This vegan bacon is smoky and deliciously textured and made from seitan! It’s crispy, chewy, salty and sweet and packs a serious protein punch too!
Well would you look at that? Sorta kinda maybe looks like bacon right?
And let me tell you it’s totally delicious and it’s not that hard to make either. Sure there are a few steps involved, but it’s fun.
We love making the vegan ‘meat’ recipes here and we’ve already made vegan steak and vegan chicken, vegan pepperoni, vegan sausages and vegan salami!
How To Make Vegan Bacon
- It’s actually pretty easy! No really it is.
- There is one crucial ingredient and that is Vital Wheat Gluten. This is the ‘seitan’ part of the recipe and it’s crucial to create the texture.
- So we start off by adding some vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder to a mixing bowl and mixing together.
- Then, in a measuring jug add vegetable stock, canola oil, tamari, maple syrup, liquid smoke, dijon mustard and tomato paste and whisk that together.
- Add the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix in properly so that you have a thick dough.
- Move the dough to a wooden cutting board and knead it for 5-8 minutes until it is pretty stiff and firm (more on this later).
- Then form it into a square as much as you can, loosely wrap it in foil and steam it for 20 minutes.
TOP TIPS: It must be loosely wrapped in the foil as it will expand a little while it’s steaming. Make sure the water is boiling in your pot before you add your steamer basket and start steaming it and time your 20 minutes from that point. It needs to be 20 minutes of proper steaming.
- After 20 minutes of steaming unwrap it from the foil.
TOP TIP: Let it cool completely before slicing. We made a batch where we sliced it before it had cooled, it made the process much more difficult. It helps enormously to get even slices if the seitan is cooled first.
- When it’s cool, use a sharp knife to cut it into even slices.
The Marinade
- Mix up a marinade sauce of tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and liquid smoke.
- Heat up a frying pan with some oil and then add the bacon slices and brush on the marinade sauce. Flip the slices and brush the marinade sauce onto the other side. Flip the bacon slices regularly until charred on each side.
TOP TIP: Grapeseed oil is a good choice to use for frying as it has a high smoke point so assists in getting that charred look on your vegan bacon. However, we also tested this with olive oil and it also worked well.
Salty, Sweet and Smoky!
When you see the ingredients list in the recipe card below you might be a little surprised at the quantities of some of the ingredients. For example, we use a lot of liquid smoke in this recipe. However, it really does bring it with that smoky flavor that is reminiscent of bacon.
Maple syrup brings that slight sweetness that goes with the smoky flavor and of course we need plenty of salty and we get that from the tamari.
How To Knead Seitan
After you mix the wet and dry ingredients for this recipe, you need to knead the dough until it reaches a firm texture. It’s a little tricky because you go more by feel than by time. But I will still attempt to give you some time guidelines.
My hands are not super strong hands, so when I kneaded the dough I needed 8 minutes to get it to the right consistency. When Jaye kneaded it with his strong grip strength (from pull ups) he only kneaded it for 5 minutes and we were there with the consistency. It should feel very firm to the touch and spring back when you stretch it.
The good thing with this recipe is that I don’t think it will be an issue if you knead it a little too long. If you knead it for too short a time though then the bacon will be too soft and won’t have that firm consistency that you would want. So set the timer for 5 minutes if you have a pair of strong hands but if after 5 minutes you’re not sure if it’s done then keep going!
More Vegan ‘Meat’ Recipes
Vegan Bacon
Ingredients
For the Vegan Bacon:
- 2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten (300g)
- ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (15g)
- 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ cup Vegetable Stock (120ml)
- ¼ cup Canola Oil (60ml)
- ¼ cup Tamari (60ml)
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup (60ml)
- 2 Tbsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
For the Marinade:
- 2 Tbsp Tamari
- 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Onion Powder
- ⅛ tsp Liquid Smoke
For Frying:
- Grapeseed Oil
Instructions
- Add the vital wheat gluten, nutritional yeast, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Then, in a measuring jug, add vegetable stock, canola oil, tamari, maple syrup, liquid smoke, dijon mustard and tomato paste and whisk together.
- Add the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix in with a spoon until you have a thick dough.
- Move the dough to a wooden cutting board and knead it for 5-8 minutes until it is pretty stiff and firm. 5 minutes is sufficient if you have very strong hands, if you have weaker hands then up to 8 minutes may be needed. Watch for how the dough feels to know when it has been long enough. It should be firm and spring back when stretched. See the blog post for more notes about kneading.
- Form the dough into a square as much as you can, loosely wrap it in foil and steam it for 20 minutes. The water should be boiling before you add the steamer basket so that it steams properly for the full 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes of steaming unwrap it from the foil and allow to cool completely. When it's cool, use a sharp knife to cut it into even slices.
- Prepare your marinade sauce by adding tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and liquid smoke to a measuring jug and whisk with a mini whisk until smooth.
- Heat up a frying pan with the grapeseed oil and then add the first batch of bacon slices (we did 5-6 slices at a time) and brush on the marinade sauce. Flip the slices and brush the marinade sauce onto the other side. Flip the bacon slices regularly until charred on each side.
