How to Make Smokey Maple Seitan Bacon (Vegan)
Warning: This vegan bacon is addictive.
I have tested this smoky maple seitan bacon on omnivores and it rated two thumbs up.
Here is how it goes down when you serve this to self professed “real” bacon lover. They will discreetly wrinkle their nose and insist on taking half a strip instead of a whole. Then they’ll place a tiny corner in their mouths and nibble just the teensiest bit in case it is not maple but hemlock infused.
“Not bad” they’ll announce with surprise. They’ll throw a couple of strips on their sandwich along with juicy tomato slices and crisp green lettuce leaves. By the end of the meal they will have finished every crumb of their 1st vegan BLT.
“Hey, do you have anymore bacon?” they will ask plaintively pointing to the empty platter with their left hand while clutching two strips of bacon in their right.
Crispy, chewy, salty, smokey, spicy, sweet. From sandwiches to salads to tofu scrambles this vegan bacon will make your dishes sing! Not just sing. Sing opera!
Oh gosh now my mind is wondering what aria this vegan bacon is singing.
The sweet, smokey amber marinade is sexy like Musetta all tarted up for a stroll down the boulevard in La bohème. I see a strip of vegan bacon swaying down the street, head tilted singing unselfconsciously :
When walking alone on the streets,
People stop and stare
And examine my beauty
From head to toe
And then I savor the cravings
which from their eyes transpires
-Puccini
Or perhaps this bacon is a hunky “savory” baritone like Escamillo in Carmen.
Your toast, I can give it to you
Sirs, sirs, for along with the soldiers
Yes, the Toreros, can understand;
For pleasures, for pleasures
They have combats!
The arena is full,
it is the feast day!
-Bizet
Seitan is unbelievably versatile, I use it in my Seitan Satay with Spicy peanut sauce,
Bbq Vegan Ribs with sticky Tamarind bbq sauce
Onward to the recipe.
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A make ahead vegan bacon that can be pulled out of the fridge and fried up in 4 minutes flat. Don't be alarmed when you see the long list of ingredients. Note that most of them repeat themselves in both the dough and the marinade there fore the list is much smaller.
The dough will take you 10 minutes to make and then just pop it in the oven for 1/2 hour while you nap. After that all you need to do is make the marinade (3 minutes) and slice up the bacon. Now you are good to go and have a week's supply of "bacon".
- 1 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1/3 cup chickpea flour
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves important
- 2 tbsp tahini or smooth peanut butter
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 4 drops liquid smoke
- 1 cup vegetable broth, warm or hot not cold
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 6-8 drops liquid smoke
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced optional
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Heat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl stir together the dry ingredients until combined.
In another bowl stir together all the the wet ingredients until smooth.
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Pour the wet into the dry and stir until a dough forms. I like to do my kneading in the stand mixer with a dough hook but you can knead it by hand as well. If you re using the stand mixer the place the dough in the stand mixer and allow it to knead with the dough hook for 6 minutes on medium speed. I think the texture is much better when I use the stand mixer. It makes for a denser loaf.
If you are kneading by hand then you will need to knead for 10 minutes until the dough is super dense and rubbery.
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Lightly oil a metal loaf pan and press the seitan dough into the pan pressing hard into the corners until the dough lies flat in the pan.
Spoon 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tbsp of water over the top and enclose the top of the pan with aluminum foil so steam doesn’t escape.
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Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Remove from oven.
Mix up your smoky maple marinade.
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Mix up all the ingredients and taste. A small taste though because it will be strong. Play with the balance of flavors to your own taste.
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Now slice up your cooled seitan into long strips. I like it thick cut! Place the marinade in a pan that can hold all the sliced bacon. Slather the marinade onto the bacon strips on both sides and allow to sit 20 minutes. Fry up the bacon in a skillet about 2 minutes on each side.
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Make ahead tip. This marinated bacon will keep in the fridge tightly covered at least a week. This way you can fry it up as needed. How cool I that?
How to Make Smokey Maple Seitan Bacon (Vegan)
How do you prevent your seitan from rising? Whenever I cook it without restricting it tightly, it puffs up, like bread.
That’s a good question. I have not had that problem with this recipe. Maybe because I knead it so long and the gluten strands are pretty tight? I have had that problem in the past and in this recipe I wanted a very dense “loaf” so I kept the liquid ratio on the low side and constrained the dough to a loaf pan. I think that might have helped because it comes out with no “puff” as you can see in the photo.
Mine just came out of the oven and has risen. Hmmm. I used a food processor. Maybe I didn’t process long enough.
A general rule with seitan is that if you are experiencing a spongy, bread like end product, then your cooking temperature was too high. You might experiment with a lower oven temp.
How yummy! I don’t like to compare the vegan version to some meat ‘original’ version because it has been so long. This seitan delicacy, however, is amazing in its own right.
I can’t say that it tastes like the real thing, but it is delicious! There wasn’t enough marinade for all of the seitan, so I recommend doubling the batch and then some. It chars easily because of the maple syrup, but it doesn’t taste burnt; just so yummy! Thank you for this recipe!
Doubling the marinade is a great idea! I’m so glad adore this recipe as much as we do. Yes the maple syrup chars a bit, yum.
