Vegan Seitan Bacon
This vegan seitan bacon recipe makes a great bacon alternative, as it has a smoky flavour and crisps up perfectly. Try serving it as part of a vegan full-English breakfast, or in a crisp, freshly-baked roll, for a plant-based take on a bacon butty!
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What is seitan?
Seitan is a seasoned wheat gluten that is regularly used in vegan recipes as a meat alternative.
It has a dense, chewy texture, and absorbs the flavour of whatever ingredients you add to it, so one batch can taste like smoky bacon while the next could be more like Southern fried chicken, depending on what you added to it.
You can fry it, boil it, or even add it to stews.
As well as being flexible to cook with in many different vegan seitan recipes, it’s also high in protein and low in fat.
What is liquid smoke?
Liquid smoke is a liquid seasoning that’s regularly used in vegan recipes to add a smoky or barbecue flavour.
It’s made by condensing the smoke of burning wood and is a completely natural ingredient.
You buy it in bottles and a little generally goes a long way as the flavour is quite intense so you only need to use a small amount each time.
Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Calories: 167
Servings: 10
Total Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Calories: 167
Servings: 10
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 10)
- For the dark dough
- 15 15 g vital wheat gluten
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp onion powder
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 8 8 ml water
- 0.2 0.2 tbsp liquid smoke
- 0.3 0.3 tbsp soy sauce
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp olive oil
- For the light dough
- 7.5 7.5 g vital wheat gluten
- 0.1 0.1 tsp onion powder
- 0.2 0.2 tsp garlic powder
- 8 8 ml water
- 0.1 0.1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- For the rub
- 0.2 0.2 tsp maple syrup
- 0.2 0.2 tsp smoked paprika
- 0.2 0.2 tsp liquid smoke
- 0.1 0.1 tsp salt
- 0.1 0.1 tsp brown sugar
Method
- For the dark dough, mix together the wheat gluten, onion powder and smoked paprika. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, liquid smoke, soy sauce, coconut sugar, Worcester sauce and olive oil until the sugar has dissolved. Combine the two mixtures and stir well to form a dough; knead this for 5-6 minutes.
- To make the light dough, mix the wheat gluten, onion powder and garlic powder together. Then whisk together the water, olive oil and salt in a separate bowl, before pouring it into the dry ingredients. Mix well to form a dough, then knead this for 5-6 minutes.
- To layer the seitan, split the dark dough into three pieces and the light dough into two pieces. Roll each piece into a rectangle 6-8mm thick, and layer them, alternating, starting and finishing with the dark dough. Once layered, roll the dough out to roughly 3cm thick.
- Wrap the dough in baking paper, then wrap it again in cling film. Bring a pan of salted water to a simmer. Carefully add the seitan dough to the water and simmer for 45 minutes. Whilst the seitan is cooking, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
- Make the rub by mixing all the rub ingredients together. Place the seitan on a lined baking tray and brush the rub over it, coating it completely.
- Place the seitan in the oven for 15 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
- Once the seitan is cool, slice it thinly and pan-fry each slice in a little oil, to crisp up before serving.
Each 47g serving provides:
Fat 4.2g, Saturates 0.6g, Carbohydrate 11g, Sugars 4.4g, Fibre 1g, Protein 22g, Salt 2.3g
Are you ready to convert? Discover our very best vegan seitan recipes!