Crispy Eggplant “Bacon”

You are my “GO TO” for all my vegan foods, so when I found a new vegan restaurant serving eggplant “bacon”…I knew you’d help me. The recipe is great! Another time, you might want to experiment with a dehydrator…makes the bacon amazingly crispy if that’s a quality issue…thanks! Jo

Love this recipe and LOVE this blog! I swear I’m on here almost daily looking at new recipes and referencing things. Thanks for doing what you do!

On this recipe: My partner and I found these tiny little eggplants in the store for really cheap and decided to experiment. I’m not usually a fan of eggplant, but the little ones were just so cute I thought I’d give them another try. I found this recipe after we came back from the store and had to make several alterations based on what we had on hand. We subbed aminos for tamari, agave (just 1 tsp) for maple syrup, and eliminated Worcestershire and liquid smoke. The flavor was probably not a savory or smokey as yours, but it was SO delicious! We are making them again today to have a variation on BLTs. Thanks again for all of your fabulous food inspirations!

Pretty good! I ate this in an ELT with some homemade pesto. So this isnt bacon obviously, the texture is a bit leathery like dried fruit, but not as crispy like bacon. I think its similar to shiitake bacon! Which i like. Next time I would add less sweetener. I like my “bacon” with just a hint of sweetness. I found this recipe to be one that takes patience to get it to be good. If its limp, soggy, or still wet, you definitely need to put it in longer. It would be great cut up into salad or a carbonara.

No I didn’t but I read a comment above said they fried the bacon, I will try that.

Yummy BLT!
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Outrageous! Addictive! I just don’t understand what you mean about storing these — does anyone manage not to eat them all right off the pan? (I’m trying my hardest to have some left to share.) Holy smokey maple, Batman, this is a good one!

I guess people who hate eggplant may not be thrilled, because I at least am still aware of it being eggplant even when nice and crispy … but I doubt any will be left long enough for me to find some tasters who hate eggplant.

Not crispy at all and it stayed and the oven at 270f for almost an hour. Sorry but I am very disappointed. The taste is good though. We are far far from bacon!

I made this for the veggies at our scout camp and they loved it. This one is now in my recipe book.

Tasty. But even after 40 minutes, it didn’t crisp up. Even after raising the temperature, it didn’t crisp up.

After reading all the comments, I decided to follow the recipe, but reserved the right to pull them from the oven if they didn’t crisp. Sliced them so thin that they were translucent. I couldn’t see how they would crisp on parchment paper, but let them cook on 225, then 250 for a full 50 minutes. Finally pulled them out, still pretty limp, and fried them in olive oil in my cast-iron skillet. They crisped up immediately, but I had to be careful not to burn them. I think next time I’ll just fry them – not as healthy, but quicker and easier in the long run. Taste was great though, and amazing on my faux BLT!

I made this today. I think it would be safer when using a mandoline if you cut the eggplant into four rectangular shapes instead of triangular. The food holder would get a better bite into the eggplant and thus making slicing it easier. I tasted the eggplant bacon right out of the oven and didn’t think that it tastes like bacon. I am going to try it in a BLT, as a turkey club, and with eggs. I’m not a vegan so if this does not knock my socks off, I’ll revert back to turkey bacon. One other thing, the recipe mentioned marinating the eggplant in the sauce. I picked the right choice of brushing it on. I think the word marinating could be confusing to some cooks.

I made this and followed the directions exactly. I ended up baking mine for an hour because it wouldn’t crisp up, and finally we took it out and ate it soggy because it was way past dinner time. Not sure where I went wrong. Checked the recipe like 6 times. I don’t know.

After reading the reviews, I went into this recipe expecting floppy eggplant but I loved the idea of it (especially for a BLT). Long story short, I got floppy eggplant.

I used a mandolin for thin slices and then I baked it at 225 for about 45 minutes and then kicked it up to 250 for about 10-15 minutes. It dried the eggplant out nicely (like the texture of dried apples) but was definitely not crispy at all. I might try this again but drain the eggplant first with salt. Or I might just embrace the flop and slice it thicker for a hefty sandwich.

