natural way by leaving a bowl of bread to soak in vinegar on the countertop for a few hours to help neutralize the scent. You could also put a pot of apple cider potpourri on the stove to simmer. The aromatic combination of citrus, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise is powerful enough to get rid of any stench. You could also place cotton balls soaked in vanilla extract in the rooms that stink.

Forget about the skillet. Lay strips of bacon on top of a cooling rack-lined baking sheet and slide it into the oven. Cooking bacon in the oven, an enclosed space, will contain the smoke and prevent it from smelling up the place. The same applies for cooking bacon in the microwave.