Yeah, I invented a new vegan bacon, especially for the Virtual Vegan Potluck 3.0. It might just be the meatiest and most versatile vegan bacon yet… You’re welcome.
Since I can’t just serve you bacon, (I mean, I could, but this is supposed to be the appetizer course). I’m sharing my take on some special bite sized BLT’s. For size reference, the plate I’m using in these photos only has a 3 inch diameter.
To assemble these little cuties, you’ll need the following: Mini Caraway, Onion and Rye Pretzel Rolls (recipe follows), Kimchi, store bought or homemade, Peppered Maple Jackfruit Bacon (recipe follows), sliced tiny grape and or sun sugar tomatoes, and Vegan Wasabi Ranch Dressing (1/4 c. vegan ranch dressing + 1 t. wasabi paste, stirred til combined)
Peppered Maple Jackfruit Bacon
- 1 can young green jackfruit in brine (unsweetened) I bought mine from a local Asian Market
- 1-2 T. liquid smoke (mine is concentrated, so I only used 1 T.)
- 1 T. Bragg’s liquid aminos or coconut aminos for those with soy allergies
- 1 T. extra virgin olive oil or melted unrefined coconut oil
- 2 T. pure maple syrup
- 1 t. – 1 T. ground black pepper (depending on how peppery you want your bacon)
- 1 t. balsamic vinegar
- 1 t. unsulphered molasses
- 1/2 t. sea salt (optional)
Method: Rinse and drain the jackfruit. Press lightly onto clean kitchen towels to drain any excess moisture. Slice jackfruit into very thin strips with a filet knife, it’s okay if some of it shreds. Jackfruit is kinda shreddy like that. Press sliced jackfruit on the clean kitchen towels again to remove additional moisture. Place jackfruit slices in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together all the other ingredients to form the marinade. Pour marinade over the sliced jackfruit and gently toss to coat with your hands. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to let the jackfruit absorb the flavors. Preheat your oven to 425°. Lightly oil a large rimmed baking sheet and arrange the jackfruit slices on it so they don’t overlap. Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring a time or two and watching to make sure the jackfruit bacon doesn’t burn and that it gets nice and crispy (a fine line). Remove from oven and spread onto paper towels and let cool a bit before use.
Mini Caraway, Onion and Rye Pretzel Rolls
- 1 1/2 C. unbleached organic all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C. dark rye flour
- 1/2 t. sea salt
- 1/2 C. warm water
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 1/2 t. active dry yeast
- 1 T. caraway seeds
- 1 T. cocoa powder
- 1 T. vital wheat gluten
- 1 T. unsulphered molasses
- 1 T. dried chopped onion or 1 t. onion powder
- caraway seeds, sesame seeds and flaked sea salt for sprinkling on the rolls
Method: in a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (including yeast). Add the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon til combined. If mixture seems to dry, add warm water, a tablespoon at a time. knead dough for 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and Let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled. Punch dough down, divide into 32 mini pretzel roll bites or 16 slider sized rolls. Lightly press each piece of dough down with your fingertips. Arrange rolls on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silpat (otherwise they’ll stick like crazy). Cover and let rise for 20-30 minutes until doubled in size. In the meantime, bring to a boil: 2 quarts (8 cups) water with 1 T. kosher salt and 4 T. baking soda. When the water comes to a rolling boil, Poach 4 rolls at a time, if doing bite sized, poach for 20-30 seconds, for slider sized 30-40 seconds, turning over halfway through poaching time. See photos of this method here. Remove rolls with a slotted spoon. Slash each roll a couple of times across the top with a sharp knife. Quickly sprinkle with caraway seeds, sesame seeds and flaked sea salt. Repeat until all buns are poached. Let rest while oven preheats to 400 degrees. Bake for 10-15 minutes for bite sized or 15-20 minutes for slider rolls. Please use parchment paper or a silpat to bake on, otherwise you will need a chisel and a hammer and quite possibly ruin your favorite baking sheet.
To start at the beginning of the potluck, click here:
If you run into any broken links along the way, (some bloggers show up a little late to the party) here’s a list of the bloggers in the potluck to help you get back on track. Pretty cool to see over 169 bloggers from all around the world flaunting their vegan awesome! Use the buttons below to Go Back to visit the lovely Bex (Sparkles) at Vegan Sparkles in Australia. Go Forward to see what The Singing Vegan brought to the party.
Vedged Out 
Impressive, Somer – I think you should be working in a vegan test kitchen somewhere. It looks delicious.
Thanks, but I prefer my own kitchen 😉 Hope you are well my friend.
Whoa, you’ve outdone yourself! This is such an incredibly fancy and appetizing dish! The pretzel rolls look especially amazing, and I loooove anything that involves kimchi. 🙂
The combination was super fun putting together, I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out, but it all came together beautifully. 🙂
That bacon is unreal. I MUST find a jackfruit NOW and try this. These sliders are amazing.
Thanks so much Brittany! Yes, let me know if you find jackfruit and make this, I would love to know what you think!
