VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Rice Paper Bacon

Say what? Rice paper bacon? When I saw this recipe in my recipe book by Sam Turnbull called Fuss-Free Vegan (Amazon affiliate link), I instantly knew I had to try making it. Because there was NO WAY that I could imagine making rice paper taste and/or feel like bacon. She wrote that rice paper bacon hit the internet by storm, but I had never heard of it! So it may or may not be a new concept to all of you. It certainly was to me.

It rarely occurs to me, when I cook a new recipe from a book, that I may not be able to link to the recipe here, which kind of defeats the purpose of writing these posts. Thankfully, after I made this, I was able to locate the recipe online. It's not on Turnbull's site (It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken) but rather on a site called The Recipe Link. It says that the recipe is used with permission on that site, so I hope that it is. There is nothing that drives me crazier as a blogger than when someone steals my content. Anyway, the recipe can be found here (I'll link to it again at the end of the post).

Okay, so... rice paper bacon. I had never even touched rice paper before making this, so I was kind of excited to try a new ingredient. And I learned that rice paper is so cool! They look like tortillas, only they are paper-thin, much stiffer, and when they get wet, they are super sticky.

The ingredients for the "bacon" are simple enough: rice paper (obviously), nutritional yeast, cooking oil, soy sauce, liquid smoke, maple syrup, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. I already had everything at home except for the rice paper (which I found in the Asian section of Kroger). (I realized after I took the picture that I had grabbed the regular paprika instead of smoked, but I switched it out before making the marinade--so I actually did use the smoked paprika.)

As you know, I always like to follow recipes exactly as written; however, I couldn't find extra-large rice paper, so I bought the only package I could find.

To start, you just preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Then, in a small flat dish, you combine everything except for the rice paper and stir it up well. (It will already smell really good at this point!)

Yes, sometimes I stir things with chopsticks--it didn't work great in this situation!

I used a large cutting board for the next part. The recipe says to use three sheets of rice paper stacked together for the best texture. To do this, you just quickly run the rice paper under water, set it aside, run another sheet under water and then stack it on top of the first. Do it a third time so that you have three sheets of rice paper stuck together in a stack.

This is a stack of three after they've been moistened and placed on top of each other

They will be VERY sticky, so avoid folding them over. (Ask how I know.)

From there, you slice the rice paper into strips (I cut each stack into six strips). I found it easiest to use a pizza cutter to do the slicing. Once it's sliced, you take one piece (which is technically three pieces of rice paper stacked together, but it's stuck into one piece at this point), dunk it in the marinade, making sure to cover the whole thing, and then set it on the parchment-lined paper.

The recipe says to run your finger along each piece to wipe off the excess. When I did that, I think I did it too hard because there was pretty much nothing left but oil. So after that, I made sure to leave some of the thick part of the marinade on them, too, in random spots (which was suggested in the recipe). Later, I was glad I did that.

I used 12 sheets of rice paper total, making four stacks. And that was the perfect amount for the amount of marinade I had. You only bake them for 8-10 minutes, and I let mine go for 10 so it would be more on the crispy side (I hoped so, anyways). This is what it looked like before baking...

The kitchen smelled absolutely delicious when the rice paper bacon was in the oven. And when I took a peek at it, I was really surprised at how good it looked. After about 10 minutes, I pulled it out and this is what it looked like:

See the little spots where the marinade was thicker? Yeah, that's the best part!

I wanted to eat a piece right away while it was still hot, and holy smokes--it was delicious!! It was very crispy but still had that subtle chewiness of bacon at the same time. I found out later that it crisps even more as it cools--making it SO easy to just keep snacking on. If you like chewier bacon, I'd suggest using four pieces of rice paper and/or baking for a little less time.

The flavor is a perfect balance--smoky, a little salty, with a very tiny bit of sweetness. I asked Noah to try it and I was really surprised and (and disappointed) that he wasn't crazy about it. Noah's been more and more interested in eating plant-based and he's very open to trying to things, but he just didn't like this one.

Shocker of all shockers, though, Eli loved it! He didn't even hesitate after taking a bite to then shove the rest in his mouth and tell me how good it was and that he would definitely like me to make it again. This is ELI, who thinks vegan food is "gross" ;) 

I wasn't at all surprised that Jerry loved it. He said this rivals the lemon pepper tofu he loves so much and he asked me to show him how to make it so he can make it as a snack instead of eating potato chips or something. Hearing that was like music to my ears, hahaha. I can definitely see making a big batch of these to snack on just like you would with potato chips.

Joey was sniffing around while I was cleaning up, so I decided to see if he would like a piece. The pets can be a bit iffy about certain vegan ingredients (probably because pets like meat!). But Joey was certainly interested. And he loved it!

Whether you are plant-based or not, I highly recommend trying this out! The name of it is actually "Insanely Good Rice Paper Bacon"--and it definitely is. Here is the link to the recipe. And because I want to make sure she gets credit, here is a link to Turnbull's site, It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I actually bought both of her books because I have liked everything so much.

I'm curious what others think, so let me know if you try it!

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Also, I'm going to post this for a few days, but I ultimately decided to go ahead and make an Amazon Wish List for my cross country team. The kids are in grades third through fifth and I like to reward them when they reach certain milestones. A few years ago, the Amazon Wish List was a huge hit and the kids were THRILLED with the prizes. So, if you feel inclined, please check it out; and if you are interested in donating something (either on the list or otherwise) thank you SO SO SO much!! Here is the link to the wish list: Cross Country Wish List. (The items will be shipped to me, so you don't have to worry about shipping. And don't worry, I'll post pics!)