This vegan mushroom bacon uses all whole food ingredients!
I will confess it: I am a vegan bacon fan. The problem with a lot of store-bought vegan bacon, though, is that it uses a lot of artificial ingredients. The recipes below are me trying to perfect a vegan bacon without the of the chemical additives. 
My initial plan was to use the Olives for Dinner recipe, which calls for liquid smoke. Dave even picked up a bottle of liquid smoke for me at the store. But when I read the ingredients, I decided that I couldn’t call this a whole food mushroom bacon recipe using something that included “natural smoke flavor.” I know that natural smoke flavor can actually be natural, but it’s hard to trust the word “natural” on food labels.
More vegan breakfast recipes: Vegan Southern-Style Grits, Tofu Scramble Breakfast Tostadas, Green Eyed Monster Smoothie
That Olives for Dinner bacon is great, but for this challenge I needed a totally natural smoky flavor. Chipotle chili powder felt like the right way to go, and the result was a smoky, salty, slightly spicy mushroom bacon that’s perfect on top of these simple, creamy “cheese” grits.
Mushroom Bacon
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil
- 2 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced into strips
- 1/4 teaspoon mild chipotle chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Method
- Heat the oil in a skillet on medium high, then add the mushrooms, chili powder, and salt. Saute, stirring constantly, until the mushrooms turn crispy.
- Turn them out onto a plate lined with a dish rag or paper towel to drain while you make your grits.
Cheesy Grits
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- enough water to make 2 servings of grits, according to package
- enough grits to make 2 servings, according to package directions directions
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- diced tomato
- diced scallions
Method
- In a small saucepan, heat the coconut oil on medium high. Add the garlic and saute until it starts to turn golden brown.
- Add the water, and bring to a boil, then toss in the grits, nutritional yeast, and vinegar. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring, until the grits are done, adding water by the tablespoon if the grits get too thick too fast. How long this takes and how much water you need depends on the grits you’re using. I used Arrowhead Mills Yellow Corn Grits, and it took about 5 minutes.
- Top with your vegan bacon and a little diced tomato and scallion.
Looks delicious. I’ve soaked strips of eggplant in beet juice, then sprinkled on Salish (smoked salt from Oregon) and dehydrated until crispy to make “bacon” strips. Yum.