Savory, smoky, sweet, crunchy, and delicious easy vegan bacon bits made from TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein). Excellent for sprinkling on top of salads, baked potatoes or simply eating by the handful.
If you’re not familiar with Textured Vegetable Protein, allow me to introduce you. It’s a highly nutritious soy product loaded with protein; contains no fat; and, is the perfect alternative to meat. TVP is nothing more than defatted, dehydrated soy flour and it’s naturally gluten-free.
Personally, I think it’s pretty close to perfect. Why? Because of what I just said: low in fat and calories, contains a ton of protein and a great source of fiber. Awesome, it’ll keep you strong and regular. How ’bout that?
However, it’s pretty flavorless so if you want to enjoy it you’ll need to be creative. I decided to see what would happen if I used my “bacon” brine from my Smoky Maple Tempeh Bacon. The results? Honestly, there are no words.
This recipe is so simple, all you need are 6 or 7 ingredients and roughly 10 minutes of your time. It really is that easy. If you can boil something, you can do this.
The delicious mixture of spices, maple syrup, liquid smoke, and soy sauce create the ultimate savory, sweet, spicy flavor. Once you bring it all to boil, you simply throw in the TVP and let it soak.
You can add one final step by baking these low and slow at 225 degrees until they reach your preferred level of crunchiness. Just check on them every few minutes and give the pan a little shake so you don’t burn them.
If you’ve been longing for something to satisfy a craving from your past, look no further. The smell, the taste, the texture – it’s all there. Everything except the flesh of a dead carcass someone needlessly killed and all the chronic diseases that go with it.
I’m pretty confident you’ll love this Easy Vegan Bacon Bits recipe. It’s…
- SWEET
- SMOKY
- SAVORY
- MEATY
- CRUNCHY
- EASY TO MAKE
- ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!
More Delicious Vegan Toppings
- Vegan Ranch Dressing
- Easy Vegan Honey Mustard
- Garlicky Lemon Tahini Sauce
- The Best Vegan Chipotle Aioli
Perfect for topping for your salads, baked potatoes with my Cashew Sour Cream or just eat it by the handful.
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Easy Vegan Bacon Bits
Savory, smoky, crispy and delicious bacon bits made from TVP. These are the perfect topping for salads, baked potatoes with my Cashew Sour Cream, or simply eat by the handful.
- Prep Time: 2 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 12 minutes
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Toppings
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- ½ cup TVP
- 2 tbsp. low sodium tamari sauce (or soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp. water
- 1 tbsp. maple syrup
- 2 tsp. liquid smoke
- ½ tsp. smoked paprika
- ½ tsp. garlic powder
- Salt to taste (but it’s not really necessary)
Instructions
- Place all ingredients, EXCEPT FOR TVP, in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil.
- Once the mixture starts to boil, remove from heat and add TVP. Stir until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- Pre-heat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread bacon bits out evenly on baking sheet and place in oven. Cook for just a couple minutes then shake so the bacon bits will cook evenly. Repeat until the bacon bits are crispy, but be careful not to burn.
Notes
*Baking is not necessary, it just depends on how crunchy you want them.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 Tbsp
- Calories: 30
- Sugar: 2.3 g
- Sodium: 128.7 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 3.8 g
- Fiber: 1.1 g
- Protein: 3.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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LOVE this recipe! It’s a big part of my meal prep rotation.
I was really struggling with finding a recipe for TVP that I could eat, and turns out making it crispy and smoky was the way to go!
Also super quick to make which is always a huge plus.
This is the second time I’m making these and they are so good that I doubled the recipe this time. Easy to make and so much tastier than store-bought. Thank you for the recipe.
This recipe is amazing! Wonderful baked but I discovered that it also works well in recipes without baking. Perfect for adding flavor and protein to slow cooked green beans and potatoes. Thank you.
Pretty good! Omit the maple syrup if you want a saltier bacon.
Great recipe. Swapped extra smoked paprika for the liquid smoke. Could have used a little pepper, I think.
Sounds great & I want to make this today. Will other brands of TVP work? I can’t find your suggested brand except online. Thank you. I SO enjoy your site.
Yes, any brand of TVP will work.
Great recipe! (And great site; just subscribed). I’m teaching in China (came for a year, and still here, but only temporarily, 35 years later) and could not get TVP so I baked and crumbled tofu and used my own recipe–but yours is SO much better than mine was. Thanks for sharing. (One advantage of tofu is I can make the chunks larger for salad toppings).
