Smoky Sweet Vegan Eggplant Bacon Slices

Plate serving up cooked eggplant bacon slices with lettuce and tomato.

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5 from 1 vote

Smoky Sweet Vegan Eggplant Bacon Slices

Thinly sliced eggplant brushed with a sweet and smoky marinade imitate bacon in this quick and easy vegan bacon recipe.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings people

Calories 57kcal

Author Lyn Croyle

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoon coconut aminos
¼ teaspoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon white miso
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼. teaspoon onion powder
Black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine olive oil, maple syrup, aminos, smoked paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix well with a whisk.
Thinly slice the eggplant into thin slices.* Start by cutting the eggplant in half and then in half again.
Then place the flat surface on the cutting board and cut ⅛” thick slices of eggplant.
Continue cutting until you finish cutting all the eggplant into slices.
When all the slices are complete, layout the strips on a baking tray lightly sprayed with cooking spray. And begin applying the marinade.
Use a pastry brush to brush both sides of the eggplant with the marinade.
Sprinkle more freshly ground pepper over the top of the eggplant slices after marinade is applied.
Place the eggplant in the low heat oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or until crispy. In the last 15 minutes of cooking, turn the strips over every five minutes. This movement will help produce a crispier final product.

Notes

Tips for BEST Results:

The eggplant needs to cook on a low temperature setting –about 250 degrees F. Cooking it at a low temperature works to dry the eggplant out while cooking it. This temperature serves the two purposes of creating the crispier texture and to keep the eggplant from burning.

As ovens will cook different, be sure the first couple times you cook this dish, monitor how it cooks in your oven so you can adjust as needed.

Turn the eggplant over every 5 minutes in the final 10-15 minutes of cooking time. This helped to ensure that both sides crisped up.

Cut the eggplant strips evenly and in similar sized pieces so they cook evenly. Below are more tips to help with cutting the eggplant.

Marinate both sides of the eggplant for maximum flavor.

Eggplant bacon is best served immediately. If you do have leftovers or want to meal prep it, it will need to be cooked again in the oven to crisp back up.

Nutrition