I’ve never been a bacon lover myself, so I haven’t missed it since I went vegan, only a few times when I tried to make some recipes that requires this ingredient and for those times, I had our tempeh bacon recipe, which is great.
Unfortunately, tempeh it’s not easy to find in Spain and is pretty expensive, so when I saw eggplant bacon for the first time, I knew I needed to experiment with our bacon recipe and make an alternative using eggplant instead of tempeh.
This is not real bacon, so it hasn’t the same consistency and flavor, but it’s so good and a healthier alternative. Besides, it’s much more affordable than tempeh bacon and store-bought vegan bacon.
This eggplant bacon can be used as regular bacon, as a snack, for breakfast, to make a sandwich, salads, pizza or pasta. We used it to make a delicious vegan pasta Carbonara (recipe coming soon), which is the best plant based Carbonara I’ve ever tried!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it or tag a picture @simpleveganblog on Instagram and hashtag it #simpleveganblog. We’d love to see what you cook!
Eggplant Bacon
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Yield: 25-30 slices 1x
- Category: How to
- Cuisine: Vegan, American
Eggplant bacon is a healthier alternative to regular bacon and is also low in fat. You can bake or sauté it and is so tasty and crispy.
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium eggplant
- 2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tbsp agave or maple syrup
- 1 tbsp tahini (or extra virgin olive oil)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
- 2 tsp smoke paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250ºF or 120ºC and line one (or two) large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- If you use oil, just mix all the ingredients (except the eggplant) in a large mixing bowl. If you use tahini, blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth and then pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl.
- Slice an eggplant in half lengthwise, we’re going to use only one half. Then use a mandolin to slice the eggplant into thin strips (1/8 inch or 3 mm). If you don’t have a mandolin, use a sharp knife, but the mandolin works much better.
- Some people brush the eggplant slices with the sauce, but I prefer to dip them in the sauce, it’s simpler and works great. Then wipe it off a little bit the excess.
- Place the eggplant slices onto the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes for one side and another 45 minutes for the other side. The eggplant slices are crispier when they’re cool. If you prefer a simpler alternative, just sauté the bacon slices for both sides in a frying pan with some oil until they’re golden brown and crispy.
- Store the eggplant bacon in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Baking time may vary depending on the oven.
- If you can’t eat soy, use coconut aminos or add sea salt and some liquid instead, like water, more vinegar or even lemon juice.
- Feel free to use lemon juice instead of the vinegar.
- Add your favorite spices.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/25 of the recipe
- Calories: 11
- Sugar: 1.1 g
- Sodium: 81.6 mg
- Fat: 0.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.7 g
- Fiber: 0.4 g
- Protein: 0.4 g
TheFoodSea says
July 26, 2017 at 12:14this dish is a bit new for me. never tried something like this. hope it will turn out tasty when i will make it soon.
Iosune says
July 27, 2017 at 09:27Hi! Hope you like it! 🙂
Yael Tamar says
July 27, 2017 at 19:34Brilliant! This looks so good! I’ve been looking forward to seeing this recipe for some time now and plan to make it this weekend!!!
Iosune says
July 31, 2017 at 13:02Hi Yael! Thanks a lot 😀 Hope you like it!
Shanasy says
February 7, 2018 at 04:11This recipe looks fantastic and I LOVE that you offer an alternative to oil! I have shared this with my FB group “Super Quick Plant-Based Recipes” – my group will love it AND your site!
★★★★★
Iosune says
February 7, 2018 at 10:42Hi Shanasy! Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe 🙂 Hope you like it!
lisa says
March 2, 2018 at 07:56I live overseas as well. It can be hard to be vegan here at times, but mostly, I am so grateful for Italy’s abundance of GMO free healthy fruits and vegetables. Thanks for sharing this. A GREAT idea! I will be trying it soon. Glad I found you,
★★★★
Iosune says
March 25, 2018 at 04:52Hi Lisa! So glad you like our recipe 🙂 Italian food is AMAZING!
renae says
March 11, 2018 at 06:50Hi there.I can’t have soy and unfortunately coconut aminos is crazy expensive,so how much salt would i use? And would i just use two tablespoons of water instead of the soy sauce to make up for lost liquid? Thank you 🙂
Iosune says
March 25, 2018 at 05:23Hi Renae! I’ve never made this recipe using salt, so I can’t tell you the exact amount you need. I would add some salt to taste and then you can add more if needed when the bacon is cooked 🙂 Add some broth or water instead to get a similar consistency. Hope it works!
Becky says
October 8, 2018 at 01:38This sounds wonderful…Can’t wait to try it. Silly question: do you feel the eggplant
Iosune says
October 8, 2018 at 08:08Hi Becky! Thanks a lot 🙂 I hope you like it. Yes, you can feel it, but not so much.
DM says
April 22, 2019 at 18:50I’ve made this a couple of times already. My family and I love it! It has that nice smokey flavor and if you slice them thin enough you’ll get some crispy ones too. Thank you for sharing this recipe. We love to make ELT(Eggplant, lettuce,and tomato)sandwiches.
★★★★★
Iosune says
April 23, 2019 at 08:28Hi Dm! You’re so welcome 🙂 SO glad you enjoyed it!