I want to give you this vegan rice paper bacon recipe today because it is one of the coolest things I have come across in a while and it’s absolutely DELICIOUS.
Bafflingly realistic in appearance, the rice paper bacon is made with a straightforward but ingenious process. After learning about this technique, I got around to making it with my personal favorite ‘bacon-inspired’ marinade and it did not last very long in my kitchen. So I made it a couple more times, even attempting to make a video, and took some nice photographs so that I could share it with you.
What’s the catch? There is no catch! This 100% vegan rice paper bacon is made totally from scratch, and totally from plants. So for anyone who enjoyed the crispy texture and smoky, super umami flavor of the ‘real thing’, but doesn’t want to eat meat anymore, I hope you will give this a try. No, this vegan bacon is not *exactly like bacon*. But out of all of the substitutes I’ve tried so far, this one does the best job of capturing the characteristics of the ‘real thing’ that I personally enjoyed the most. Go in without too many expectations, play around with it, and make it your own. 🙂
There are 3 easy steps to making your own rice paper bacon:
- Whisk up an easy smoky-sweet marinade
- Cut sheets of rice paper into strips, dip them quickly in water to soften and stick them together, and then generously coat them in the marinade
- Bake, fry, or microwave (yes, microwave!) them into crispy vegan bacon deliciousness
Set aside an hour next weekend and whip up a big batch. The rice paper bacon strips will stay crispy for a couple of days if stored correctly (see the recipe notes). I myself made avocado-vegan mayo-rice paper bacon sandwiches and they were incredibly moreish.
P.S. if this recipe sets your heart a-flutter and you want to branch out into even more cruelty-free recipes inspired by the flavor and texture of bacon, you’ll want to stay tuned. Next month I will be sharing a review and giveaway of a new all-vegan, bacony cookbook: Baconish , by Leinana Two Moons.
I’m experimenting with filming some live-action footage to include with future recipes! Unfortunately I was an idiot and positioned the camera behind my back, so I was blocking the lens with my arms for most of the film. What can I say, I am new to the studio life. I have a few snapshots of the process, though.
UPDATE 4/20/16: A reader suggested hydrating two sheets of rice paper all at once, then using scissors to cut it into strips. I will be trying that method next time – I think it’s an even easier way to make the recipe come together.
Cutting the rice paper into strips. Notice my work station is getting messy already. This is partially because I tried to use a different strategy for marinating my first few strips (it did not work well and made everything a mess..) Don’t work somewhere that gets stained easily.
Stacking together two strips of paper of similar size. These get quickly dipped into the water while you hold them together, and then after that, given a good dunk into the marinade. The marinated strips are accumulating on a plate in the back. Because of the oil in the marinade, they won’t stick together. Next time I would move them directly to the baking sheet, though, to eliminate the middle man.
Placing the strips onto a metal rack that’s been covered with parchment paper. This is the best way to get light, crispy rice paper bacon.
Optional. If you’re like me and find it amusing to give the rice paper bacon some realistic marbling, whisk together a quick balsamic vinegar mixture and use a brush to spread it onto parts of the vegan bacon strips. Then they’re ready to bake.
What is rice paper? I’m referring to the rice paper used for wrapping spring rolls, not the kind for calligraphy. You can find it in the Asian section of most grocery stores.
Vegan Rice Paper Bacon
Ingredients
- rice paper (there should be enough marinade to make 8 sheets of rice paper's worth of rice paper bacon, possibly more)
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup (this only gives a slight sweetness to round out the flavors, but you can feel free to omit or reduce it)
- generous pinch of ground black pepper
- pinch of paprika (I used hot Spanish paprika)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (See notes for microwave instructions)
- Whisk together all of the ingredients for the marinade in a wide bowl until the nutritional yeast is incorporated well; prepare a second wide bowl filled partway with water.
- Prepare a metal, oven-safe rack with a sheet of parchment paper. (Skip this if microwaving).
- Cut rice paper into thick strips, or to the size that you want. Note that the strips will shrink in size a little bit when cooking. Some brands of rice paper will crack a little bit when you cut them; Use a large, very sharp knife to minimize this.
- Take two strips and stack them. Holding them together, dip them very quickly into the water. (UPDATE: if you have kitchen scissors, try dipping 2 whole rice paper sheets stacked together into the water, then cutting them into strips instead. I don't recommend cutting wet rice paper with a knife, it's not as easy as it seems). They should then start to stick together on their own. Gently squeeze excess water from the fused pair of rice paper strips.
- Dip the fused pair of rice paper strips into the marinade and coat it fairly generously; place it onto the parchment paper.
- Repeat with additional rice paper/rice paper strips until the rack is filled. NB: Periodically stop to whisk the marinade again and re-emulsify it; the oil will start to separate over time.
