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This vegan bacon is made from the starch water that remains from washing flour to make seitan. It's super simple to make, and despite my love for bacon made from vital wheat gluten, this the closest to the real thing as I've ever come.
Ingredients
Directions
PREPARE YOUR STARCH WATER
After washing flour, let your starch water rest for several hours or overnight so it has time to settle. Check out the step-by-step for washing flour to make seitan here. Once settled, pour off most of the excess water, leaving about 15% on top. Then stir them together. This does not need to be an exact science, but you're looking for the mixture to resemble a very thin crepe batter when its all stirred up.
TIP: You can leave your starch water in the fridge for several days if you're not going to be able to use it right away.
MIX YOUR BATTER
Separate the batter (mixed starch water) into 2 parts. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the "meat," and 3/4 cup for the "fat." Then add all of the "meat" ingredients into the 1 1/4 cup batter, and the "fat" ingredients into the 3/4 cup batter. I used a blender stick to make it super quick, but you can use a whisk, blender, or even a spoon.
TIP: The measurements do not need to be exact. I worked with what I had from one washing and you may have more or less. You can adjust the seasonings to however you like and think of this more as a general guide.
MAKE YOUR "PANCAKES"
Heat a large, non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a little bit of cooking spray or oil to keep the batter from sticking. Pour thin stripes of red and white mixture (using more red than white) into the hot pan, and move the pan as necessary to keep the batter as thin as possible, spreading it around the pan into a solid "pancake". If it's too thick your bacon will be more chewy than crispy. As a solid sheet, it should be able to easily slide around the pan. No need to flip, it will cook through fairly quickly if it's thin enough. Just transfer it to a plate and keep making pancakes until your batter is used up.
TIP: My measuring cups have spouts so I kept everything in them as I mixed to make the batter easy to pour out later. I've heard some people transfer their batter to used squeeze bottles to make it even easier to keep the batter strips as thin as possible.
CUT YOUR PANCAKES INTO STRIPS OF BACON
Once you have your pancakes made, you can use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut, or rip them into strips. I did a combination of cutting and ripping for a more authentic look.
TIP: Don't worry if your pancakes rip some as cooking, they will look more authentic with torn edges. Any little pieces can be made into bacon bits.
FRY YOUR BACON
Heat another tablespoon or two of oil on the pan over medium-high heat, and working in batches, fry your strips, adding oil as necessary to finish.
More Porq & Starch Water Recipes
Ingredients
Directions
PREPARE YOUR STARCH WATER
After washing flour, let your starch water rest for several hours or overnight so it has time to settle. Check out the step-by-step for washing flour to make seitan here. Once settled, pour off most of the excess water, leaving about 15% on top. Then stir them together. This does not need to be an exact science, but you're looking for the mixture to resemble a very thin crepe batter when its all stirred up.
TIP: You can leave your starch water in the fridge for several days if you're not going to be able to use it right away.
MIX YOUR BATTER
Separate the batter (mixed starch water) into 2 parts. Measure out 1 1/4 cups for the "meat," and 3/4 cup for the "fat." Then add all of the "meat" ingredients into the 1 1/4 cup batter, and the "fat" ingredients into the 3/4 cup batter. I used a blender stick to make it super quick, but you can use a whisk, blender, or even a spoon.
TIP: The measurements do not need to be exact. I worked with what I had from one washing and you may have more or less. You can adjust the seasonings to however you like and think of this more as a general guide.
MAKE YOUR "PANCAKES"
Heat a large, non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a little bit of cooking spray or oil to keep the batter from sticking. Pour thin stripes of red and white mixture (using more red than white) into the hot pan, and move the pan as necessary to keep the batter as thin as possible, spreading it around the pan into a solid "pancake". If it's too thick your bacon will be more chewy than crispy. As a solid sheet, it should be able to easily slide around the pan. No need to flip, it will cook through fairly quickly if it's thin enough. Just transfer it to a plate and keep making pancakes until your batter is used up.
TIP: My measuring cups have spouts so I kept everything in them as I mixed to make the batter easy to pour out later. I've heard some people transfer their batter to used squeeze bottles to make it even easier to keep the batter strips as thin as possible.
CUT YOUR PANCAKES INTO STRIPS OF BACON
Once you have your pancakes made, you can use a pizza cutter or kitchen scissors to cut, or rip them into strips. I did a combination of cutting and ripping for a more authentic look.
TIP: Don't worry if your pancakes rip some as cooking, they will look more authentic with torn edges. Any little pieces can be made into bacon bits.
FRY YOUR BACON
Heat another tablespoon or two of oil on the pan over medium-high heat, and working in batches, fry your strips, adding oil as necessary to finish.
What a geniality! I will try this. Thank you!
You’re welcome! Please let me know how it goes! 😊
Holy baloney
I’ve been working years on trying to get chicken type texture from freezing tofu then I started getting into wheat gluten who knows separating the starch from the gluten yourself is the way to go and the byproduct is this amazing bacon thank you very very much
Ps can you freeze it
Thanks! I’ve been seeing people freeze the “pancakes” with great results. Enjoy your seitan experiments!
The best I’ve ever had closest to bacon is rice paper bacon but I just might try this
Before I tried this, I’d have to agree. And if you already wash flour, what have you got to lose?
I’d really like to try this, but Step 2 is a little confusing. When you say “Separate the batter into 2 parts” are you referring to the starch water?
I apologize for the confusion. I added a note to the recipe that the “batter” refers to the mixed starch and water.
About to try the washed flour method from http://seitansociety.com/wash-the-flour-method/ (never done this before) and wanted to check – do I use the water from the initial dough soak, or from the first rinse only, or from all rinses? Thanks in advance!
