Oven

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place an oven-safe metal rack on an aluminum foil-lined 15 x 10-inch (jellyroll) pan. Lay the uncooked bacon strips perpendicular to the lines on the rack so that they don’t fall through whlle baking Do not let the slices touch each other.,

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, cracked black pepper, cayenne pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to combine.

Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of the sugar mixture over each bacon slice, fully coating the top of all the slices. Using your hands, gently pat the sugar onto the slices of bacon.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until brown and crispy. If using thinner slices, reduce baking to 20 to 25 minutes. Check often as it may take longer than 40 minutes…even up to 1 hour.

Carefully transfer the bacon from the rack to a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

Air Fryer

Heat air fryer to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, pepper, cayenne pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix well.

Sprinkle mixture all over bacon and pat down.

Spray air fryer with olive oil, then add bacon and fry for 8 minutes, checking halfway through at 4 minutes to see if any of the bacon needs any rearranging in order to crisp.