Is Vegan Bacon More healthy? Plus, 13 Vegan Bacon Manufacturers to Strive Proper Now

An excellent brunch plate is made up of some key parts. You want a basic tofu scramble or one thing eggy, like a chickpea flour omelet. Barring any allergic reactions, some type of potato is necessary, similar to hash browns, house fries, or tater tots. After which, the final part of your brunch is often vegan bacon—maybe with a facet of broccoli if you happen to’re craving one thing inexperienced. Really, we’re the sort to go for each. There are lots of choices on the market lately—so, how do you decide the perfect vegan bacon? 

We’ll dive into the reply to that query on this information, however first, how do you cook dinner with vegan bacon?

Learn how to use vegan bacon

Vegan bacon doesn’t simply must make an look at brunch. It may be wrapped round dairy-free chevre-stuffed dates, asparagus, or jalapeño poppers as an appetizer. You’ll be able to add it to a veggie BLT sandwich, sprinkle it over a cobb salad, or bake it into an eggless quiche. If there’s an omnivore recipe on the market that makes use of bacon in any manner, form, or type, there’s a vegan bacon that’ll be well-suited for the job. 

Hooray Meals

Which vegan bacon you select will depend on the job. If you happen to’re wrapping it round meals, then you definitely need one thing that’s pliable sufficient to not break when bent. Plant-based bacon made out of seitan or wheat gluten is finest for this as a result of it has a slight stretch to it, all because of gluten. If you happen to’re making a sandwich or a wrap, then you’ve got somewhat extra freedom—any type of vegan bacon will do, similar to tempeh bacon or home made tofu bacon. Or, take TikTok star Tabitha Brown’s well-known carrot bacon for a spin.

On a salad, you’ll need mushroom bacon, plant-based bacon bits, or you possibly can lower strips that you simply’ve crisped within the skillet into bite-size items. (FYI, many “bacon bits” are literally vegan, so it’s price it to test the label if you happen to discover a bottle within the grocery retailer. McCormick Bac’n Items are one hundred pc vegan.)

Is vegan bacon more healthy?

From an moral standpoint, plant-based bacon isn’t made out of pigs and it has a a lot decrease carbon footprint in comparison with the factory-farmed model. However, is veggie bacon higher to your well being? 

Conventional bacon is made out of pork and is lower from the stomach of a pig and to a lesser extent, it’s made out of turkey meat. To make bacon, the meat is cured utilizing salt and nitrates, a sort of compound utilized in meats as a preservative. Typically, it’s smoked afterward. 

Clare Winfield

Research have related processed meats similar to bacon with numerous well being circumstances, together with breast, lung, liver, and colon cancers. Quite a few research have urged that purple and processed meat consumption are linked to a better danger of coronary heart illness and diabetes. Bacon can also be excessive in salt, and an excessive amount of salt can result in hypertension. 

Plant-based meats are typically decrease in saturated fats and energy in comparison with their conventional counterparts. They are typically excessive in sodium, however are typically more healthy than animal-derived meat when eaten sparsely, as a part of a balanced weight loss program. In different phrases, don’t base your whole meals round vegan bacon, however do get pleasure from it on a breakfast sandwich.

The very best vegan bacon manufacturers

Bacon’s chewy texture and savory, salty flavors make it scrumptious. Fortunately, there are a rising variety of choices in the marketplace. A few of them have caught some movie star consideration—Natalie Portman backed France-based model La Vie in January 2022. Ultimately, the model plans to increase to the US. However for now, listed below are a few of our favourite vegan bacon manufacturers.

