Thursday, 25 June 2015

20 facon recipes for vegetarians and vegans in Bacon Week

Yesterday I heard a discussion on the radio about Australian Bacon Week.  Interesting stuff .... until I heard discussion about vegetarians missing out and how many people could never go vegetarian because they love bacon too much.  My hackles rose!  I am here to tell you it aint so.  Here is my response with a good dose of facon!

Actually I didn't love bacon so much that it really bothered me when I went vegetarian over 20 years ago but I did miss it occasionally.  Then I discovered that it is not the pig flesh (or the bone or bristles) that I missed but the smoky flavour.  Enter smoked paprika, liquid smoke, smoked salt and lots of vegetarian bacon.

I avoided the neon pink vegetarian bacon in the supermarket but have had lots of fun experimenting with making different vegetarian bacon (aka fake bacon or facon).  I tried make it out of beans and buckwheat, coconut, tofu, tempeh and eggplant.  Of these my favourite is tofu facon.  I make it often.  Here are 20 facon recipes (in 2 lists) for vegetarians and vegans in Bacon Week.

10 Innovative facon recipes
I love trying unusual recipes with facon (and might I suggest they would work fine with regular bacon).  And yes, you can experiment with vegetarian bacon with chocolate!













10 common recipes with vegetarian bacon
These recipes are ones commonly pop up online and in cookbooks.  Some of these are my childhood comfort foods.  I have found that they work brilliantly with vegetarian bacon so there is never any need to miss meat.

Bacon, avocado and tomato sandwich (v)
Breakfast burritos (v)
Caesar salad (v)
Cheese, bacon and spinach muffins
Chickpea pilaf (gf, v)
Creamy potato salad (gf, v)
Fried rice (gf, v)
Macaroni cheese with peas and bacon
Vegetable quiche (v)
Zucchini slice

gf = gluten free, v = vegan
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20 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 June 2015 at 13:29

    I'm yet to taste facon Johanna but I'm intrigued by it...especially when you are teaming it up with chocolatey type things!

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:34

      Thanks Bridie - I find that coconut bacon is brilliant with chocolate - am yet to try coconut bacon but one day. I really love veg bacon more than I ever loved the piggy one but perhaps it is because I am so used to it now. Hope you try it some day.

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  2. Shaheen25 June 2015 at 16:29

    I have never in my life eaten bacon and never will. So its not something that impacted on me when i went vegetarian. My acquisition for things smoky flavoured came much later in life when i tasted Mesquite salsa kettle crisps and then, well Facon Bacon appears in my kitchen quite regular http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/no-pig-meat-free-bacon.html.I am a fan of facon so thank you so much for this interesting blog post and the links to the recipes, some that I look forward to making

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:36

      Thanks Shaheen - we had bacon quite a lot when I was little but I perhaps wasn't so fond of it as I never liked eggs so I never had the classic bacon and eggs in the days when there was little else on a fry up around here. I am glad you are also a fan of facon - I have tried that facon but find the tofu one so much more straightfoward but love that there are quite a few different facon recipes to use for different dishes.

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  3. Mihl25 June 2015 at 20:29

    Thank you for this! I don't get why bacon is so overrated. Eat a bag of crisps instead, ha. Or the recipes you posted. They look so much more tasty.

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:37

      Thanks Mihl - I probably ate more meat bacon than crisps in my childhood so I get the nostalgia but I am very glad I don't eat it today.

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  4. Veganopoulous25 June 2015 at 20:50

    what a great roundup, thanks! Loved the zucchini brownies :D

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:38

      Thanks Faye - I really love that recipe - need to make them again

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  5. Cakelaw25 June 2015 at 20:53

    Lots of fun facon recipes here.

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  6. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella25 June 2015 at 22:26

    I would totally miss bacon if I turned vegetarian but I'm really going to try your facon one day because it does sound very versatile and delicious!

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:39

      Thanks Lorraine - never say never :-) and if you ever do turn vegetarian at least you know there are alternatives :-)

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  7. Miss Sage Sugar26 June 2015 at 12:36

    I absolutely love vegetarian food and these facon recipes have definitely inspired me! :)

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:42

      Thanks Miss Sage Sugar - hope you try some of the recipes

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  8. Kari26 June 2015 at 19:42

    I didn't know there was a bacon week! This is a great round up, even for someone who never liked bacon pre-veggie days. The desserts with a bacon twist still really intrigue me!

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:44

      Thanks Kari - it might be new as I have never heard of it before - I think it is the pork industry doing some marketing - and I just couldn't help thinking of all the great vegetarian recipes using facon - I don't know the pork industry would be terribly interested in them :-)

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  9. Hotly Spiced28 June 2015 at 09:55

    Quite often when I cook a vegetarian meal it does somehow come to the table with some crunchy bits of bacon scattered around it! I have never tried facon. I do love your halloween bats xx

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    1. Johanna GGG28 June 2015 at 22:46

      Thanks charlie - I understand - I make tofu bacon a lot as it is on Sylvia's shortlist of favourites - so it means I often have it about to sprinkle over food too. Highly recommend it.

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  10. Joey6 July 2015 at 05:18

    You've just reminded me how very grateful to you for alerting me to the wonder that is vegan bacon bark a while back. A very cool round up there - I love the bat toast in particular!

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  11. Unknown7 July 2015 at 03:55

    I never liked bacon, I couldn't handle the texture or taste much to my dad's disappointment. I really was meant to be vegan ;p
    I love all of these recipes! I quite enjoy making tempeh bacon and have made coconut bacon, but haven't really branched out much. I'm very intrigued by the desserts with "bacon"!

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