Our vegan mushroom bacon is crispy, smoky and delicious. We love using it to replace bacon in sandwiches, salads and so much more! It provides a meaty texture and a rich umami flavor without the meat, making it a perfect recipe for vegans and vegetarians.
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🥗 Why We Love This Recipe
- Crispy, crunchy deliciousness: this mushroom bacon is marinated, sautéed to remove moisture, and then quickly fried for the perfect crispy texture and maximum flavor.
- Smoky: liquid smoke and soy sauce work magic to mimic the smoky, meaty, umami, addictive flavor of bacon.
- Versatile bacon replacement: you can use this mushroom bacon in just about any vegan recipe to replace bacon. It doesn't contain the fat like bacon, but it definitely adds the same depth of flavor!
📋 Ingredient Notes
- Mushrooms: we used cremini mushrooms in this recipe, sometimes referred to as "baby bella" or "baby portabello" mushrooms. White button mushrooms would be a fine substitute as they have a similar texture, water content and flavor. We don't suggest swapping with another variety of mushroom, as this may alter the cook time and ingredient proportions significantly.
- Use a high heat oil for the mushrooms: This will prevent smoking when the mushrooms are cooked. We'd recommend avocado oil (refined), corn oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sesame oil or sunflower oil, all of which have smoke points above 400 degrees F.
- Liquid smoke: this is an essential ingredient that gives the mushroom bacon it's smoky, meaty flavor. Liquid smoke is inexpensive and easy to find at most grocery stores, typically located near grilling essentials and/or bbq sauce.
- Soy sauce: if gluten free, you can sub with tamari.
- Coconut sugar: feel free to sub with brown sugar.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
(1) Briefly wash 16 oz. of mushrooms to remove dirt and chop off and discard stems.
(2) Pat dry with paper towels and slice into ¼ inch thick pieces. Place in a large bowl that has extra room for tossing.
(3) In a smaller bowl, whisk together the 3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, 2 tbsp oil, ½ tbsp liquid smoke, ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2 tsp coconut sugar, ¾ tsp paprika, ½ tsp onion powder, and ½ tsp black pepper.
(4) Pour the mixture over the mushrooms and use your hands to gently toss the mushrooms to coat with the marinade. Let mushrooms marinate for 40-45 minutes, tossing 3-4 times with your hands or a large spoon.
(5) Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Using a slotted spoon, add your sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook down for 5-6 minutes. Don't throw out the marinade! Then turn the heat up to medium high and cook, stirring frequently for another 5-6 minutes.
(6) Continue to add the marinade that's left in the bowl until all of the liquid is completely absorbed. The mushrooms should be browned by the time all of the liquid is used up.
(7) You can enjoy the mushrooms as they are, but at this point they're still not super crispy like real bacon. If you want them to be crispier, add oil to a deep pot over medium heat, enough to cover the bottom to a height of 1.5-2 inches. You'll know the oil is ready when you add a few drops of water to the oil and it sizzles.
Once the oil is hot enough, add the mushrooms in 2-3 batches to the pot. Stir well when you add them so they don't stick together. Let them cook for 3 minutes, stirring once while cooking.
(8) Remove with a slotted spoon and lay on a few layers of paper towels on a cutting board. Pat dry to remove excess oil. The mushrooms will crisp up a bit more as they sit. You can also lay them on a drying rack to help facilitate this until you are ready to use them.
💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
- Don't skip the deep frying if you care about texture! We tried this mushroom bacon many, many different ways. Oven-baking resulted in crispy, but often overcooked (read: burnt) mushrooms and could be very finicky. Sautéing retains the flavor, but doesn't get the mushrooms crispy enough. Deep frying from the start makes the mushrooms crispy, but they tend to lose the flavor from the marinade. All of that to say, the BEST method we tested is sautéing the mushrooms, then deep frying them for a crispy, bacon-like texture that's also packed with smoky, umami flavor.
- Keep a close eye on the mushrooms, both while they're being sautéed and fried. Mushrooms can burn pretty quickly, so you won't want to stray far from the stove while you're making this mushroom bacon. Keep the mushrooms moving pretty frequently while they're sautéing. The main goal here is to cook them down and remove moisture, while coating them in the marinade for plenty of flavor. Don't worry about crisping them up – that's what the deep frying step is for!
- Uses for mushroom bacon:
- Add to a salad
- Add to sandwiches
- Serve in a brunch spread or savory breakfast bowl
- Add to soups, stews or pasta for more flavor
- Anything else you use regular bacon for!
🍽 Related Recipes
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Print📖 Recipe
Mushroom Bacon
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Crispy, meaty, and smoky, our vegan mushroom bacon packs a ton of umami flavor to add a boost to your favorite salads and sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 16 oz cremini mushrooms, stems removed and sliced into ¼ inch thick pieces
- 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp high heat oil (canola, safflower, sunflower, etc)
- ½ tbsp liquid smoke
- ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
- ¾ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp black pepper
- Canola oil to cover a deep pot 1-2 inches
Instructions
- Briefly wash mushrooms to remove dirt and chop off and discard stems. Pat dry with paper towels and slice into ¼ inch thick pieces. Place in a large bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the tamari or soy sauce, oil, liquid smoke, apple cider vinegar, coconut sugar, paprika, onion powder, and black pepper. Pour the mixture over the mushrooms and use your hands to gently toss the mushrooms to coat with the marinade. Let mushrooms marinate for 40-45 minutes, tossing 3-4 times with your hands or a large spoon.
- Preheat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Using a slotted spoon, add your sliced mushrooms to the pan and cook down for 5-6 minutes. Don't throw out the marinade!
- Increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring frequently for another 5-6 minutes. Continue to add the marinade that's left in the bowl until all of the liquid is completely absorbed. The mushrooms should be browned by the time all of the liquid is used up.
- You can enjoy the mushrooms as they are, or if you would like for them to be a little crispier, add oil to a deep pot over medium heat, enough to cover the bottom to a height of 1.5-2 inches. You'll know the oil is ready when you add a few drops of water to the oil and it sizzles.
- Once the oil is hot enough, add the mushrooms in 2-3 batches to the pot. Stir well when you add them so they don't stick together. Let them cook for 3 minutes, stirring once while cooking. Remove with a slotted spoon and lay on a few layers of paper towels on a cutting board. Pat dry to remove excess oil.
- The mushrooms will crisp up a bit more as they sit. You can also lay them on a drying rack to help facilitate this until you are ready to use them.
Notes
Don't skip the deep frying if you care about texture! We tried this recipe many, many different ways. Oven-baking resulted in crispy, but often overcooked (read: burnt) mushrooms and could be very finicky. Sautéing retains the flavor, but doesn't get the mushrooms crispy enough. Deep frying from the start makes the mushrooms crispy, but they tend to lose the flavor from the marinade. All of that to say, the BEST method we tested is sautéing the mushrooms, then deep frying them for a crispy, bacon-like texture that's also packed with smoky, umami flavor.
Cremini mushrooms: White button mushrooms would be a fine substitute as they have a similar texture, water content and flavor. We don't suggest swapping with another variety of mushroom, as this may alter the cook time and ingredient proportions significantly.
Opt for a high heat oil when cooking your mushroom bacon. Peanut and canola are two oils that are easily found and have high smoke points.
Keep an eye on the mushroom bacon as it can burn easily.
Coconut sugar: can sub with brown sugar.
- Category: Sides
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: mushroom bacon
Let us know what you think!