Vegan Wheat Starch Bacon

If you made (or are thinking of making) my 2 ingredient vegan chicken (washed flour seitan) that I posted last week, you may be wondering what to do with the leftover starch water. Sure you could just toss it out, but that seems wasteful. Instead, why not try making my vegan wheat starch bacon!!! This is the most bacon-y vegan bacon I've ever made! This has even out baconed my rice paper bacon which formerly held the position of most bacon-y. This starch water bacon is crispy, chewy, fatty, smoky, salty goodness. And, well, just look at it!!

If you don't want to make washed flour seitan, then no worries, you can still make this vegan wheat bacon recipe! Just pick yourself up some wheat starch which can easily be found online, in bulk food stores, health food stores, or international grocery stores. Just mix the bought starch (which will be a dry powder) with water to reach a similar consistency as seen below in the images.

My favourite part about this vegan wheat starch bacon (aside from the flavour and texture of course), is that it can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or even frozen. So you can make big batches of this, and have the slices in the freezer, ready to fry up whenever vegan bacon cravings strike!!!

To make vegan wheat starch bacon:

Separate the starch from water: If you are saving the starch water from making washed seitan, save the water from the first 3 washes in a large container, or in several bowls. Let the starch water rest for 4 hours or overnight so that the starch and the water separate. The white starch will sink to the bottom, and the yellow water will rise to the top. Gently pour off and discard the water leaving behind just the starch.

Give your starch a good stir to make sure it is smooth (it can get clumpy when it sits), and add a splash of water if needed to get a nice thin batter.

*If you are using store-bought wheat starch, mix starch and water together until you reach a consistency similar to the photo above.

Season the starch: In a large measuring cup or medium bowl mix together all of the "red bacon starch" ingredients. If making the white bacon starch, in a separate measuring cup or bowl, mix together the "white bacon starch" ingredients. The white bacon starch is for making the bacon look more realistic mimicking the fat of the bacon, but feel free to skip this step if you prefer.

Make vegan bacon crepes: Heat a large skillet or non-stick frying, brush the pan with oil. Working quickly, pour or spoon a small amount of the red starch into the pan to make a thin crepe. Use a spoon to drizzle the white starch across the top of the crepe to make stripes (you only need to do this on one side). Cook the crepe a couple of minutes per side until cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Keep the crepes nice and thin to get the best texture. You can add more water to the starch to make the batter thinner if needed. Repeat these steps until you use up all of the starch, making several crepes.

Cut bacon strips: Once the crepes are cooled, use scissors or a knife to cut the crepes in the bacon sized strips. At this point, you can store the starch bacon strips in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer.

Fry up that vegan bacon! when you're ready to enjoy the bacon, heat 2 - 3 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or frying pan. Fry the bacon strips until they reach desired crispiness. Drain on a paper towel. Enjoy!

Enjoy this crispy, chewy, delicious vegan wheat starch bacon anywhere you like! Serve it up with a side of tofu scramble, crumble it onto a salad, or on a pasta, or you could make a B.L.T. sandwich- my fave!

Bon appetegan!

Sam Turnbull.