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    Home » Breakfasts

    Vegan Bacon

    Published: Sep 12, 2019 Updated: Mar 24, 2022 by Alison Andrews This post may contain affiliate links

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    Vegan Bacon

    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. 

    Vegan bacon strips in a frying pan.

    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.

    Vegan bacon strips on a spatula.

    How To Make Vegan Bacon

    You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

    • 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.
    Dry ingredients added to mixing bowl.
    • Then, in a measuring jug add vegetable stock, canola oil, tamari, maple syrup, liquid smoke, dijon mustard and tomato paste and whisk that together.
    Wet ingredients added to measuring jug and whisked together.
    • Add the wet ingredients in with the dry and mix in properly so that you have a thick dough. 
    Seitan dough in a mixing bowl.
    • Move the dough to a wooden cutting board and knead it for 5-8 minutes until it is pretty stiff and firm (more about this later). 
    Seitan dough on a wooden board.
    • 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. 

    Seitan in foil in a steamer basket.
    • After 20 minutes of steaming unwrap it from the foil.
    Steamed seitan in foil.
    • When it’s cool, use a sharp knife to cut it into even slices. 

    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. 

    Seitan sliced into thin strips.

    The Marinade

    • Mix up a marinade sauce of tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and liquid smoke. 
    Marinade ingredients added to measuring jug and whisked.
    • Heat up a frying pan with some oil and then add the bacon slices.
    Vegan bacon strips frying in a frying pan.
    • Brush on the marinade sauce.
    Vegan bacon strips in a frying pan with marinade brushed on top.
    • Flip the slices and brush the marinade sauce onto the other side. Flip the bacon slices regularly until charred on each side. 
    Vegan bacon in a frying pan.

    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. 

    Vegan bacon strips stacked up in a frying pan.

    Salty, Sweet and Smoky

    Liquid smoke – 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 beautifully with the smoky flavors.

    Tamari – of course we need plenty of salty to balance the smoky and sweet flavors and we get that from the tamari. 

    Strips of vegan bacon in a frying pan.

    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! 

    Strips of vegan bacon stacked up in a frying pan.

    More Vegan ‘Meat’ Recipes

    1. Vegan Meatloaf
    2. Vegan Taco Meat
    3. Vegan Bolognese
    4. Vegan Burger
    5. Vegan Ham Roast
    6. Vegan Turkey Roast
    A stack of vegan bacon strips.

    Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!

    Vegan bacon strips in a frying pan.

    Vegan Bacon

    This vegan bacon is smoky, perfectly textured and made from seitan! It's crispy, chewy, salty and sweet and packs a protein punch!
    4.90 from 29 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Breakfast, Side
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan
    Prep Time: 35 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour
    Servings: 26 Strips
    Calories: 93kcal
    Author: Alison Andrews

    Ingredients

    For the Vegan Bacon:

    • 2 cups Vital Wheat Gluten (300g)
    • ¼ cup Nutritional Yeast (15g)
    • 2 teaspoons Smoked Paprika
    • ½ teaspoon Onion Powder
    • ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
    • ½ cup Vegetable Stock (120ml)
    • ¼ cup Canola Oil (60ml)
    • ¼ cup Tamari (60ml)
    • ¼ cup Maple Syrup (60ml)
    • 2 Tablespoons Liquid Smoke
    • 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard
    • 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

    For the Marinade:

    • 2 Tablespoons Tamari
    • 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
    • 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
    • 1 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
    • ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
    • ¼ teaspoon Onion Powder
    • ⅛ teaspoon Liquid Smoke

    For Frying: 

    • Grapeseed Oil
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    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

    1. Vital Wheat Gluten. For the best accuracy weigh your Vital Wheat Gluten. If using only the cup method, this is 2 packed cups.
    2. 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).
    3. Liquid Smoke. It is a lot of liquid smoke but really works in creating that ‘bacon’ flavor.
    4. 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.
    5. Prep time includes the time spent steaming, but does not include cooling time for the seitan before slicing.
    6. 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.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1Strip | Calories: 93kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.8g | Protein: 9.4g | Fat: 3.4g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Sodium: 263mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 3g
    DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? Rate it & leave your feedback in the comments section below, or tag @lovingitvegan on Instagram and hashtag #lovingitvegan
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    About the Author

    Hi I'm Alison Andrews, I'm the voice and cook behind Loving It Vegan. I love making delicious vegan food and creating vegan versions of all your old favorites, so that you’ll never feel like you’re missing out. Find out more about me here.

    Loving It Vegan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site may contain some of these links to Amazon.com. If you make a purchase through one of those links, Loving It Vegan will receive a small commission from the purchase at no additional cost to you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sarah Morin says

      April 18, 2023 at 3:23 pm

      so yummy! Just wondering, how many grams is one strip? Thank you!5 stars

      Reply
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