Vegan Bacon Kale Salad with Miso Dressing Recipe

Vegan Bacon

Kale Salad

Vegan bacon is the dream topping. And not just with Vegan diners, but with Kosher-Keepers, and everyone in between. You will enjoy it for no other reason than that it is fantastic and super healthy.

Verboten no more!

But that’s not all:

I am giving you TWO Vegan Bacon Recipes:

One with Mushrooms, and one with Coconut!

Mushroom bacon is ready instantly, but it is somewhat expensive, as the mushrooms shrink to a tiny but potent handful in the searing process.

mushroom bacon

Coconut bacon, on the other hand, needs no maintenance, and cooks low and slow. It yields a nice big temperature-stable batch, enough for a few recipes. I got my inspiration from Hannah Kaminsky, a great vegan cook and cookbook author, and a dear friend.

coconut bacon

So many exciting things you can use vegan bacon on:

Omelets, soups, salads, avocado toast, to name just a few.

Here I am giving you one of my favorite ways to use vegan bacon: In a kale salad. No problem using your favorite greens (watercress, Swiss chard, raddichio etc)

And to make this salad totally glorious, I have included one of my favorite salad dressings, a nutritional powerhouse:

Miso Ginger Dressing!

Enough said. Just scroll down!

Play with the salad ingredients!

See Suggestions in the recipe.

Ingredients

1. Mushroom Bacon

3 tablespoons olive oil
6 large portobello caps, sliced (if king oyster mushrooms are affordable on marketing day, use them, and slice them lengthwise)
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce

2. Coconut Bacon
4 cups coconut shavings (health food stores)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Miso Ginger Dressing

2 tablespoons miso paste, dark or light
1/4 cup warm water
1 inch piece ginger
4-5 sprigs cilantro, tough stems removed (don't like cilantro? simply skip it)
1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice or cider vinegar
1-2 tablespoons bottled hot sauce
1 tablespoon matcha tea powder (health food stores)

Salad Greens

The ingredients listed below are just a suggestion. You can lots of interesting kale salad combos that will go beautifully with either vegan bacon and the miso dressing. Here’s one more suggested combo (see picture) for you to play it. The kale leaves chopped small, diced roasted beets and sweet potatoes, diced orange, minced shallot, roasted chopped cashews or other nut or seeds

1 bunch kale, all ribs removed all the way up (use them in a soup or in a veggie burger) leaves torn in smaller pieces
1 rib celery, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 small head fennel, sliced very thin (or 1/2 apple, diced small)
4 large radishes, halved and sliced thin
1 avocado, diced
1 cup diced roasted pumpkin or beets
4 scallions, sliced very thin
1/3 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

Instructions

1. Mushroom bacon:

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet until very hot, add the mushrooms and saute on a very high flame, until very crisp. Quickly stir in the liquid smoke, maple syrup and soy sauce, just a few seconds more, until all liquids evaporate.

2. Coconut Bacon

Preheat the oven to 200*F.
Combine all ingredients, and arrange in one layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.
Bake 1 hour. Leave in the oven to dry and crisp completely, a couple more hours, or even overnight. Store in a glass jar in a cool dry place. Makes 4 cups. 1/2 cup is enough in a big salad.

Dressing:

Put all dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth.

Salad:

Arrange all salad greens in a salad platter. top with your choice of vegan bacon. Pour the dressing over the salad.

Serving Size: 8 servings