Vegan Rice Paper Bacon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (See notes for microwave instructions)

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the marinade in a wide bowl until the nutritional yeast is incorporated well; prepare a second wide bowl filled partway with water.

Prepare a metal, oven-safe rack with a sheet of parchment paper. (Skip this if microwaving).

Cut rice paper into thick strips, or to the size that you want. Note that the strips will shrink in size a little bit when cooking. Some brands of rice paper will crack a little bit when you cut them; Use a large, very sharp knife to minimize this.

Take two strips and stack them. Holding them together, dip them very quickly into the water. (UPDATE: if you have kitchen scissors, try dipping 2 whole rice paper sheets stacked together into the water, then cutting them into strips instead. I don’t recommend cutting wet rice paper with a knife, it’s not as easy as it seems). They should then start to stick together on their own. Gently squeeze excess water from the fused pair of rice paper strips.

Dip the fused pair of rice paper strips into the marinade and coat it fairly generously; place it onto the parchment paper.

Repeat with additional rice paper/rice paper strips until the rack is filled. NB: Periodically stop to whisk the marinade again and re-emulsify it; the oil will start to separate over time.

Bake for about 7 to 9 minutes, or until crisp. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the tray partway through. The strips can burn easily, so keep an eye on it and take them out as soon as they’re done. The end result will be mostly crispy with some slightly chewy parts. 🙂

Once fully cooled, store leftover rice paper bacon in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. It will stay pretty crispy. But it probably won’t survive 3 days without being eaten 🙂

Notes

OPTIONAL “MARBLING”: Take a couple of spoonfuls of extra marinade and add a dash of balsamic vinegar and another good sprinkle of black pepper, and mix. Use a brush to dab a very light amount of the balsamic mixture onto various places on the rice paper bacon strips. Once baked they will produce the marbling effect that you see in my pictures.

MAKE THIS IN THE MICROWAVE: The vegan bacon that’s almost too good to be true. I discovered it on accident when I just wanted to test the flavors. The texture is *not quite as good* as from the oven, but it’s still great. Take a microwave-safe plate and place the marinated un-cooked strips on it. Do not crowd the pan, you may have to work in batches. Microwave in 30-second intervals at full power until crispy. You will hear a LOT of sizzling and need to wipe excess oil from the plate between batches.