I’m going to be honest here, bacon has never been a big deal in my life, so giving it up for my health wasn’t even a sacrifice I had to make. But when I saw Julie Ann over at The Reduction Project blogging about Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Eggplant Bacon from her cookbook Appetite for Reduction, I can’t lie, I was intrigued. And I happen to have a lot of leftover eggplant from my Baked Eggplant Fries test. Plus I already own a bottle of Liquid Smoke, which I was sure was the secret ingredient!
I was right. This preparation is very simple and involves only eggplant, low sodium soy sauce or tamari, and liquid smoke.
Lucky for us, someone was kind enough to submit the Eggplant Bacon recipe to Spark People. I’m not sure if Isa would be too happy about that, but there it is. Because I had one pound of eggplant strips already cut up for the eggplant fries, I didn’t follow Isa’s eggplant cutting method, but all was good and it worked just fine.
With leftover Sweet Potato Enchiladas, leftover Cabbage, Jicama and Cucumber Slaw served over romaine lettuce and topped with avocado, the Eggplant Bacon was perfect. Thanks for bringing this deliciousness to our attention Julie Ann!
I've heard of Tempeh Bacon, but never eggplant – great idea! Being in season, eggplant is all over my farmer's market right now. Love it!
I make Alissa Cohen's version from "Raw Food For Everyone" and I make mine in the dehydrator. I also add some date syrup for sweetness and some crushed red pepper for heat.
How does the spark calorie count work? There are so many dressings out there with no calorie content and I want to be sure that the healthy dressings are really healthy!
Thanks, Wendy! My kids especially love the eggplant bacon, even though they don't normally love eggplant like I do. Your salad looks delicious!
I just bought three eggplants today and was thinking about making this, but I don't have Liquid Smoke (not something I can buy here either) and was wondering if it would work without???
Amy-if you make it without the Liquid Smoke, I am sure that it will taste good, it just won't have a smokey flavor. But who can go wrong with eggplant and soy sauce?
Amy, I'm with Wendy – it won't be "smoky," but it will still be good. In fact, my husband did this the other day and we put the eggplant in a salad, and it was delicious!
I think I need to try this one! Wow!
I was never a big bacon eater either (too fatty!) but this looks amazing! Gotta get me some liquid smoke, I'm assuming it's carcinogen free? 🙂
Okay, thanks! I might just give it a try this weekend.
BTW, I hope it's okay that I linked to your post with the outline of the E2L program on my blog?
Amy-that's not just okay, that's great!