This was a fun one! When I first saw a video making carrot bacon, I had to try it! Now, the video I watched called for an air fryer, which I don’t have. So I’ve changed the cooking instructions to use your normal oven instead!

One of the things I love about this recipe is that there’s really no special equipment. Now, I love my kitchen toys, but it aggravates me to want to do a recipe and then find out that if I don’t have some fancy machine it’ll take me waaay more time to get it done! For this one, you just need your oven, a half sheet pan, a bowl, a vegetable peeler, and parchment paper.

 

 

Before we go any further, I want to be clear: This is not bacon. It is made from a sweet vegetable, so it’s gonna taste different than bacon! But, if you’re looking for a crunchy, smoky, salty vegan option for your BLT, keep reading!

I used a purple carrot in this recipe. Now, regular orange carrots will do just fine, but the purple one makes it look more bacon-like. At the time I made this, I only had one purple carrot, so I mixed the two, and it was fine. The purple really does look better though!

Let’s get to it!

 

Ingredients

Two large carrots (the bigger the better), scrubbed clean (organic preferred – they did come out of the ground!)

1/3 cup maple syrup (the real stuff, not corn syrup)

1 teaspoon smoked paprika (has to be smoked)

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (gives more smoky flavor!)

Freshly ground black pepper

Kosher salt for sprinkling (other salt is ok too)

Preheat your oven to 380 degrees F.

Use your veggie peeler to peel long strips of carrot. I found it easiest to do this by laying the carrot flat and pushing the peeler from one end to the other. When I got about halfway through, I flipped the carrot over and started on the other side.

 

 

Mix your marinade and pour it over the carrot strips. Let them soak for at least 3 minutes.

 

 

Lay them flat on your parchment-lined baking sheet. They can’t touch or the maple syrup will stick them together. Now, a disclaimer: I made this recipe first on a Silpat sheet and they took much longer to cook than on the parchment. So watch the strips carefully so you don’t burn them! I also found that the orange carrot cooked slightly faster than the purple. So if you use only orange carrots, check them one minute sooner than I recommend. Lastly, your oven may be hotter or cooler than mine, so watch carefully until you know what your oven is doing. These strips have to be super thin to get crispy, but this means they cook really fast (and burn quickly too!).

 

 

Bake them for 5 minutes and check them. Here’s where things can go wrong: You can take them out too soon and they’re not crispy, or you leave them too long and they burn. If they are starting to lift and crisp, take them out and gently lift them off the paper so they can get air underneath. If they are still soft, putting them back in the oven for a minute or two will crisp them. If they’re mostly crispy, just moving them off the heat will allow them to dry and crisp up. When you move them to the plate, sprinkle them with salt before they cool completely. The original recipe left out the salt and I think it makes a big difference. If you’re following a strict plant-based, whole foods (PBWF) diet or you’re avoiding salt because of your blood pressure, then leave it out, but if not then go for it!

 

Enjoy!

 

Have you seen my Weight Loss Basics class on YouTube? Episode 3 is coming out next week, so go get caught up on the first two!