Calories in bacon raw vs. cooked?

Raw bacon has more Calories than when it is fully cooked, because one normally discards the fat and liquid after cooking it.

In the US, the Calorie and nutrition information on the package label for bacon are normally for a fully cooked slice or 2 slices - the US nutrition facts already account for an average amount of fat lost in the cooking process. In other countries (I think Canada is one), the nutrition information is for a raw slice. It should say on the package though.

As long as you are logging the Calorie and nutrient information for the bacon as raw when you use it that way, then you have already included the fat and Calories that it contained. There would be no need to log the fat separately for that day if you used and consumed all of it that day.

In the US, the raw weight of a normal slice of bacon is 1 ounce (28g), which on average has 117 Cals, 4g Protein, 11g Fat. Source: 10123, Pork, cured, bacon, unprepared

For comparison, if you discarded the rendered fat and did not use it or consume it immediately, you should log the bacon as cooked. Then you would have to account for the rendered fat separately when you eventually use it.

The pan-fried weight of a 28g raw slice after cooking and draining off the rendered fat is about 11.5g, which on average has 54 Cals, 4g Protein, 4g Fat. Source: 10862, Pork, cured, bacon, pre-sliced, cooked, pan-fried

In the below side-by-side comparison of the USDA entries for raw bacon and pan-fried cooked bacon, note the protein per slice of raw versus cooked pan-fried is nearly the same (the difference results from the lab taking the average of a number of tests), whereas the Calories and fat grams are much lower. This indicates that the USDA labs are taking a 28g slice of raw bacon with 117 Calories, cooking it, draining the fat, and the result, on average, is an 11.5g slice of pan-fried cooked bacon with 54 Calories.




I drain away the rendered bacon fat, slow cook it to remove any excess water, strain it into a glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. When I use the rendered fat for cooking, I log the rendered fat in MFP as "Pork - Bacon, rendered fat, cooked (bacon drippings)." Source: 10864, Pork, bacon, rendered fat, cooked