For those of you that have a hard time getting your bacon crispy, try drawing out the water from the eggplant. Place the sliced eggplant in a colander, sprinkle with salt and let sit for an hour. Rinse, drain, and pat dry. Then you can start at the beginning of Dana’s recipe. So good!!! Made “BLT’s” with mine! My meat eating husband liked them!

Finally figured out how to get it to work out for me – 375 for like an hour-and-a-half. Delicious! Think I might like this better than actual bacon ;)

I made this recipe tonight…it was amazing….seriously amazing!!!

I’ve made this several times and it turns out better each time. It makes wonderful vegan BLTs. I also tossed some chickpeas in the leftover sauce and roasted them. I love this recipe!

I just made a batch and it was pretty crispy and tasty! omitted the liquid smoke, added some brown sugar because I only had 5 drops of maple syrup left. I experimented by doing a batch using a potato peeler and then “thin slicing by knife” and the potato peeler version turned out great. I also grated the heals of the leftover eggplant and experimented with some “bacon bits.” I’ve got a mandoline coming, hopefully it works as good as peeler, because using a peeler is a pain.

Unfortunately I had the same experience as many others. I tried making it in the over per the directions low and slow, up to 250 for additional time, etc and letting it cool but these did not come out crispy at all. I tried pan frying and it also didn’t work in the crisp department but the flavor was a lot better pan fried than baked. Thanks anyway.

Delicious. I made this after having a similar eggplant bacon at a restaurant (in the Deep South, surprisingly!). It’s a great recipe. I omitted liquid smoke and swapped honey for maple syrup bc that’s what I had on hand. Next time I will scale down or omit the sweetener all together. I used a whole eggplant and had enough marinade without doubling the recipe. Brushing it on and making slices ~1/16″ is key. Some slices were thinner and those stuck to the pan. I prepped the sheet pan with foil and olive oil for easy cleanup. The oven was set to 250F non-convection and two sheet pans took ~ 1 hour. Can’t wait to make a eBLT with end of summer tomatoes. Thanks Dana!

I followed the recipe exactly and the flavor of the marinade/sauce is amazing. Unfortunately they came out soggy and floppy – lunch meat consistency. I was looking at the other comments and tried upping temp & time, nothing. Seems like a lot of people had similar issues. Maybe it varies by oven.

What a complete flop. I made this and it did not crisp up AT ALL. I had it on 225 for 30 minutes, switched to 300 for another 5 minutes, and turned on the broiler for 7 minutes in a last-ditch effort to get it crispy. It didn’t work. The sauce might be good as a marinade for tofu in the future, but this eggplant recipe was not good at all.

Oh my gosh, this eggplant bacon is AMAZING! I made it today using 3 Japanese eggplants and, aside from raising oven temp (to 350), followed the recipe exactly. Had ‘bacon’, lettuce, tomato and vegan cheese sandwiches on homemade wholewheat bread. DELICIOUS! My meat eating husband also really liked it. It is my new addiction. I wish I could post a photo of my sandwich. Drool worthy. Thank you so much for this recipe.

Also delicious with pumpkin skins….I roasted whole pumpkin wedges leave in the pumpkin seeds as well when roasted remove the flesh from skin this makes delicious puree or soup the roasted seeds are moorish as a garnish on soup or salad……….then roast the skins for a little longer they will end up being a cross between crisp and chewy but awesomely delicious…….best thing no wastage. Pumpkin and maple is a match made in heaven.

Made these but burnt most… Didn’t use parchment paper duh…. The few that survived we’re amazing!!! My wife and I were picking at what we could. Making a E.L.T. sandwich today for lunch. Eggplant, lettuce, and tomato! Would love to see your variation of something like that. Thanks again for another incredible recipe!!!

