Prince Harry's Bacon Order Finally Settles a Long Debate

In the crispy bacon vs. chewy bacon debate, which side reigns supreme? According to Prince Harry, it’s camp crispy that’s fit for a king — or, er, a prince.

Former royal chef Darren McGrady dished on the prince’s breakfast habits back in 2017 when he was promoting his book, The Royal Chef at Home: Easy Seasonal Entertaining ($21.26, Amazon). “It was after [the royal family] came back from Walt Disney World, and I had cooked bacon for breakfast,” McGrady told Food & Wine. “We serve the same bacon you can get in the states, and I broil it just the same. But Prince Harry said to me, ‘We had it in America at Disney World, and it’s so crispy you can snap it. You have to broil it first, and then you have to put it in some paper towels and place it in the microwave for a minute.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, OK, thank you, you little brat, teaching me how to cook.’ But as soon as he was gone, I tried it, and I got this amazingly crispy bacon.” From that moment on McGrady says his bacon was perfectly crisp, just how the prince liked it.

Whether you agree with the prince’s taste in bacon, you’ll appreciate that his preferred method means less cleanup for you. If you broil your bacon first before microwaving it, you cook off most of the fat in the pan. That means you won’t need to blot your bacon with mounds of paper towels to sop up grease when you microwave it.

If you’re still not convinced that crispy bacon is best, listen to this: When it comes to crispy bacon vs. chewy bacon, calories and fat count are lower for microwaved bacon (aka the crispy stuff) than pan-fried bacon (aka the chewy stuff). Microwaved bacon has 25 calories per slice, while pan-fried bacon totals 42 calories per strip. Now, compare that to 1.86 grams of fat per slice for microwaved bacon and 3.81 grams per slice for fried bacon. Though, utrition facts aside, if crispy bacon is good enough for Prince Harry, it’s good enough for us.