The 4 Best Plant-Based Bacons for a Meat-Free Breakfast

My parents don’t eat meat, so I’m very familiar with plant-based bacon. I grew up on it! I remember the first time I ever saw vegan bacon in the store. It was the green Morningstar Farms box sitting in the freezer section at Publix. My mom snatched it up to make VBLTs, and things were never the same after that. We were a vegan bacon family.

Plant-based bacons have come a long way since then. There are so many new varieties and even different flavors. I mean it when I say it was a real treat to taste all these plant-based bacons so you (and I) can start buying the best vegan breakfast meat out there!

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Best of the Best

Ozo Spicy Jalapeño Plant-Based Bacon

Walmart

Instacart

This plant-based bacon is the Impossible burger of vegan bacons. I didn’t know you could make a meatless bacon that’s this close to real bacon. Like real bacon, you can cook it to varying degrees of crispiness, which I think is so cool. I like my bacon as crispy as a middle schooler’s hair circa 2005 (we really loved hair gel), while others may like their bacon a little floppier. This bacon gives you options! Also, the flavor is spot-on—it tastes so much like real bacon. My favorite part is that it’s flexible before it’s cooked, unlike many plant-based bacons, so it can be used for jalapeno poppers! Personally, I’ve always wanted to be able to eat bacon-wrapped jalapenos filled with cream cheese, and Ozo Plant-Based Bacon makes that a possibility for me.

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best for BLTs

Morningstar Farms Veggie Breakfast Bacon Strips

Target

Instacart

I grew up eating Morningstar Farms Veggie Breakfast Bacon Strips and always thought they were delicious. My mom whipped up VBLTs all summer long with these and that sandwich was one of the things I looked forward to the most during the summer months. Before this taste test, however, I was fully prepared for this product to suck. I know sometimes nostalgia primes us to like things that are not actually good. But I was thrilled to find out that it is actually delicious! Even the meat eaters in the office loved it. It’s really crispy, a little smoky, and pleasantly salty. I also totally stand by the fact that this is A+ on a BLT (shout out to my mom).

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Target

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best for Breakfast

Ozo Applewood Smoked Plant-Based Bacon

Walmart

Instacart

This is another incredible offering from Ozo. Their Applewood Smoked Plant-Based Bacon has all the great texture of the jalapeno bacon with an added maple flavor that makes it perfect for breakfast. It’s a little sweet and super smoky. I made a biscuit breakfast sandwich with this, a runny egg, and melted American cheese, and, wow, it was delicious. Don’t get me wrong, though—this doesn’t have to stay confined to mornings. I also made a broccoli salad and crumbled this facon into it for a wonderfully vegetarian version of a porky southern classic.

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best for Breakfast Burritos

Sweet Earth Hickory & Sage Benevolent Bacon

Instacart

Let me preface this by saying that this does not taste like bacon—like, at all. It actually tastes like soyrizo, the tofu-based vegan version of chorizo. If you can ignore the fact that this “bacon” is less like vegan bacon and more like spicy, smoky seitan strips, I think you’ll really like it! It’s jam-packed with flavor, and the Mexican flavor profile of chipotle and cumin would be perfection in a breakfast burrito.

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Other Products We Tried:
Be Leaf, Hooray Foods, Upton’s, Lightlife

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