There’s a way to serve plates of crispy bacon and sunny side up eggs that doesn’t demand you stand over a hot skillet and get greasy. “Frying” bacon in a hot oven, then cooking eggs on the same sheet pan, turns out a meal for four in 15 minutes and requires almost no attention.

Yes, the method is convenient, but its real appeal is how evenly browned bacon and perfectly set eggs are done all at once.

Because bacon strips run long, a big batch of them cooks more uniformly on a sheet tray than in a sloping skillet, all crowded and tangled as if playing Twister. Surrounded by hot air in the oven, the fat in the bacon melts steadily and runs under and around all the slices, sizzling them from pink to brick red. As they cook, they curl enough to allow space to add eggs to the pan.

Eggs aren’t often cooked in the oven, probably because getting them right can be tricky. If eggs are baked at all, they’re often plopped into ramekins, along with cream, for some version of shirred eggs. They can be delicious, but they also risk getting rubbery, as they may toughen in dry, moderate heat.

With this sheet-pan technique, the eggs cook quickly in a very hot oven. Cracked into all that slowly rendered bacon fat, the egg whites slide like silk and start to set almost immediately. Once the pan is back in the oven, the encompassing heat finishes solidifying the whites, including that ring around the yolk that sometimes stays jiggly when heated only from below on the stovetop.

For a spread, bake sticky buns, muffins or scones, or roast potatoes, mushrooms or tomatoes before starting the bacon. They’ll cool to the just-right temperature as the eggs finish. Or toast rolls, biscuits or croissants in the oven at the same time, for breakfast sandwiches or just to swipe through that runny yolk.

In every case, breakfast pretty much cooks itself.

Crispy Oven Bacon and Eggs

• 4 large eggs
• 8 bacon slices
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Toast, for serving

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place a rack in center oven. Remove eggs from refrigerator.

Arrange bacon on rimmed baking sheet in single layer, spacing evenly. Roast until fat renders and bacon curls, about 8 minutes, depending on thickness.

Remove pan from oven; quickly flip bacon and move to one side of pan. Crack eggs onto other side, then immediately return pan to oven and roast until whites are just set, yolks are still runny and bacon is brown and crisp, 2 to 5 minutes longer. For medium or hard egg yolks or extra-crisp bacon, cook a few minutes more, but remove bacon before it burns.

Use spatula to cut eggs apart. Slide them off the pan and onto plates right away to stop yolks from solidifying. Season with salt and pepper. Drain bacon on paper towels, then add to plates along with toast. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Nutritional information unavailable.

Make breakfast sandwiches: Toast split buttered rolls, with cheese on the bottom halves if you’d like, directly on another rack in oven while eggs cook. Serve bacon and eggs in the rolls.

© 2021 The New York Times Company