Is there anything worse than those bags of synthetic bacon bits? …the ones that taste more “synthetic-y” than “bacon-y”?

We often have them on hand because James kind of likes them, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re a quick way to ruin a perfectly good salad.

Anyway, today my good friends at Amazon sent me some Bob’s TVP that Annie recommended a few days ago.

So I consulted Dr. Internet to discover a recipe I might use to try this apparently amazing product out. A number of online sources suggest that TVP is the perfect texture for vegan bacon bits, so I thought I’d give it a try.

The best recipe seems to be this one from Shane and Simple.

I made a number of changes and doubled the recipe, and it came out very well indeed!

Chewy Vegan Bacon Bits

Mix the following in a small saucepan and bring to a boil…

• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 TBS water
• 2 TBS maple syrup
• 1 TBS liquid smoke
• 1 tsp Knorr vegetable broth powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Remove from heat and stir in…

• 1 cup TVP

Stir until all the liquid is absorbed. Leave for at least twenty minutes.

Yum! Perfect chewy bacon bits!!

At this point, Shane recommends baking the bacon bits, but I’ve always preferred my bacon bits to be chewy, rather than crunchy….not that I’ve eaten a real bacon bit in close to thirty years.

I’m not 100% sure whether this has to be refrigerated, but I’m doing so out of an abundance of caution.

And the song of the day is Josh Ritter’s “Darlin’.” I’ve given James the assignment of learning to play this song because I fancy we can sing it together. I told him we’d sing it at our wedding, and he raised one quizzical eyebrow before I let him off the hook…on the performing anyway 😉 .