Coconut “Bacon”

Confession time. My favorite show on tv is Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives… there, I said it. It makes zero sense that I would love this show so much considering 99.9% of the food they make on there is NOT plant-based. That’s okay though, the recipes on there give me ideas for other recipes sometimes and on a rare occasion Guy Fieri features a plant-based dish on the show.

It’s my understand that Guy grew up vegetarian and HATED it so much that he rebelled at a young age. While he may not make the same food choices as myself, he’s a pretty good host of the show although his dietary choices are (in my opinion) atrocious.

He’s featured vegan burgers, a few curry dishes and a coconut club with fried tofu and coconut bacon. I’ve been thinking about that sandwich for awhile now and decided to try out the coconut bacon concept. I searched around the internet and found this recipe. It’s really easy to make, you could whip up a batch of this for quick BLT’s or add this to tofu scramble… honestly, you could add it to just about anything! I’m thinking salad topping, add to split pea soup or a pizza topping!

This recipe is from Vegan Good Things blog, another cool site I bookmarked to peruse later. Sorry for the lame photo, I haven’t had a chance to make anything pretty with this yet but I will soon!!!

My hubby and toddler LOVED this!

Coconut Bacon
makes about 3 cups (enough for 4 – 6 sandwiches, depending on how big you make ’em)

3 large handfuls of large flake, unsweetened coconut (bought mine at Sprouts)
1 Tbsp. liquid smoke – Colgin brand is plant-based, some are not
2 Tbsp. tamari – or soy sauce, coconut aminos or shoyu
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. maple syrup (optional, but recommended – I used it)

Preheat oven to 300. Place coconut in a shallow baking pan. Combine other ingredients together in a small bowl and drizzle over coconut. Use your hands to mix and make sure the coconut is evenly coated. Bake at 300 for 20 minutes, or until crisp. It will continue to crisp as it cools, and is best eaten at room temperature.