The Herbivorous Butcher

1 The Herbivorous Butcher Maple Glazed Bacon and Hickory Smoked Bacon

Just like all-things Herbivorous Butcher, this fake bacon is meaty (in all the appropriate methods). Chewy and with the flexibility to crisp to perfection, this bacon is nice stacked in sandwiches or alongside vegan flapjacks, waffles, and French toast. Even higher? Eat them over the frying pan whereas they’re nonetheless sizzling. Don’t fear—we gained’t decide. If you happen to dwell in Minnesota, you possibly can decide up these plant-based treats regionally. In any other case, they ship!
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Upton’s Naturals

2 Upton’s Naturals Bacon Seitan

This meaty, chewy, versatile seitan bacon makes a most wonderful BLT loaded with heirloom tomatoes, vegan mayonnaise, arugula, and sprouted grain toast. Prepare dinner it lengthy if you happen to like your bacon tremendous crisp or simply barely heat them in a pan if you happen to’re a chewy bacon fan. Accessible in lots of pure meals shops and Complete Meals Markets, this bacon is good for a fast, on-the-go breakfast or a bountiful Sunday brunch.
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Lightlife Meals

3 Lightlife Good Bacon

Wonderful on sandwiches and bagels with avocado, Lightlife’s Good Bacon is made out of wheat gluten and soy protein, which assist give it a chewy texture when fried up within the skillet. It’s additionally one of many easiest-to-find vegan bacon in supermarkets.
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4 Candy Earth Benevolent Bacon

A winner of the 2023 Veggie Awards, Candy Earth’s wheat gluten-based bacon has notes of hickory smoke, sage, and garlic. Strive it in a sandwich or a wrap with a creamy dressing, like a vegan BLT or in one thing somewhat extra decadent, like a vegan grilled cheese sandwich with “bacon” and thinly sliced dill pickles.
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Lightlife Meals

5 Lightlife Tempeh Smoky Bacon Strips

Lightlife’s tempeh bacon is superb in your barbecue grill! Simply be certain to not drop it via the slats. Serve alongside grilled greens and corn for a superb al fresco meal.
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Tofurky

6 Tofurky Smoky Maple Bacon Marinated Tempeh

Tempeh bacon is not any facsimile of pork-based bacon—however don’t let that deter you from attempting it. This fermented soy-based protein, which meals historians estimate originates from Indonesia anyplace from a number of centuries to 1000’s of years in the past, marinates fantastically. Due to that, Tofurky’s tempeh bacon has all the flavors of bacon: savory, smoky, and somewhat bit candy and salty.
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7 Yves Veggie Bacon

Decrease in fats and ldl cholesterol than “actual” bacon, Yves’ Veggie Bacon is nice on sandwiches, breakfast plates, and proper out of the bundle.
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8 BeLeaf Vegan Bacon

BeLeaf’s vegan bacon seems marbled, much like a lower of extra-fatty bacon. It fries up good and crunchy or with just a bit little bit of chew, all relying in your desire or what you’re making. Its real looking look makes for excellent presentation on a vegan breakfast platter, like a full English breakfast. 
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Hooray Meals

9 Hooray Meals

California’s Hooray Meals makes vegan bacon that appears like, nicely, bacon. It has the looks of getting fatty streaks however as a substitute of pork, it’s made out of rice flour, tapioca starch, and makes use of mushrooms to provide it a meaty taste. The strips crisp up when fried, however are pliable sufficient to wrap round veggie hors d’oeuvres.
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Umaro Meals

10Umaro Meals

The plant-based meals business can also be determining new methods to make use of completely different meals as a protein supply. Backed by serial investor Mark Cuban on Season 13 of ABC’s Shark Tank, Umaro Meals is making bacon with purple algae. It’s presently solely accessible at choose eating places throughout the nation.
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Thrilling Meals

11Thrilling Meals Bakon

These tofu-based strips of bacon are made out of tofu. However, don’t consider them as thinly-sliced slabs of extra-firm tofu with savory sauce that we’ve for lunch at any time when we don’t really feel like cooking. Thrilling meals salt cures and smokes its vegan bacon the normal manner, giving it an genuine taste.
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MyForest Meals

12 MyBacon

MyBacon owes its further meaty chew to mycelium, the fast-growing root techniques of mushrooms. Made with minimal substances—salt, coconut oil, beet juice, and sugar—this vegan bacon crisps up identical to its animal-based counterpart. Watch it brown, sizzle, and stuff it into morning BLTs. 
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La Vie

13La Vie

Made by French startup La Vie, this pig-free bacon is backed by vegan actress Natalie Portman and has even been featured on specialty menu gadgets at Burger King France places. Whereas unavailable stateside, UK vegans can discover La Vie at Complete Meals, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and Planet Natural. 
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