Description
Make your own smoky, yummy, nutritious Smoky Tempeh Vegan Bacon yourself, the easy way! Just mix up this 6-ingredient marinade, slice the tempeh thinly, marinate it, then pan-fry those savory strips into golden-brown deliciousness.
Ingredients
Smoky Marinade:
- 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or agave syrup (optional)
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- ½ teaspoon sriracha sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Tempeh, Oil:
- 8 ounces tempeh
- 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
Instructions
- Make Smoky Marinade: Combine soy sauce, vinegar, maple or agave syrup, liquid smoke, sriracha sauce, and garlic powder in a shallow dish.
- Remove the tempeh from its packaging, and slice tempeh very thinly along the short side of the block.
- Place tempeh slices in the dish with marinade, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and gently turn the dish over to distribute marinade. Place the dish right side up in the refrigerator to marinate 1-2 hours. Half-way through this period, gently turn over the dish again to redistribute marinade.
- To cook tempeh bacon, add 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil to a large skillet and heat over medium setting. Remove the strips of tempeh bacon from the marinade, and add to the skillet, cooking just until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes) on first side. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil, and turn to cook the other side until golden brown (about 4-5 minutes).
- Remove and serve immediately.
- Makes about 36 thin strips (4 2-ounce servings each).
Notes
Use this recipe in my BLTA sandwich here.
To make this recipe gluten-free, use gluten-free tempeh and soy sauce.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 154
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 287 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 8 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 22 g
I did not make this recipe. Since you are a dietician, I was hoping this recipe would not have the ingredient liquid smoke, a carcinogen. I will continue looking for a “healthy” vegan bacon .
Thank you for raising this issue. The opinions on the safety of liquid smoke are very controversial. You’ll find some studies that show it is a carcinogen and others that show it isn’t. My take on liquid smoke is that it’s a lower risk than actually charring your food (which is a known carcinogen), and that if it’s used very occasionally in tiny amounts, it poses no great threat. But I also understand why people would just want to avoid this ingredient altogether to be perfectly cautious about their diets. I think this article from Iowa State University addresses these risks pretty well. You are welcome to omit liquid smoke in this recipe, and I think you’ll still really like it!