Yum! This was so good. I’m not vegan so I used a regular gluten free soy sauce & Worcestershire sauce. I also did not have liquid smoke, however I found a nice ‘holy smokes’ seasoning that gave it a nice smokey flavor. I’m am removing meat from my diet and focusing on more of a plant based diet and your recipes are bomb af! =)

I’ve cooked several batches, and have experimented with temps/bake time. I just cooked a batch at 325 convection for 20 min, flipped them, and cooked another 10 (watch for burning towards the end). They came out perfect! Slightly crispy/chewy. I also marinated beforehand for about 30 min in a double batch of liquids.

I made this and after 40 minutes at 225F – 250F had soggy eggplant bacon. Luckily, I solved that problem by turning the oven DOWN to 200 and cooking until crispy. That way – no concerns about burning and delicious crispness. Thanks Dana!

Unless you’ve been vegan you’re whole life and have no idea what bacon actually tastes like, just…..NO. Followed the directions precisely and after the allotted time it was about as “crispy” as cottage cheese. So cranked it up to 350. Still no luck. Time to get serious. Crank up the broiler. After nearly 10 minutes like that I had some burnt edges and the rest was still a soggy piece of vegetable. Ok, so we aren’t going to get crispy. Maybe we can still get something like bacon. Floppy bacon. To me it tasted a whole lot more like BBQ eggplant than anything bacon-like. The true test was my vegan teenager. She took one bite, spit it out, and said “Oh Lord Jesus, no” and left the room. So while I appreciate the time and effort that went into coming up with this and sharing it, this is something that calling it “bacon” outside of California, Oregon and Washington may get you waterboarded.

As a fan of your blog/recipes, this recipe definitely let me down. I’ve made rice paper bacon before with beautiful delicious results but wanted an added bonus of nutrition…
The cooking time is way off, and so is the temp. I’ve used the other half of the eggplant and got slightly better results at a higher temp and lower time but still, it was pretty flavorless.
That’s a first timer though, I usually LOVE your recipes.

Yum! I sprinkled salt on the eggplant slices and let them sit for 20 minutes to take out some of the water. Rinsed and patted dry. Then, brushed the sauce on. I baked on wire cooling racks. Followed your baking instructions. All worked quite well. We had BLTs for dinner. Hooray. So, so yummy. Thank you for the recipe!

Omg DO NOT omit the oil lol! I did because I’m on a stupid “no oil” craze right now and it just doesn’t work for this recipe. Then again, I didn’t use parchment paper either…
Anyways the flavor was good and bacon-y, I just absolutely detest pepper so I would omit that next time because for me, it was just too spicy. But very genius!!

No Words OMG!!! So Good Perfect with bean burgers!!!

I just made this and it turned out great! I made two trays at once so I bumped the oven temp up to 275 and baked it 15 mins longer. If anyone is having trouble with crispiness, I would suggest sweating out the eggplant first. Salt both sides and let it sweat out for about 30 mins and pat dry! Just be careful about your salt levels in the marinade.

This recipe definitely takes a wee bit of playing around with it but it’s definitely worth it! I also had the same problem with the eggplant not crisping up following the timeline and heat setting that Dana provides in the recipe. I tried it both on convect and regular and found that after 30 minutes it was still super floppy.

The good news is…..you just need a wee bit of patience. I increased the heat to 250 and cooked it for about 20 minutes longer (50 minutes total cook time). Then I turned the oven off and just let them “cool” in there. After about 20 minutes I opened up the oven door and voila…crispy eggplant!

I also recommend just slicing up the whole eggplant and making one batch right after the other. You’ll have enough sauce leftover for the extra batch anyway and it’s always nice to have ready made stuff in your freezer. I’m also a liquid smoke fan but I’m going to try just half a teaspoon next time. I like the smokiness but the overall flavour is so good that I don’t think it needs quite that much of it. Just depends on your tastes though.

I made this along with the aquafaba mayo and had a BLT. I really don’t miss meat but I do miss the comfort of certain meals that I had as a kid before going vegetarian. This combo definitely hit the spot and fits the comfort food bill perfectly for me. Thanks for the great recipe’s Dana!

Thank you for taking the time to develop this recipe Dana! I did need to extend the baking time considerably but was able to achieve nice crispy “bacon”. I may leave out the liquid smoke next time; that flavor may not be for everyone.

