Smoky Vegan Bacon Recipes

SMOKY VEGAN BACON

Steps:

• With a mandoline or vegetable peeler, cut carrot into long, thin strips. In a shallow bowl, whisk maple syrup, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and liquid smoke. Dip carrot slices into syrup mixture, allowing excess to drip off., In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook carrot slices in batches until browned, 4-6 minutes, turning once.

VEGAN BACON

Steps:

• Combine soy sauce, liquid smoke, water, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast in a bowl, then stir with a fork.
• Pour 2 tbsp of the marinade into a small bowl (to marinate the tofu) and the rest on to a large plate. (This will be used to dip your strips of rice paper.)
• Drain and press the excess liquid out of a block of firm tofu, then crumble 1/4 of the block of firm tofu into the bowl with 2 tbsp of the marinade and let it soak while you prepare the rice paper.
• Cut the rice paper into long strips about 1 1/2 inch wide with kitchen scissors. (a little wider than you want the final strip of bacon to be since it will shrink a little when it cooks.) You can layer up to 4 sheets on top of each other when you cut them to save time.
• Preheat your oven to 400°F(204°C).
• Spread 2 tbsp of oil on a cookie sheet. (or line it with parchment paper for oil-free)
• Dip a stip of rice paper in the marinate quickly. Don't let it soak and get soft, just get it coated with the mixture.
• Lay the strip on the oiled cookie sheet and sprinkle with about 1-2 tsp of crumbled marinated tofu.
• Dip another rice paper strip in the marinade and lay it flat on top of the first. (It will not stick to the bottom layer at first. Don't worry, they will fuse together and seal the tofu inside once it cooks.)
• Repeat this process until your sheet of full of bacon strips, but they are not touching each other.
• Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake at 400 degrees F for 7 minutes.
• Take out of the oven and flip each piece and then bake again for about 7 more minutes until the edges start to curl up and it gets crispy.

CRISPY TOFU BACON IN 10 MINUTES

Steps:

• Slice your tofu.** Lay slices on a couple of layers of paper towels. Add another paper towel on top and press gently to extract some of the moisture from the tofu.
• Place a large non-stick saucepan over medium to medium-high heat. If your burner runs hot like our high BTU burner on our gas stove, opt for lower - medium or even medium low. You know your stove best! You want to fry your tofu nicely, but you don't want your oil to burn.
• Add olive oil to the pan.
• When the oil is hot, lay the tofu slices in a single layer in the pan. The tofu will bubble, sizzle, and maybe even spit a bit so use caution, but know this will result in the easiest, most delicious tofu bacon of your life! Cook until light golden on one side, 3-4 minutes, then flip and cook the other side until light golden, 2 minutes or so.
• While the tofu cooks, mix together the soy sauce, pure maple syrup, and smoked paprika in a small bowl.
• When both sides of the tofu are golden and the slices are beginning to stiffen and look drier around the edges, reduce the heat to low. Reducing the heat is important to prevent burning! Then pour the soy sauce mixture over the tofu and toss the tofu slices until coated in the mixture. Cook, tossing gently, until the soy sauce is evaporated, about 1 more minute. Transfer to a clean plate to cool a bit and then enjoy!
• Tofu bacon keeps, refrigerated in an airtight container, for 3-4 days. But once it sits for a bit, it does lose its crispiness. Still delicious! Just not crisp anymore.