Vegan Air Fryer Bacon is one of my new favorite air fryer recipes. This air fryer bacon is easy and quick to make with minimal clean up. Vegetarians are rejoicing for this vegan bacon!
Vegan Bacon Lovers, get ready to be excited! Today I am talking about Air Fryer Bacon, but not just any kind, we are talking about vegan bacon in the air fryer.
If you are looking the air fryer, like I do, you need to also check out our air fryer brussel sprouts and our air fryer corn on the cob.
Back when I used to eat meat, I did eat bacon. Now that we've been vegetarian for a couple of decades, we are eating vegan bacon now! Since I cook literally everything in the air fryer, I thought why not make vegan air fryer bacon?
While we are using the name bacon, there is actually no animal product in this vegan version. We are making our air fryer bacon using tempeh.
What Is Tempeh?
Tempeh is actually a vegan protein that is made from soy and other foods. Tempeh has a different taste and texture than its counterpart, tofu. Yet, tofu is a bit more popular.
I suppose we may need to try some tofu air fryer bacon in the near future too! But today let's stick with tempeh as I teach you how to cook vegan air fryer bacon. I feel like tempeh has a little but if a nutty flavor. It also works like tofu does and it abosrbs the flavors you cook it with.
Air Fryer Bacon Tools
An air fryer is a must for this bacon. I would suggest a Cosori Air Fryer if you are in the market to purchase one!
How to make Vegan Air Fryer Bacon
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Whisk together your oil, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and cayenne pepper.
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Gently slice the tempeh block into ¼ inch strips.
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Place the liquids in a shallow bowl. Put tempeh strips into bowl to marinate. Let sit for 10 minutes. Flip tempeh strips and marinate again for 10 minutes.
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Place tempeh strips into air fryer basket. (Do not crowd) Cook at 320 degrees F for 8 minutes. Flip over tempeh strips after 4 minutes.
Why make vegan bacon in the air fryer?
You can easily make this recipe in a skillet on your stove top. But, I feel that the clean up is a lot. I love how quickly and evenly the air fryer cooks the vegan bacon. I love the clean up because I can pop the air fryer pieces into the dishwasher!
Vegan Air Fryer Bacon Tips
- Marinating your air fryer bacon is key! Since we are using tempeh, we need it to marinate to soak up those delicious flavors. Do not skip this step.
- Do not over crowd your basket. Give each slice space.
- After you air fryer your first batch, be sure to clean out the outer basket to help prevent any smoke coming from your air fryer.
- You can also put a little bit of water in the outer basket to prevent smoking.
- When making this recipe, use a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of your air fryer basket for easy clean up.
- You can double batch this recipe as it keeps well. This recipe works great to make vegan BLT’s. You can also crumble this air fryer bacon on top of baked potatoes or soup.
What is the correct temperature to air fry vegan bacon?
I used my Cosori Air Fryer for this recipe. I air fried the bacon at 320 degrees F in my air fryer. Typically, I do not and I did not preheat my air fryer.
How long do you cook this in the air fryer?
I personally found that air fryers do vary some with temperatures, just like ovens do. So you might have to tweak each air fryer recipe a little bit. For this vegan air fryer bacon, I cooked it for 8 minutes total. I cooked one side of the bacon for 4 minutes then flip and continue to cook the air fryer bacon until 8 minutes total has passed.
More Air Fryer Recipes
- Air Fryer Sweet Potato Hash
- Air Fryer Spaghetti Squash
- The World's Easiest Air Fryer Fried Pickles
- Air Fryer Baked Potatoes
- How to make Air Fryer Grilled Cheese
- Air Fryer French Toast
- Air Fryer Risotto Balls
- Keto Air Fryer Recipes
If you are interested in a Cosori Air Fryer, check out my review on Cosori Air Fryers! We share pros and cons!
Vegan Air Fryer Bacon Serving Suggestions:
If you are wanting to make a BLT with this Tempeh Bacon and can have eggs, I suggest you whip up a batch of this 5 Minute No-Fail Whole30 Mayo to top off your BLTs! If you love air fryer recipes, you need to check out our new site called AirFryerEats.com It has a variety of yummy and delicious air fryer recipes. The site features vegetarian, meat, gluten and gluten free items. You might want to check out: Air Fryer Hotdogs, Air Fryer Hamburgers, Air Fryer Cooking Times cheat sheet, Air Fryer Zucchini Chips and Air Fryer Tater Tots.