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Bill B.
Hi Shane…
Made this bacon bits recipe and they were spot on! Excellent!
What I’m wondering is, can TVP itself be purchased in larger pieces? I’ve never had the need to check that one out before, but your delicious bacon bits, if they were just a little larger, would be doubly flavorful in our salads! I tried to think of something else to use as a base, but can’t come up with any decent substitutes.
I’m enjoying going through your recipes! First found your website while searching for a mayo substitute (without tofu or oil). Found it here and it’s absolutely delicious! Good job!!!
Thanks so much for sharing what you create!
Thank you so much!!! TVP is pretty much the same size regardless of manufacturer. You could use tempeh and crumble it up in the size you prefer. Hope this helps and glad you’re here:)
Check Amazon or other sites…there are several different sized TVP options nowadays: crumbles are the most common but you can find strips, chunks. Etc. A newer company called Plant Basics has a lot of different sizes.
Hi Shane. This recipe is genius and I can’t wait to try it! Trader Joe’s recently introduced “meatless ground” which is made from pea protein as opposed to soy. Just in case you missed it / that is of interest to you. I’m actually commenting to ask if you’ve ever made pepperoni flavor crumbles? Just a thought if this recipe could somehow be adapted to be the perfect pizza topping. Hmmm. What do you think?
Another AMAZING recipe!
I have alpha gal, the red meat allergy caused by a tick bite, so I can’t have pork. Thank you so much for providing me a way to satisfy my bacon craving!
I am going to try this using the Butler curls crumbs. I do this for tacos and if I don’t have enough I put the curls in a plastic bag and break up until I like the size. I use a meat pounder.
I made a batch of this yesterday then immediately made another double batch. This is delicious and adds a lot of flavor to so many things! Thank you for another great recipe.
Yes flavor and texture! We use it on baked potatoes with sour cream (Tofuti) and chives. It’s so good and adds lots of protein.
Fantastic! I detest plain tvp. I had some commercial imitation bacon tvp (which I like just fine) and this to compare against each other and this shot the commercial one out of the water and beached it. Flavors are just more intense. We’ll be using this in biscuits and gravy and as part of a savory trail mix with dried apples. I made a double batch and ended up adding a bit more water to full hydrate the tvp and then had to bake it for an hour. Maybe it would’ve been fine with less water but I was concerned.
Amazing. It tastes like bacon bits. Thank you so much!!!
These are great!! I have been sprinkling them on everything from salads to pizza(vegan). I even threw them in my split pea soup toward the end of cooking and it ended up giving the texture and taste of ham. Thank you for sharing!
Question: would these hold as a garnishing on a cupcake? Or do you think they would go soggy?
They should hold pretty well. I would cook them a little past their allotted time and let them get real crispy.
How do you store after baking and how long will these Be last before needing to be used up please?
I place them in a jar with a lid or an airtight container. They should be good for a couple of weeks.
If I were to make baked vegan mac what would you recommend? Not baking/or baking the tvp, then adding it in the Mac before putting it in the oven? OR just garnishing it over the Mac?
I would just garnish.
I live in a country where bacon is not available and this is an amazing recipe that allows me to make recipes that call for bacon again.
so, this was sweeter than I want my “bacon bits” to be, but Shane, you are so on target with using TVP for bacon bit. I’ll play around with getting the spices tuned in to my personal taste, but I already know this is FINNALY going to be the technique that yields believable “bacon bits.” Thank you.
Dude, this shiz is absolutely ballin. 100% recommend.
I’m newly vegan so this is great! How long will they last?
Keep them in a covered container and they should be good for several weeks.
I love this recipe! I live in Las Vegas and it’s 108 degrees nealy everyday in August, so I baked them in my air fryer. I put 1/2 of the mixture on parchment paper at 300 degrees, shaking every 3 minutes for about 12 minutes. Perfect!
PLEASE NOTE the recipe says it makes a cup, but it only makes 1/2 cup
Hi Shane! I’m wanting to try these in a split-pea soup. Will they hold up in a pot of simmering soup or should they be added later as a garnish?
Hi, Vicki! They should be added later as a garnish.
Super quick and satisfying 🙂
I made this to add to vegan pasta carbonara… the bacon bits came out great! I couldn’t find my paprika, so substituted 1/2tsp cayenne pepper. Still yummy! My only problem is that I think I need to double or triple the recipe! My husband walked in the kitchen just as I was marinating the TVP and said “wow does it smell like bacon in here!” even though he had no idea what I was trying to make!
