I happened to have a loaf of my seitan bacon in my refrigerator when my friend Liz texted me about a bean soup she’d made. “I wish it didn’t have ham in it because I’d love you to try it and weigh in.”
Following her son’s curiosity over Aldi’s bean soup mix, she’d combined a few different recipes. Yet her efforts were rejected as flavorless.
Honestly, beyond using my vegan bacon, the only thing I really changed is how ingredients are added! This is her recipe. But instead of piling everything into a crockpot, I layered flavors like I would for an Indian curry:
- fat
- whole spices
- aromatics
- ground spices
- dried herbs
- liquid
- acid
What else can I do with seitan bacon?
There’s no shortage of things to make with my seitan bacon! This is but one of my suggestions. You could also make my split pea soup with “ham” or veganize Southern Living’s succotash.
Basically, anything that includes diced ham will work!
Community Spotlight/Veganization: 15 Bean Soup (“Liz’s Beans”)
Description
Once you've made seitan bacon, this recipe comes together quickly. Thank you, Liz, for this flavorful meal!
UPDATE: I successfully made Liz's soup using 3 10-oz (283-g) cans diced tomatoes and green chilis in place of the three different canned products listed below. Though I preserved her recipe, I also experimented with consolidating her ingredients list to make it more approachable.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Place beans in a lg pot and cover with water. Soak overnight, then drain and rinse beans and pot. Reserve beans. Dry pot and set on stove.
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Cut “bacon”, onion, and bell pepper into small dice. Mince garlic. Maintain separate piles of “bacon” and garlic, but pile onion and bell pepper together.
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Open all cans.
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Measure coconut oil into pot. Melt over med heat, then add “bacon” and sauté 5-10 min, until lightly crusted. Remove leaving oil behind and set aside.
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Transfer onion and bell pepper to pot. Sauté 6 min. Add garlic, then ground spices and dried herbs sautéing 1 min between each of these two additions.
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Pour in all canned ingredients, broth, salt, pepper, and reserved beans (from Step 1). Stir, then increase heat to med-hi and bring to a rapid boil. Cover and reduce heat to med-lo. Simmer while stirring occasionally for 90 min, until beans are tender.
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Meanwhile, whisk lemon juice, Dijon, and vegan Worcestershire. Return "bacon" to pot, then remove from heat and incorporate lemon juice mixture to finish.
Note
The possibilities of my seitan bacon are endless! I'm partial to my split pea soup with "ham", but you could make a number of other things. I also like using it to veganize Southern Living's succotash recipe.