If you are interested in a traditional air fryer bacon recipe, see this one for Ninja Foodi Bacon.
Pin this air fryer bacon recipe for later:
Vegetarian Air Fryer Resources – We have a vegetarian air fryer newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. We also have a specific vegetarian air fryer recipes group on facebook. You can find that Veg Air Fryer FB Group here.
If you are looking for vegetarian recipes beyond air fryer ones, we have a Vegetarian Newsletter as well as a Vegetarian Recipes facebook group. This newsletter and FB group offers up recipes that on the stove, in the oven, on the grill, in the instant pot and more!
Other Resources:
- Air Fryer Calculator (convert oven recipes to air fryer)
- Common Air Fryer Mistakes
- Air Fryer Cooking Times Cheat Sheet
- Can You Put Foil in the Air Fryer
- How to Clean Your Air Fryer
- Tips for Your Air Fryer
- Cosori Air Fryer Reviews
More Air Fryer Goodies:
- Meat + Veg Newsletter
- Air Fryer Recipes – Facebook Group (large + fast paced – meat/veg)
- Air Fryer Recipes for Seniors – Facebook Group
- Gluten Free Air Fryer Recipes – Facebook Group
- Air Fryer Eats – Facebook Group (slower paced)
Let's make this vegan air fryer bacon:
Vegan Air Fryer Bacon
Ingredients
- ½ c Oil (olive oil or avocado oil)
- ½ c Maple syrup
- 1 T Worcestershire Sauce (Vegan and Gluten Free)
- 1 T Liquid Smoke
- ½ t Cayenne pepper
- 16 oz Tempeh cut into ¼ inch thick strips
Instructions
- Whisk together your oil, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke and cayenne pepper.
- Gently slice the tempeh block into ¼ inch strips.
- Place the liquids in a shallow bowl. Put tempeh strips into bowl to marinate. Let sit for 10 minutes. Flip tempeh strips and marinate again for 10 minutes.
- Place tempeh strips into air fryer basket. (Do not crowd) Cook at 320 degrees F for 8 minutes. Flip over tempeh strips after 4 minutes.
Notes
- If you want crispy vegan bacon strips cook for 10-12 minutes.
- If the tempeh bacon sticks to the air fryer basket, that is okay. If it really bothers you, you can spritz with some spray oil.
- Marinating your air fryer bacon is key! Since we are using tempeh for this vegan bacon, we need it to marinate to soak up those delicious flavors. Do not skip this step.
- Do not over crowd your basket with this vegan bacon. Give each vegan bacon slice space.
- After you air fryer your first batch of vegan bacon, be sure to clean out the outer basket to help prevent any smoke coming from your air fryer.
- You can also put a little bit of water in the outer basket to prevent smoking.
- When making air fryer bacon, use a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of your air fryer basket for easy clean up.
- You can double batch this recipe as it keeps well. This vegan bacon works great to make vegan BLT’s. You can also crumble this air fryer bacon on top of baked potatoes or soup.
Nutrition
Let’s talk! Have you had vegan bacon before? There are a few ways to make it, I’d love to know how you made yours! How about the air fryer! After today, you’ll be a vegan air fryer bacon expert! ha!
I love this use for tempeh, looks delicious! I'm new to an air fryer so this will be a fun recipe to try this next week. Thanks for sharing.
You are so welcome, I hope that you enjoy this air fryer bacon!
Ok...this I have never tried. I am a true bacon lover. This does, however, have me intrigued. My son-in-law refuses to eat bacon. I will give this a try and see if he likes it.
You will have to see if he'll eat this vegan bacon!
My hubs will love this. I must make him asap. Love the flavors and how crispy these looks. Delicious!
Thank you so much! I hope that he enjoys the vegan bacon!
I cannot believe this is VEGAN!! Wow, that is awesome. I love the tasty sound of it but so different from regular bacon. Using the air fryer for this is genius.
Thank you so much! Yes, we love our air fryer and it makes delicious air fryer bacon!
I have been meaning to try Vegan Bacon. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Hoping to make it tomorrow. Looks delicious
Thank you for stopping by, I hope that you enjoy the vegan bacon!
Way to sweet! Missing Soy Sauce and should have just put in a little maple syrup.
Hi Chuck, thanks for coming back and letting us know. Hopefully it provided a base recipe that you can adjust to your tastes (less sweet and adding in some soy sauce). Hope you have a great weekend!