Recipe: Coconut Bacon (via aCoupleCooks.com)

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR BACON! PERIOD.

However, if you’re vegan, vegetarian, or just looking to cut back on animal-based fats we highly recommend looking into a recipe like this one for coconut bacon.  Shaved, smoked bacon tastes eerily similar to it’s porcine partner and it’s totally plant-based.  Sonja and Alex use liquid smoke in their version, but if you’ve got a smoker use it!  Play around with different species of wood and alter your smoke times to perfect this savory veggie treat.  Then toss it on salads, layer it into sandwiches, or dip it in guacamole.

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Let’s get real: we’re not about to bash bacon. Many of you reading have intense love for the stuff, which is A-OK in our book. Bacon has a intoxicating smoky flavor that adds a unique intensity to everything from salads to gourmet doughnuts. Since we eat *mainly* vegetarian, we do allow ourselves a bit of bacon every once in a while (and it tastes even better than we remembered). But most of what we cook at home is vegetarian, and it’s incredibly hard to imitate that unique flavor that bacon can add to a dish.

Photo Credit: aCoupleCooks.com

Enter coconut bacon. It might sound odd, and we generally stay away from anything resembling a meat substitute. However, after experimenting with this concept, it is definitely worth a try. Wide strips of coconut are infused with a spicy, smoky flavor that both crisps in the oven and maintains intermittent chewy parts, reminiscent of the crispy + fatty texture of bacon. While its shape and size are not a substitute for bacon strips on a breakfast plate or in a BLT, it works perfectly sprinkled in a salad or on one of those fancy gourmet doughnuts. Oh, and for snacking. (Pop them in the freezer for a quick fix of smoky, salty goodness; they thaw in a few seconds.)

Coming soon–the perfect salad for this bacon.

And, the only other recipe where we faked bacon–this vegetarian BLT.

This recipe works for many special diets, including: vegetarian, vegan / plant-based, gluten-free, and dairy-free.

For more information click here.