Generally I only save the most opaque washes, and for me that’s usually the 2nd and 3rd, sometimes the 4th. I find I do a lot of stretching and pulling without a ton of starch release from the first wash, but everyone’s technique is a little different. See how it goes!
How inventive! Could this be done with wheat starch from a box mixed with water, I wonder? What if I just want bacon without having to make seitan as well? 🙂
Yes, absolutely! All you’d need to do is aim for that thin, crepe batter consistency and take it from there. I just like to find ways to use the leftover starch water since I am always washing flour. 😊
Any chance you have a video?
Not yet, but I plan to very soon! 😊
How long can you store the starch water? And is it better stored in the fridge or room temp? Thanks!
I typically let it settle overnight on the counter in large bowls, then transfer it to the fridge in smaller containers. They last about a week like that. I’ve heard that people have frozen the starch water and defrosted for use with good results, though I haven’t tried it. Some let it simply sit out and naturally ferment. You can also dehydrate it to store as powder, but you must make sure it’s fully dehydrated or it can turn moldy. Lots of options! 😊
Thanks for the recipe! Can you freeze the bacon or perhaps pancakes after the first fry before the final crisp?
I’m sorry I haven’t tried freezing the bacon yet (never lasts that long for me lol) but I did try refrigerating both the pancakes and the fried bacon, and the pancakes are a better bet. For freezing, I would try making the pancakes and not slicing them yet, but brush a little oil and add a piece of parchment paper between the full pancakes. Then you can separate them easily and they won’t dry out. I imagine they’ll defrost pretty quick once left on the counter, then slice and fry. And if that works, please let me know! I’ll experiment with it myself next time.
Excellent instructions! I have some starch water from the Easter “Lamb” sitting on the counter. Will try this!!! Fascinating!
Thanks! Hope if you tried this it worked out well for you! 😊
I thought this was really good, but needed just a little bit more flavor. Next time I think I will add some extra soy sauce and liquid smoke.
Absolutely! Everyone has their own tastes and this recipe is definitely an easy one to experiment with. Glad you liked it enough to try again! 😊
Have you made the recipe with white flour vs whole wheat flour and noticed a qualitative difference?
I prefer the texture in my seitan using white flour, but that is a personal preference. Even though whole wheat may be higher in protein content, you might actually get less yield or have trouble getting your gluten to form at all, because the bran in whole wheat can disrupt the gluten formation. If you already have it on hand and still want to try, I suggest just washing a cup or two to see if it works (and if you like it) before trying a larger batch.
Just made the ‘bacon’ – fantastic. Made BLT, with homemade rolls
So happy you enjoyed it! And now I want a BLT… 😋
Could you use a variation of this recipe to bread a seitan schnitzel?
as in just dip the schnitzel into this starch mixture (maybe seasoned slightly differently to taste less like bacon and more like pork/ traditional breading), dip it in breadcrumbs and fry?
I did recently test this exact thing using seasoned starch water and a seasoned flour/cornstarch coating and it wasn’t exactly to my liking. It came out very hard/crisp and didn’t brown very well in the hot oil. I plan to keep experimenting, but I was thinking next time possibly cutting the starch with plant milk and maybe a dash of vinegar, or possibly beer…
This is awesome, everyone loves them (especially meat eaters of course). However, isn’t it better to let the pancakes cool down before further handling? Firstly so one doesn’t burn his fingers, but mainly because I feel that the strips become crispier when letting the pancakes rest for a while. Just like with french fries, pre-frying, cooling and frying a second time yields better results.
Glad you enjoy it! If you wouldn’t mind taking a moment to rate the recipe by clicking the stars, it would be greatly appreciated! And yes, I usually make all the pancakes first, then cut them into strips (starting with the coolest ones), then fry them. If I’m going to freeze any, I keep them as pancakes, too, then cut and fry after defrosting. I have not tried frying them twice, but I definitely will – thanks for the tip!
My difficulty with making bacon from the wheat starch water is that there is no protein and even when I froze the crepes and fried, they were very tough to chew. I would love to make something similar to the cheese recipes (steamed) with some TVP and Pea Protein included, and of course all the great seasonings. Slice the steamed product, then fry. Any thoughts on that??
I attempted to add 2 tablespoons of pea protein to the bacon batter and it changed the texture to almost doughy and made it more difficult to cook. If you’re having trouble with the bacon being too chewy you can try thinning the batter more. I think the cheeses would probably work better with the additional protein but haven’t tried. If you do, please let me know how it goes!
this is cool; I’ll have to try it. I’ve always done the traditional Chinese method of making kaofu (seitan/gluten) with liangpi (noodles made from the starch batter), which is just another way to make use of the components of wheat flour once you separate them.
is there a good substitute for marmite? It’s hard to come by where I live in MX. Thx for the recipe!
It’s got a uniquely beefy and salty flavor so I’m not sure what would be best. I would probably suggest just adding a little extra soy sauce, porcini mushroom powder, torula yeast and possibly a little extra salt. Hope you enjoy!
I can’t believe that I waited so long to try this recipe!
It’s so good that I find myself making WTF seitan more for the wheat starch water to make this recipe instead of just for the seitan itself.
The one thing that I would suggest is after the second fry, sprinkle with a little soy sauce of choice, and pinch of nutritional yeast to bring out, IMO, the resemblance of the true taste of bacon.
Wheat starch bacon, IMO, is the best faux bacon.
Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks for the kind review and glad you enjoyed it! Your suggestions also sound great. If you can get your hands on torula yeast (which I know can be very difficult to find) I think it has an even more meaty flavor than the nutritional yeast and might be great to add as you suggested. 🙂