- Bake for about 7 to 9 minutes, or until crisp. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the tray partway through. The strips can burn easily, so keep an eye on it and take them out as soon as they're done. The end result will be mostly crispy with some slightly chewy parts. 🙂
- Once fully cooled, store leftover rice paper bacon in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. It will stay pretty crispy. But it probably won't survive 3 days without being eaten 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
Enjoy plant-based, cruelty-free meat analogues? Then you might also want to try my BBQ Pulled Sweet Potato Sandwiches, or my Jackfruit “Carnitas”!
Rice paper bacon recipe adapted from the Danish blog, Veganer.
I'm Shannon, the writer and photographer of Yup, it's Vegan! I'm a morning person based in Baltimore, USA. My mission is to create healthy plant-based recipes that anyone would enjoy, using seasonal produce with inspiration from global flavors.
Albert Bevia says
I have not eaten bacon since 2006, not that I crave it at all, but I do remember loving it, I am making this tonight for my wife and I, thank you for the recipe…amazing
Jennifer says
I’m making this bacon right now. It will be coming out of the oven in about 4 minutes. I’m so excited I haven’t had bacon in 5 months. I will let you know in a few minutes how it taste! Smells great taste good! I highly recommend this recipe it’s easy and doesn’t have a lot of cleanup.
Christine Lee says
These are great. It’s very easy to burn though! I used a little too much marinade and they came out very salty. They taste best with just a bit of marinade. You would think it needed more to taste like bacon, but less is better! The texture is great; it obviously doesn’t have that fat texture that bacon has but it’s like the crispy part of bacon. It’s almost like pork rinds but very thin. Very crunchy and has the flavor. If you put this in a sandwich, I doubt you would notice a difference.
Christine Lee says
Adding – this is definitely the best “bacon” i’ve had. Eggplant bacon, lightlife bacon, tempeh bacon, i’ve had them all. This is the closest. It wouldn’t work diced into a salad but its amazing for sandwiches! Do it!
brandy says
I think it would be great I on a salad. Try microwaving for a few seconds to get it extra crunchy. Should crumble no problem. Then again, bacon bits are vegan anyway so… 🤷🏼♀️
Veganmann says
Fantastic recipe! The textures are perfect. The crispiness and the chewiness.
Kit says
Best ‘facon’ recipe I’ve ever tried. As others mentioned, I dipped 2 sheets together into a bowl of water, squeezed out excess, immediately cut with kitchen sheers into strips, and into the dip. I checked oven at 5 minutes. It only took a minute or two more to have crispy edges. There are no leftovers when I make this recipe. Delish!
Maelissa says
Does it need refrigerated after it’s cooked or leave on counter ?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I keep it on the counter in a tupperware and it stays fine for a couple of days at least.
Helen says
Hi Shannon,
Can these be made without using the oil?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Helen, when people have reduced the oil in this recipe, the rice paper bacon has tended to burn easily. Some adjustment to the cooking temperature and time might be needed in order to accommodate; but unfortunately I haven’t tested it yet.
Lea says
Thank you for this!! I am looking forward to trying it and am going to pin it.
Mary says
I was searching for a recipe to make Trader Joe’s super firm tofu taste like bacon… to see if I could find one better than mine. My comment is that rice paper is a clever idea, if what you’re searching for is the delicate crunchiness of thin sliced bacon, but rice paper has no food value at all. It’s a wrapper for fillings. I am looking for ways to create variety in how I prep tofu, to provide new interest while getting my protein… not (very tasty) empty calories. After 46 years as a vegetarian, one can lose interest in tofu for a while and want to step up the flavor. I think I’ll see if there’s any way to make homemade seitan taste bacon-like: sweet-salty-oily-smoky shouldn’t be too hard to imitate, and I’m sure someone else has already thought of it online.
Myriam says
it got the hubby approval. 🙂
Emily R says
Absolutely life changing! This my new favorite food! I’ve made it 3 times this week and always eat all of it immediately. I’m making it again today!
loohooschu says
how do you store the cooked facon? I just made a big batch and put it in a Ziplock with a cracker, on the countertop, just hoping its crisp enough for FLT sandwiches for this weekend’s camping trip..
jy says
Cool bacon
allison says
great recipe! i found that frying them on the stove worked best… did anyone else have any trouble with the bacon sticking to the parchment paper? my entire batch was glued to the paper, what did i do wrong? :'(
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Allison, did you reduce the oil in the recipe at all? That can cause them to stick. Also, you need to re-stir the marinade once in a while to make sure the oil is well incorporated into the rest of it. Depending on how quickly you cut and dip the rice paper strips it may start to separate and then not coat the rice paper strips enough, which might result in them sticking to the sheet. So next time I’d recommend keeping an eye on that. Sorry that it happened, but I’m glad that you enjoyed the recipe anyway!
Mary says
Although I’ve never made rice paper bacon, here’s an idea you could try: when cookies or French macarons stick to parchment paper (and I’ve made both of those on parchment), I very lightly and quickly use a pastry brush to brush water on the back of the parchment to release the macaron. Maybe try that.