Just made this and OMG! So delicious and super easy! Game changer!
Jessica, I just thrilled that you love this recipe! Thank you for trying it out.
-Hanne
On step 3 do you wrap the whole loaf pan in foil?
Spoon 1 tbsp of say sauce and 1 tbsp of water over the top and enclose tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350. Remove from oven.
This recipe looks amazing… Thank you
Hi Donna, Sprinkle soy sauce and water over the top of the seitan in the pan, and then tightly cover the top of the pan with foil so steam doesn’t escape. Sorry if it wasn’t clear in the directions. I will change them. Enjoy!
-Hanne
Hi, I tried this today. Flavor was very good, but questions for you! The texture on my seitan always seems more bread-like. I have only ever once achieved the meaty texture. How do I get rid of the breadlines? I see it supposed to crisp a bit? Mine was flimsy. Any suggestions? Thank you!
It is hard to trouble shoot from a distance but I’ll try. Make sure you knead it enough. Press down on the “dough” and weigh it while baking. Also crisp it well in a pan. Cheers
I loved this! (I reduced the amount of smoked paprika by half and used more garlic powder but that’s just personal taste.) What really made the loaf shine was the soy sauce on top! The “meat” had a wonderful salty taste to it that I wanted to make sandwiches right away. If I didn’t want to marinade and fry it up, is the baking time enough to eat it then?
I’m glad to see you customized it to your own personal taste! Yes the baking time is enough. I often sneak bites at that stage or use it a sandwich “meat” .
made this today and loved it – ive tried making seitan before but it has always been too chewy and tough and indigestible but this was absolutely delicious and sort of tender, Thanks so much!
Oh thank you for trusting the recipe and getting back to me with your results. I am so pleased you liked it.
This came out sooooo delicious!!!! Thank you!!! I will even consider making this into a ham just shape it differently
Thank you for taking a chance on my recipe. I’m sooooo glad you loved it as much as we do. I’ve thought of hamming it up as well.
Have you ever made this recipe without Nutritional Yeast? I have HS and must avoid any type of yeast and dairy? Or is there a substitute you can think of?
Hi Kevin, You’ll still have delicious bacon if you skip the Nutritional yeast. Please let me know how you like it.
When making ahead, do I fry it at the end before putting it in the fridge? Or fry it just before eating?
Thanks.
Hi Anna, I make and bake the seitan and keep it in the refrigerator.Then I slice and fry it as I need it. Cheers
Quick question, do you store it in the marinade or marinate it and then store it?
Hi Keith, you can store them separately or slice the bacon up and store it together with the marinade in the fridge for up to a week.
Yep, made this three times so far. Perfect every time. I use the breadmaker to do the kneading, and I make double the marinade to fully cover it all. Amazing. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Any tips on slicing it thinly?
Hi Keith, Yay! I’m so glad you love It as much as I do. I cut mine with a bread knife. I can’t get it super thin but basically the thickness of thick cut bacon. Cheers!!
Hello Hanne,
This looks so good and I really want to try it.
May I ask if you ever tried to freeze it? I would need to freeze it as it’s just me I’m making it for and I couldn’t finish it in a week!
Thanks
Hello Mary, You can freeze seitan for up to 6 months. Let me know how it goes for you.
Could you recommend a substitution for the chickpea flour? I can’t get that where I am. I also cannot get liquid smoke. Can I sub more smoked paprika in its place? Thanks for your help with this. I would really like to be able to make this!
This looks delicious! Is there a substitution for the chickpea flour? Also can I substitute smoked paprika for the liquid smoke?
Hi Heather, yes smoked paprika makes a great substitute. I’m not sure how to sub the chickpea flour. Are you avoiding it because of an allergy? Or is it hard for you to find?
I can’t get chickpea flour where I am. Can I sub regular flour?
Hi Heather, regular flour won’t work…You can order it on Amazon. I hope this helps. Most markets do carry it as either chickpea flour, garbanzo flour or Besan.
Holy crap, this is amazing!! I’m not sure how I stumbled upon this site but seriously, this “bacon” is so awesome.
Thank you so much!
Awww Thank you!!!!
I made this yesterday, sliced and then left to marinade overnight Pan fried them this morning in a little oil and we sat and ate pure magic! This was something we had been looking for since turning vegan in January, the texture and taste is amazing. The instructions were perfect and it came out the oven as described with no rise. I used a stand mixer with dough hook.
After reading the previous comments I made up double the marinade mix, smothered the bacon slices in it and will leave in the fridge until next required, I don’t think it will last a week. We plan to use in stirfrys and pasta dishes as a replacement for pancetta too !
Thanks – my husband thinks its pure magic !
Jayne thank you for taking the time to try my recipe and for leaving such a glowing review. Enjoy your “bacon” and stay safe.
Hello, I just tried making this today. I can’t tell the difference between the raw and cooked dough, which I have to assume is not right. I kneaded it in my stand mixer as directed, only difference is that I’m out of nutritional yeast and made up the difference with a tad more spices and flour. Any suggestions? Thank you!
How odd. I’ve not had that comment before. When I slice the raw dough it is spongy but when I sear it in the pan it comes out harder crisper and more dense.