For those looking for tips and tricks…
I used a mandolin to slice the eggplant, brushed on the sauce, baked on a parchment lined baking sheet in a non-convection gas oven at 250 degrees for about an hour (but I like my bacon very crispy and not chewy), and cooled it on a wire rack. It turned out great!

Tried this recipe and it worked really well! Time and temp that you recommended were perfect. My meat-eating friends were even impressed, we made it for BLTs. Will be making this again, thank you Dana!

These did not crisp up for me, but I wonder if I should have used a different oil. However we fried them quickly in a pan and they turned out great! We’re also going to try them out in our dehydrator and see if we can make some vegan jerky!

I just pulled my first batch of these from the oven and couldn’t resist waiting to let it cool.. all i have to say is – WOW! I found this recipe to be delicious and satisfying. I read through all the comments and questions first and attempted to deduce what would be the best cooking method for my oven. I actually used a round aerated pizza baking dish (lined with parchment) to attempt to get them to maximum crispiness and I will say it worked quite well. I do not have a convection setting on my oven so I baked (in gas oven) at 250 for 50 minutes. I managed to get the eggplant cut quite thin and these are super crispy and tasty. I omitted the liquid smoke (because I didn’t have any on hand) and this recipe is fantastic. I will say that I agree with others.. you still can taste the underlying eggplant but I personally love the flavor of eggplant so that’s not something that bothers me. If you strongly dislike eggplant this recipe may not be the one for you. Thanks for the recipe, Dana, you nailed it again! :)

Hey there,
I made these last night and then a second batch this morning. They are awesome. Thank for the recipe. I just wanted to add a tip to those without a convection oven. I baked for 50 minutes at 255 degrees and let sit in the oven until completely cooled. I didn’t have parchment therefore uses a silicon baking mat sitting on a cooking stone. Worked like a charm! Oh and just use the whole eggplant! You’ll regret not making more!

This is genius, but I think I can see why so many people are having problems. (btw Dana, I love MB and am a happy photography school subscriber and was introduced to Fizzle through you guys, which I now LOVE).

First, if you try to slice the eggplant with a knife you are doomed. And this is coming from a chef who can cut anything with her eyes closed. Eggplant is just too spongy overall to make into nice, neat, even, THIN slices. Use a mandolin or even a vegetable peeler. (I don’t have a mandolin but I quartered my eggplant and used a vegetable peeler thereafter).

I think if people got the thickness right, the rest is a breeze.

Also, I recommend that people stop being impatient! 20-30 minutes might not be enough, especially if you DON’T have a convection oven.

My first batch was delicious, but not crispy (due to hand-slicing). My second batch, I got them nice and thin and it took a good 40 minutes, maybe a little more, til they got crisp. And when they did? BOY I was a happy customer! Eating a BLT right now as a matter of fact :-) And both my kids, ages 7 and 9, loved this.

So, to everyone who is having trouble! Your eggplant needs to be THIN, very THIN, and if it’s not crisping up after 30 minutes, just let it go a little longer AT THE SAME TEMP, and it will get crispy! Bumping up the temp is just going to cause our eggplant to burn! I did mine at 250 for roughly 40-50 minutes in a really old oven and they are sooooooo goood.

I also had your cashew-less queso last night that I combined with elbow mac and vegan chili to make a “hamburger helper” type of thing last night, it was SSOOOOO good!

Hope this helps a few folks get this recipe right because this is sssssssooooo worth it!

Love you guys eternally, and you are my inspiration as I start my own food blog! (Lifelong dream here).

Personally, I loved this recipe. I dried out the eggplant first, with the strips on parchment in the convection oven at 250, for about 20 minutes. I let cool, then put the marinade on, and back in the oven.
Pulled them out, nice and crispy, and vegan son says, “it just tastes like eggplant”. (I thought it was amazing, and that the secondary flavour was eggplant.) Ugh, so I slopped a bit more marinade on them and popped them back in the oven. I then didn’t cook them long enough (a bit too moist and limp), and pulled them out when everything else was ready. I still thought it was really good, but kids prefer the rice paper “bacon”.
Oh well, I’ve been nibbling on them the rest of the afternoon, and they actually crisped up again. Would totally have loved this with pancakes, or in a BLT.
Thanks for the recipe!