Liz says
Just tried this and it was fantastic! I think I like it better than the store bought vegan bacon. Thanks!
Ren says
This is better than bacon! Thank you sooo much!
Mine wasn’t crispy and looked a bit burned when I took it out of the oven, but it crisped up on cooling and tasted divine.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Glad you liked it! Thanks for sharing about it crisping after cooling. I do find it’s a bit delicate to cook these perfectly but always delicious in the end!
Dee says
This recipe is the very first thing I tried from your blog and I am amazed with how great it tasted! My husband and I are eating whole food, plant based and this will be a great addition. Thanks so much!
Teresa says
This is an AMAZING recipe… I am vegetarian, but my family is not… and THEY ALL LOVE IT, too! Perfect recipe as is…!
Patricia says
This was AMAZING!!!
Julia says
Just found this recipe and I am excited to try it . One quick question,have you tried to make the bacon in a dehydrator ? Just curious…
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
I don’t own a dehydrator so I haven’t tried that. If anyone else has I’d be eager to hear about it!
Beth says
I made this for breakfast, and did it both in the oven and in the microwave. I’m sorry, but I didn’t care for it. There is way too much nutritional yeast in it, and it actually made the finished product taste like burnt cheese, and my pieces were NOT burnt, they were actually less browned than the ones pictured above. So I would recommend not using it or cutting it down to maybe one tbsp. And I don’t recommend the microwave method. It doesn’t crisp right away and gets a bit more chewy than crisp with the microwave method. I think I’m just going to stick with my tofu bacon, but thanks for the recipe.
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Beth, I do appreciate your feedback so thank you. Nutritional yeast is definitely something that different people have different tastes for. I personally like it here but don’t like it in vegan “cheese”. But if your rice paper bacon tasted like burnt cheese without being fully cooked I do wonder if it had gone off, I’ve never had that happen with this recipe before so it could be something with the nutritional yeast you had.
Anne B says
I made the recipe as written many times and it is absolutely delicious! Love it! Some hacks I have tried subsequently that have turned out great: dip rice paper in apple juice first instead of water. Also, I made this recipe with tofu skins (Yuba, or bean curd skins) and it is very delicious too. Thank you very much!!!!
Sam Jones says
Great vegan bacon recipe! I can’t wait to try this! What a clever idea and pretty easy. Thanks for sharing!
Barb says
I just tried this. I used small cookie pans to set up my dip and one with water. I also found square rice sheets on Amazon. I tried this on the first sheets and they absorbed a lot of the oil, so they didn’t quite crisp up the way I was expecting. But I like chewy bacon anyways. The next set of sheets I used 3 just out of curiosity, still in the oven as I write this.
I too used a pizza cutter and it seemed to work well on the two sheets, but three kind of likes to bunch up a bit.
I think my next batch I will double everything except the oil to see how that works. The flavor works. Thank you for this!
Maryann says
Jaw Drop! You are the Best. Thank You so much! OMGGG… :-O
Anna Spooner says
UN-FRIGGING-BELIEVABLE! This is absolutely the coolest vegan thing I’ve ever done. Here are some things I learned:
1) Soaking two rice paper pieces together didn’t work for me – a middle section was inevitably not wet and I got air bubbles in my bacon as a result. Next time, I’ll wet one whole piece, then another whole piece, put them together, and cut with scissors.
2) For crispy bacon, you need to wipe off most of the marinade. For chewier, extremely flavorful bacon, leave the strips very goopy when you put them on the baking rack. The marinade won’t go as far though. The bacon will look even more realistic though!!
MIRELLA ESS says
THIS RECIPE TURNED OUT GREAT AS IS! THE WHOLE FAMILY LOVED IT! I DID HAVE TO REDUCE THE BAKING TIME TO ABOUT 4 1/2 MINUTES . WE ADDED IT TO OUR VEGAN CEASAR SALAD AS WELL AS JUST MUNCHED ON O FEW STRIPS, TOO. sOOOO GOOD! Thank YOU SO MUCH FOR THE RECIPE!
Karen says
Try Bragg’s Liquid Aminos in lieu of soy for a low sodium yet just as delicious alternative!
Kara says
This was fantastic, thank-you so much for sharing it. Bacon is one of the things I miss most but you’ve solved that problem for me 🙂
J says
Has anyone tried deep frying this?? Hey, it’s “bacon”. It’s not meant to be 100% healthy! I just wonder if it would increase the similarity to the oily, crispy original.
Alyssa says
I really want to make this tonight but I can’t get nutritional yeast today, should I sub for something or just leave it out all together?
Shannon @ Yup, it's Vegan says
Hi Alyssa, I think it would still come out okay without the nutritional yeast, it would be best if you can substitute something else that has a savory flavor to it though, as that is the role of the nutritional yeast in the recipe. I would suggest 1 tablespoon of miso (any color) or tomato paste if you have either of those. Or add a tablespoon of ketchup and reduce the maple syrup slightly.