Question: I have heard soy is healthy and I have heard it’s unhealthy. Please educate me. Thanks.
It’s completely healthy. Here are a few of the many articles I refer people to. I hope this helps. Blessings.
https://www.drfuhrman.com/elearning/eat-to-live-blog/137/dont-fall-for-the-myths-about-soy
https://freefromharm.org/health-nutrition/vegan-doctor-addresses-soy-myths-and-misinformation/
https://vegangreenplanet.com/breaking-down-the-myths-about-soy/
These look amazing Shane! Well done for working out how to recreate the flavour. It’s the stumbling block for many would- be veggies and vegans to go without bacon, but these substitutes look awesome. I imagine that you could make a pasta carbonara with these if you didn’t cook them too crunchy!
Thanks so much, Claire! I hope you enjoy them. Blessings and Happy New Year!
What is TVP and where do you buy it
Hi, Judy! TVP is short for Textured Vegetable Protein. It’s basically just dehydrated soy flour. Here’s a link that you can purchase it if you like: https://amzn.to/37KgiEx
What is TVC
Thanks for sharing. Do you know any alternatives to the soy protein that would be good for this recipe? (soy allergy)
I’m so sorry, Isabella. Unfortunately, no, there is no sub for TVP. But, if I can figure something out you’ll be the first to know! Happy New Year!
Hi Isabella I believe that you may want try making a while bean (not soy) tofu yourself an easy one and then crumbling it and drying the crumbles before and after this recipe. I found a good recipe easy for you (is not my recipe thou must say ) best Zeddy :
http://veganmommychef.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-soy-tofu.html?m=1
There are pea protein bits available on Amazon that can be used in much the same way as TVP, assuming you aren’t allergic to pea protein, of course.
Simple to make and delicious!
Thank you so much!
Hi Shane!
How do you think this recipe would work work with soy curls crumbs or made into crumbs using a food processor before adding to the marinade?
Thank you 🙂
It might get a bit mushy. BUT, if you were to chop them up into chunks and bake them in the marinade, I think it’d be awesome! Almost like jerky.
I forgot, you can make jerky out soy curls! So thanks for the reminder!! 😉
I’m to give it a whirl on making them into bacon bits and let you know how it turns out. It may be a couple of weeks before I get to it. Clumsy me, fell last Saturday and broke my kneecap. I’m going nuts not being able to get into the kitchen!
Ewww, so sorry, Becky! Hoping for a quick recovery for you. I’d be going nuts too. Take care of yourself. Blessings.
These look fabulous Shane! So just use the small amount of liquid shown in ingredients with no additional water, correct? So there should be more TVP than liquid?
Yes, that’s correct! Hope you enjoy them.
why do you boil the ingredients on water before marinating the TVP on it? does something change in the flavour if you just put the TVP on them without boiling and then bake them? Is it possible to fry them on a pan instead of baking it?
It allows the TVP to absorb and cook a little. I’ve never tried to pan fry them but see no reason why it wouldn’t work. Feel free to try! Good luck.
This recipe looks amazing! Do they have to be refrigerated after baking?
No. They keep in a jar or bag. But, they usually never last around my house:)
I’ve just made these but didn’t bake them till crispy, because I want them to be a bit chewy. They’re awesome and so easy to make! I’m planning to add them to some ‘cheesy bacon’ stuffed potatoes but I’ll make crispy ones for salads next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Amanda, that’s awesome and love your idea with the potatoes. Thanks so much for reaching out and sharing! Blessings.
Super easy to make. Quadrupled the recipe to make bacony bits for Brussels sprouts for my omni partner’s family for thanksgiving.
Awesome! They go great with Brussel sprouts
Pre-heat oven to 225 F or C?
Farenheit.
I didn’t have liquid smoke, but added a ½ tsp ‘smokey’ BBQ sauce and a ½ tsp of Marmite and they were delicious!!
Great idea! Never thought of that. Can’t wait to try myself.
Fantastic! I baked them longer for a nice crunch and added 1 TBSP of nooch and 1 TBSP oil.
This recipe makes me want to make a ton, jar it up with pretty labels and gift them!
What is the shelf life?
Thanks for the recipe – it was TOTALLY AWESOME!
Thanks so much and glad you enjoyed them! Honestly, they don’t last long enough around our house, but I would say they’ll keep for at least a week or little more. Maybe longer. I’ll do some research:)
They look so real !!!
Awesome!