Wow this is so unique! You never fail to surprise me with the flavours and techniques you combine!
Thank you so much for all your hard work on the potluck my dear- you are sooooo awesome 🙂 Happy potluck and cheers to many more to come!
Thanks so much Gabby! It was definitely fun to develop, it was one of those recipes that just came to me in the middle of the night 🙂
I haven’t even made it all the way through the potluck yet! I’ll get there.
Are you kidding me? I’m salivating over this–and I am not even quite sure what a jackfruit is. This looks infinitely better than a standard BLT. Wow.
Haha! Glad I could make you drool! Thanks!
Wow this looks so good!!! I would have never had any idea something like this was possible! Thank you for such an awesome recipe!
Thanks!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Holy crap Somer, you seriously went all out! Jackfruit bacon? Freakin’ brillant! And those buns are in need of being made in my kitchen immediately, they sound awesome for snacking on.
Thanks so much Maggie! The buns are great for snacking indeed. I made a double batch and froze some. We’re still popping a few out everyday and warming them in the oven. Mmmm.
Somer you are a creative soul! Love everything about them 🙂
That is such a sweet compliment, especially coming from you! xx
That jackfruit sounds like the single best thing that could happen in my mouth. I have all the ingredients and will be making it tonight- thank you!
Well?!? Did you do it? Return and report please 😉 xx
Hi Somer, don’t want to send you an email cos I want everybody to read just how great and inspiring and mouthwatering your blog is!!! Inspired me to go out and buy a blender. My cupboards are now stocked with cashew nuts and beans of all shapes, sizes and colours. I also added you to my blogroll because I want everybody else to check this blog out too!
Thank you for being you!
sleepingwithlenin.wordpress.com
Wow, Leigh-Ann! I am super proud of you for re-vamping your pantry and re-inventing your kitchen! I hope it is going well for you. Take care girl! xx
Wow! These look insane – I generally am not so into anything ‘meaty’ but I find myself oddly intrigued by this..it looks easy and I love the texture of jackfruit! Nailed it woman! Love you. xo
Yeah, meat subs are perhaps more suiting to us previous meat lovers than lifelong vegetarians (you lucky duck) 😉 Thanks for your sweet compliment! Love your guts! xx
This looks insanely delicious!
Thanks Dianne! I was going insane wondering whether or not it would work out. Thank goodness it did!
How fun!! Jackfruit is so amazing… as are YOU 😉
Isn’t it though! Loved your stuffed mushrooms too babe!
These are gorgeous! I’ve never thought as jackfruit as a bacon sub, but it’s perfect! Great job on an amazing VVP post.
It’s totally perfect! It has a more meaty texture than the other “vegan bacons” I’ve tried out there, plus you can tofu scramble it up, or put it in over split pea soup and it doesn’t lose it’s flavor or texture like others would! Thanks again!
OMG these look amazing. AMAZING! Jackfruit bacon? Ranch?? Onion pretzel rolls??? Giiiiiiiirl, yes please! 😉
I’ll get you a special delivery! Loving the kimchi, I really think that is what made these unique! xx
this look AMAZING!!!!! it has all the makings of a perfect homemade comfort burger/sandwich.
Thanks so much Caitlin! That means a lot coming from you! xx
What an amazing appetizer! And that bacon, WHOA!
Haha! Thanks! WHOA is an appropriate word to describe it!
You have truly outdone yourself, Somer! Holy wow! Looks like I need to restock my jackfruit supply ASAP! 🙂
this very well may be my favorite entry in the virtual vegan potluck. you got my vote!
Gorgeous! Wish I could pop one right now! The jackfruit bacon sounds great!
x Vix
vixbakes.com :: vegan baking + raw desserts
wow!
First attempt at this was disgusting; excessively sweet and nothing like bacon. It was so nasty I threw it away. Second attempt was great with just 1 tsp Liquid Smoke + 1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika, skipped the maple syrup and molasses, and switched the nasty Aminos for 1 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar mixed with 1 TBS tomato paste. Perfect.
I’m glad you worked out your own solution, but there’s no reason to get your knickers in a wad and be so rude. Sorry that the recipe didn’t work out the way you planned. However, you may notice the word “maple” in the title, the “bacon” is supposed to be sweet and the molasses gives it a nice brown color. I also happen to think bragg’s liquid aminos are delicious. Obviously you’ve had a negative experience with that product so you probably shouldn’t be making recipes that include them in the lineup. Many have made this recipe with excellent results and have enjoyed it.
I will have to try this – I love jackfruit! You’ll be interested to know here in Charlotte there is a restaurant called Bean which makes jackfruit BBQ sandwiches, jackfruit tacos, and jackfruit crabcakes and crab dip. Thanks for yet another wonderfully creative recipe.
Catherine, you are just the best! All that jackfruit sounds delicious indeed! xx
I saw these during VVP and they just popped up on a VegNews article – I think I need to attempt to make them! They look absolutely amazing!
This looks incredible. I can’t find jackfruit anywhere! I’ve been dying to try it.
Thank you for share.I like to eat Jackfruit.