- Keep leftovers in the fridge and enjoy within about a week. It's also freezer friendly if you want to freeze it, and then thaw overnight in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Vital Wheat Gluten. For the best accuracy weigh your Vital Wheat Gluten. If using only the cup method, this is 2 packed cups.
- Canola Oil. I have only made this with canola oil, but I imagine a different oil could also work. I would not use coconut oil though (too thick and flavored).
- Liquid Smoke. It is a lot of liquid smoke but really works in creating that 'bacon' flavor.
- Grapeseed Oil. This has a high smoke point so really assists in getting the bacon charred which also assists in the flavor. You can use a different oil for frying though. We used about 2 Tbsp during frying but you may need more or less depending on the pan you use.
- Prep time includes the time spent steaming, but does not include cooling time for the seitan before slicing.
- Gluten-Free. Unfortunately this vegan bacon cannot be made gluten-free as it relies on the vital wheat gluten for the structure and consistency and there are no substitutions that can be made for it.
- This recipe was adapted from our Vegan Steak with inspiration from The Oregonian.
Made this for the first time today. I think it will get better each time I make it from a consistency aspect. Taste is great and meat eating family loved it also
So happy to hear that Phil! And agreed, it will get better each time, you really start to get the ‘feel’ for the texture the more you make it. Thanks for the wonderful review!
Fantastic recipe. I make this recipe twice a week to keep up with demand 😉
We did find this recipe a little oily and sweet though. So I reduced the oil and syrup and increased the stock. This change suits our tastes perfectly. For us it doesn’t even need the marinade, My husband eats it straight from the fridge. 🙂
Delicious.
Just made BLT’s for dinner tonight– DANG! SO GOOD! I used the instant pot, steamed for 20 minutes, though I’m not sure that I did it correctly as the middle was still a bit soft. I thought maybe I wouldn’t char the “bacon” but was so glad that I did– totally worth the time and the marinade. Thank you, I look forward to eating the rest of this over the next week, and making again!
So happy to hear that Rachel, thanks a million!
First time I used liquid smoke and I think it was the last time already.
I don’t get the fuss, it smells and tastes like burned rubber.
Would have liked to have tried this recipe but I no longer use aluminum foil and see no other option suggested other than parchment paper.
This may help….Wrap in parchment paper then in foil OR
wrap in parchment paper then a piece of cloth like muslin or even cotton securing the ends tightly with string…or rubber bands may work?
Peggy I will have to try that when I make it since I no longer use aluminum foil either. Thank you for the suggestion and I do not know when I will make it but I will:-)
And, Amy thank you for the question!!
Recipe sounds great. I haven’t made it yet but just wondering at what point would you recommend freezing? Would you cool, slice and then freeze before marinating and frying? Or freeze after frying? Thanks in advance.
Either/or would work well for this. But if you froze it after frying then you may need to add more marinade when you reheated it. So in that way maybe it’s better to just slice and freeze before frying.
Thanks Alison!
I gave this one a try (incredible flavour profile) both in the pan and baked. However the marinade did give the bacon a very burnt charred texture while the inside remained rather uncooked and very wet/floppy.
Each slice was around 3-4mm thick and the charring only seemed to occur AFTER I applied the marinade. (Laid the slices down in the pan – marinated – then flipped)
So maybe cutting thinner smaller slices if possible and only marinating at the last second instead of when it first goes in the pan? Do you have any other further tips 🙂
Hi Emma, yes cutting the slices as thinly as you can helps a lot. But personally I quite enjoy the charring. But to minimize it you can add marinade after frying. 🙂
Hi there!
I’m a huge seitan convert recently (been making all kinds of home made meats from seitan sausages to meatballs to burger buns!).
Does this bacon do well when baked? (Instead of fried in a pan?)
Hi Emma, I haven’t tried baking it, but I would guess that it would work!
I just made this and it is awesome!! I kind of failed in wrapping the seitan tightly so it ended up getting moist during steaming, but I just steamed it for 20mins longer and then steamed it for a few minutes unwrapped (just seemed like what needed to happen lol) and it came out amazing! Very juicy and tender. Thank you!!
Wonderful! Thanks Olivia!
I made this last week & have had it every day since! In sandwiches, chopped up in “carbonara”, in a mock fry up, it’s just amazing. Even a meat eater was pleasantly surprised! I gave some to a vegan friend at work who said it was better than the stuff you buy in shops. I would highly recommend making this, it’s definitely going to be a regular in my kitchen!
Awesome! Thanks so much Lacey!
Hello! Thank you for sharing the your recipe, I’ve made this a few times now and it tastes amazing.
One problem I keep running into is when kneading. My dough seems to fold and hold it creases instead of mixing back in with itself. Is this meant to happen? I tried adding a bit more stock whilst kneading and this was disastrous!
Also, no matter how well I try to seal the foil, it seems to be taking on a bit too much moisture. It still works out okay but from looking at your pictures I think it’s meant to be more dry?
Any tips?
Hi Craig, honestly if it comes out good in the end, then you’ve done it right. Creases in the dough sounds normal. It might help to watch the video we made of the process so you can see better, but there are plenty of creases. 🙂 For steaming, there shouldn’t be too much water in the pot, so when the water is boiling it shouldn’t be touching the bottom of your steamer basket. Nothing should be touching it except steam. If this is already the case then it’s likely entirely fine. All the best! 🙂