The Ultimate Guide to Easy Bacon Equivalents and Substitutions (2024)

FAQs

What can I use as a substitute for bacon? ›

Coconut, mushroom, and tempeh strips become smoky, salty, crispy plant-based bacon alternatives. I like Morningstar brand vegetarian “bacon”. It's taste is quite natural and it makes your kitchen smell like bacon. Two slices go a long way.

I think there are usually 16 slices per pound, or 1 ounce each. This is normal bacon, not thick sliced or anything special.

Sometimes called “Italian bacon”, pancetta is a pork belly side, salted and cured with pepper, spices and rolled into a casing. It is then potentially dried/cured for several months. It is not smoked like bacon.

Because it's not smoked, pancetta has a pure, savory flavor that's reminiscent of bacon but deeper and richer. You can enjoy pancetta raw, although it's usually cooked. Look for thinly-sliced pancetta and use it in place of prosciutto on a charcuterie platter.

Well one of the name brand “meat” staples in our household was McCormick's Bac'n Bits. But recently I found out that these bits of bacon flavor do not actually contain any meat at all.

A lardon, also spelled lardoon, is a small strip or cube of fatty bacon, or pork fat (usually subcutaneous fat), used in a wide variety of cuisines to flavor savory food and salads. In French cuisine, lardons are also used for larding, by threading them with a needle into meats that are to be braised or roasted.

A thin slice of bacon is known as a rasher; about 70% of bacon is sold as rashers. Heavily trimmed back cuts which consist of just the eye of meat, known as a medallion, are also available. All types may be unsmoked or smoked.

Not to be confused with those bright red imitation “bacon” bits, bacon crumbles are real pieces of smoky, rich meat that can be stirred into mac and cheese, sprinkled on a baked potato, mixed into quiche or scattered on pizza.

Turkey bacon can be used as a substitute for bacon where religious restrictions forbid the consumption of pork.

The bits are shelf stable as packed but need to be refrigerated after the foil pouch has been opened. Real bacon bits can be used in any food system where real bacon flavor is desired. Use it in salad toppings, gravies, quiche, potato toppings, pasta, bakery items, sauces, and soups.

How many slices is 2 lbs of bacon? ›

Bacon with a 9-12 slice count means that, on average, there are 10 slices of bacon per pound. A 14-18 slice count bacon would be thinner slices, averaging about 16 slices per pound. An 18-22 slice count bacon would be thinner still and average 20 slices per pound.

One piece of bacon equals about one ounce which equals about 1 heaping tablespoon of bacon bits.

Remember, a pound of bacon is only 12 ounces.

I promised you a sneaky way to make everything taste like bacon and it's really as easy as a sprinkle or a tsp. (about 6 calories) of Smoked Spanish Sweet Paprika.

Seaweed is a vegetable. It is a plant in the ocean. But one seaweed tastes like bacon! The red seaweed is called dulse.

However, turkey bacon is at least a better choice than the regular kind because it's a white meat, not a red meat, and is lower in calories and fat (turkey bacon has 4 g saturated fat per serving compared to pork bacon's 8 g).

According to U.S. News, soy products, mushrooms, eggplant, and coconut all have the same umami flavor that makes breakfast sausage and bacon taste so delicious — which is why they are excellent and cost-effective alternatives.