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
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.
- 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 about 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.
- 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.
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.
- 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
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.
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
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Bacon
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
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 has become my absolute favourite seitan recipe. I don’t even make the marinade, the seitan Is so flavorful and delicious. The best part is that it’s also fairly simple to make, and so I don’t have to scrub seitan off of everything. That stuff really knows how to stick. Thanks for the recipe!♥️
Awesome! Thanks so much Shan!
Great, hit with the whole family. Looking forward to it with pancakes and maple syrup. Thanks for all the great recipes.
So glad you enjoyed it Susan! Thanks so much for the awesome review!
Just wondering, can you keep it in slab form, and slice it as you need it? I slice a few slices and it was very good,so much better than store bought vegan bacon.
So glad you enjoyed it! I think you can do that yes!
I’ve just put mine in the steamer but not sure how it’s going to turn out. As soon as I mixed in the liquid the dough went very stringy and couldn’t seem to change this. I’ve made seitan once before and the texture was very soft and doughy so sure this isn’t right. Could it possibly be because my vital gluten flour was passed it’s use before date??
Hi Caroline, that sounds right actually. It isn’t soft and doughy in this recipe. Let us know how it turned out! 🙂
I’ve made this 3 times now, tastes delicious but I can’t get it into a firm shape after kneading. I wonder if adding hot stock makes a difference as it’s fibrous before I even start kneading and it’s hard to get all the flour mixed in?
Hi Barbara, I also use hot stock so I don’t think that’s it. It can take a fair bit of kneading to get it to feel really firm (up to 8 minutes). I’m really glad it’s still been delicious though! 🙂
Can I knead the dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook ?
If so , for how long & at what speed ?
You probably can, but it’s better to do it by hand so you get a feel for it. I wouldn’t be able to give you exact times with a dough hook since I didn’t do it that way, so if you do want to do it that way you’d have to experiment a little. 🙂
I love this recipe, just tried it out!! I tried it with and without the marinade and I think the marinade adds so much to the seitan! Definitely one to use more often!
Awesome! Thanks so much! 🙂
I made this a few days ago: it’s quite easy, and very good! It’s a bit tricky to get the frying right — crisp but not burnt — but perhaps I should be more generous with oil.
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I’ve been trying to eliminate excess salt and oil. I’m wondering if I could cut down on the amount of oil and use something else. Probably not ideal but wondering if anyone has tried.
Hi Susan, you could try playing with the ratios of oil and vegetable stock, increasing the stock and decreasing the oil. I wouldn’t think oil free would work but maybe a reduced quantity could work.
If I am cutting recipe in half is the cook time still the same?
Yes it is. 🙂
Hi Alison! Thank you for this recipe. I tried it last night and I did something wrong! It is certainly possible I didn’t knead it long enough. Also, I read to “loosely wrap it in foil”, so I think some water may have gotten in. Because instead of making it a tight seal, I made the whole thing loose. I am currently trying to leave it out to “dry out” so it might get “crunchier”. Do you have any pointers if the dough is too soft?
Hi Jo, ‘loosely wrapping in foil’ just means that there should be room for it to expand, it should definitely be properly sealed. I think if you let it cool properly and slice it and fry as normal it will likely still be fine. 🙂
Hi Alison. My third recipe of yours. I’ve followed your recipe exactly. The taste is very salty for me. Can I reduce the tamari and increase another ingrediant, or add something to make it less salty?
Also, I’ve fried thin and thick slices, and I’m amazed how good the thicker slices, approx 2 cms, are! I’ve actually sliced all thick as it has such a lovely texture.
My husband loves salt, and I can’t wait for him to get home to try.
One more thing, I fried without the marinade, it’s lovely too.
I’m slowly working my way through your recipes. Thanks
Hi Anita, it is salty, so you are definitely welcome to tweak the recipe. Just replace some of the tamari with water and see how that goes. Hope your husband enjoys it! All the best! 🙂
Thank you. Will try adding water in place of less tamari. Good tip!
Well, I haven’t made this yet but it sounds amazing. Can this be frozen and used for another time?
Hi Brooke! Yes it is freezer friendly! Just thaw overnight in the fridge when you’re ready to use it and reheat in the pan. 🙂
Smoky, realistic and all the more delicious knowing it is vegan!
It is too good Anna, thanks for the awesome review. 🙂
Can you store what you don’t cook and for how long?
You can store the cooked strips for around a week in the fridge. You can also prepare it up to the point of cutting it into strips and then store for a few days in the fridge and marinate and fry up when you’re ready.
Alison,
I really want to try this recipe however I have a couple questions. If you don’t use soy what else can be used in the place of Tamari? Also, what is another high smoke point oil? And, I no longer use aluminum foil what can replace that?
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you,
Jamila
Hi Jamila, it doesn’t have to be a high smoke point oil, I also tried it with olive oil and it didn’t char quite as much but still fine. So use any oil you prefer. You could possibly use something like coconut aminos which is soy free but I haven’t tried it with this recipe. As far as an alternative to foil, you could try steaming it without foil, but I’m not sure that it would work as well, the worry would be that it would absorb too much water and become soggy.
You can wrap it in parchment paper to steam it