I also had issue with a lack of crispness using the convection oven and the temperature guide you recommend, but as one other reviewer mentioned, I did toss the eggplant strips into the marinade and then laid them out on the parchment paper. Next time I will baste them instead and see how that goes.

When cooking eggplant in the past, I’ve always salted my slices and allowed the water content to be pulled out before cooking. If I don’t have any luck with the basting next time, I’ll try this method the third time. I’ve also heard that cooking them on a wire rack allows the moisture evaporate all around.

The liquid smoke was interesting, but a little strong. Will probably cut back on that next time, too.

My life is now complete.

I think I found the problem that many are having. The first batch I made, I dipped the eggplant in the spice sauce. It was hard to not jump in after it myself, it smelled so Divine! While that batch turned out incredibly flavorful, the strips were soft and limp and the flavor was pretty intense, even after doubling the baking time. Then I re-read the recipe and the comments, and wondered if the problem might be too much sauce?

So next batch (I’ve made 4 batches just today…!) I did exactly what Dana said to, and *brushed* the sauce on. What a difference! Perfect flavor, perfect texture — stiff and crispy, yet with just a little give.

While I’d like to take a bath in the sauce, this is a case where less is more.

Dana — thank you!

This was a total disaster for me, which is the first time ever this has happened with one of your recipes!

I cooked for almost an hour, never ended up getting crispy. I raised the temp to 300 for the last 15 mins or so. :(

The flavor on this is SO GOOD that I’m going to keep trying until I get it right. The first time I foolishly used a silpat instead of parchment paper and the eggplant just didn’t crisp up (not crisping seems to happen frequently with the silpat). I made it again today on parchment and I think I sliced the eggplant too thick — I cooked it extra time and it still didn’t get crispy, except around the edges after I finally broiled it for 5 minutes. But it was still super tasty on wheat bread with vegan mayo and basil. The marinade was so good and bacon-y that I made an extra batch and used it on tofu, which made an awesome blt.

I made this today! Oh my god! So good! I made a eggplant bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwich! Yummy!!!!

Tried this, and it didn’t work out. I definitely sliced my eggplant thin enough, and it never crisped up. I even broiled it for a few moments, but it stayed pretty floppy.

The flavor was okay, I think if the eggplant flavor hadn’t been so prominent it would have been gold. Maybe it came through more from not crossing up?

Looking forward to trying that coconut bacon! Can’t go wrong with coconut. ??

Hello !

Just tried it tonight… LOVED IT.

I made the slices slightly too thick (I only had a knife) and no liquid smoke but turned out pretty okay anyway (just less crispy I imagine). Thanks for the recipe :)

Hi, I just made this and I’m sorry, but I didn’t care for it at all. The entire thing (cue “Taps” music) went into the bin. I’m not against using a little liquid smoke, but this tasted extremely artificial to me and not like I remember bacon tasting at all. Still a fan of your blog and recipes so (cue upbeat, happy music) have no fear, you haven’t lost me!

I haven’t had a BLT in so long!! I used liquid aminos and it was delicious! I tried the same sauce with portobellos thinly sliced and that was amazing too. I used convection and did need to increase temp for 5 additional minutes to 300 to add crispiness to the eggplant. I live at about 3800ft altitude, don’t know if that made a difference. Thank you! The whole family enjoyed our BLT night!

Have been eating crisp eggplant since childhood and love it . Best way to use is im a subway sandwich with spinach tomatos cucumber fresh cilantro sliced onions sliced jalapeños and lime juice salt and pepper . Bread should be toasted before making this sandwich. Oh yeh don’t forget to put crispy eggplant sliced!!!! Best sandwich ever!

Destiny collides with my package of thinly sliced eggplant, waiting for a reason for being. (did not make it into the eggplant parm)
Now in the oven, becoming bacon! Love the idea of putting it in a quiche “lorraine”.
Yummmm.