“Eggplant bacon.” The very words are enough to make me wrinkle up my nose in distaste. One, because I don’t agree with the basic concept of trying to make one food imitate another (I like veggie burgers as much as the next girl, but let’s be honest: they taste nothing like a beef burger), and two, because, well: eggplant is gross and bacon is BACON.
I wish I liked eggplant, I really do. Especially this year: it seems to be Eggplant Nirvana out there this growing season, and we have been getting 4 – 6 pounds of eggplant every week in the CSA. Big fat, sleekly purple teardrops, long, skinny Japanese eggplants, striped, pale purple & white ones: they only thing they seem to have in common is that they are all bigger than usual and they never. stop. coming. Although there are a couple of eggplant dishes that I like, including this baba ganoush, a la David Lebovitz, and this roasted tomato & eggplant soup from Martha, I’m not the biggest fan. It’s a combination of texture & the bitter flavor that hasn’t won me over, despite giving it the college try in a number of dishes over the years. And Tai hates eggplant almost as much as The Evil Weed: he’ll eat it, occasionally, but it can be like trying to cajole a 5 year-old to eat dinner (there’s a reason I don’t have kids).
Enter “eggplant bacon.” I was looking for shelf-stable ways to preserve this season’s ludicrous eggplant bounty, because having 20 lbs of chopped eggplant in the chest freezer that we are never going to eat didn’t seem like the best plan. And shelf-stable preserves, like antipasto and pickled eggplant, can be gifted to our eggplant-loving friends and I don’t have to suffer the guilt of tossing sad, brown eggplants onto the compost heap. But I’d already made two batches of each: I was looking for something a little different. I tossed myself on the mercy of the LK Facebook page, where several of you mentioned that you had dried eggplant successfully – mostly for use in winter recipes, to be sure, but at least one person mentioned marinating in ranch dressing prior to drying and eating as a snack (there are lots of good eggplant recipe & preserving ideas there, if you too are in Eggplantopia). So I decided to give eggplant bacon a try: not expecting anything remotely bacon-like, mind you, just thinking that adding the spicy, smoky, umami flavor of tamari, smoked paprika and cayenne to eggplant couldn’t be a bad thing. And? It wasn’t.
The drying solved a lot of my textural issues with eggplant: instead of being spongy or slimy, it was crisp, chewy; nothing remotely like bacon, but somewhere between dried apple and beef jerky. And the marinade definitely added spicy-smoky flavor: I can see where it could be a useful stand-in for the flavor of bacon in a vegetarian sandwich or wrap. But make no mistake: this still tastes like eggplant. Less gross eggplant, to be sure, because the flavor of the marinade comes through strongly: but I’m not sure “less gross” is a ringing recipe endorsement. However, if you like eggplant to begin with, you might well love this recipe: even I thought, when I tried it, “Hmm. It’s not so bad. I could maybe snack on this – if it didn’t taste quite so eggplant-y.” And I’m sure that one or more of my eggplant-loving friends will enjoy it. So, if you like eggplant, I say go for it: you’ll likely like this even more. But if you are looking for something to do with eggplant that doesn’t taste like eggplant, this isn’t it (I suggest the baba ganoush). If you are looking for something that tastes like bacon, well: I suggest bacon.
Adapted from Eggplant Bacon by Gena at Choosing Raw
Marinated Dried Eggplant
INGREDIENTS
- 1 and 1/2 lbs eggplant, rinsed, stem removed, and sliced to 1/4-inch in long strips
- 1/4 cup tamari (I use low-sodium)
- 1/4 cup vinegar (I used homemade peach skin vinegar)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup (or 2 tbsp maple syrup + 2 tbsp brown sugar or honey, if you run out of maple syrup)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp chili powder, BBQ rub, etc. (I used Southwest seasoning from Penzey’s)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt (omit if using regular-sodium tamari)
METHODS
- Arrange the eggplant in rows in a 9″ X 13″ baking dish. Combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl; whisk to mix well. Pour over eggplant slices, turning those on the bottom so that all pieces are well coated. Marinate at room temperature for about 1 hour, then shake off excess marinade and arrange on trays in a dehydrator, pieces not touching, and dehydrate at 140 degrees F for approximately 12 – 16 hours, or until the slices are crisp.
Yields 1 scant quart dried eggplant slices (about 2 lbs would fill a quart jar without squashing the slices).
OPTIONS
- The original recipe claims that, without a dehydrator, you can achieve the same thing by roasting in a 350 degree F oven for about 45 minutes; I’m skeptical of this claim, since I think it would take longer for eggplant to get truly crisp, and it seems unlikely that a short cooking time at high heat would dry the pieces out sufficiently for safe shelf storage. But you could try cooking for 4 – 8 hours in a low oven (as low as your oven will go), or try using the warming drawer.
- Obviously, marinade options are endless: this marinade did provide some of that salty-smoky-umami flavor that you may be looking for as a vegan option to bacon, but I think any thin marinade that you like will work.
STORE
In airtight containers, at cool room temperature for several months.
SEASON
Eggplantocalypse.
localkitchenblog.com 
Try removing the seeds of your eggplant before chopping it up for dishes like ratatouille and such – I was shocked… it wasn’t bitter! I scrape the seeds out with a spoon. You loose some flesh too obviously, but with so many… it’s alright.
I’ve heard to peel it, but not about the seeds. Perhaps I’ll give that a try – thanks!
Peel too, yes. I actually read it in a novel that had nothing to do with food. But I decided to try it and I’m glad I did.
I’m still a little bit on the fence about eggplant. It’s kind of like lamb for me: I think I TRY to like it more than I actually do. Aside from baba ganoush and the eggplant parm recipe in The Silver Palate Cookbook, it’s not impressed me. I’m willing to give eggplant facon (no, that’s not a typo) a try.
I have the Silver Palate cookbook- maybe I’ll give the parm a try with this week’s inevitable 5 lbs…
Kaela, I just wished I lived closer to you. I love eggplant and since I didn’t do a CSA this year, my kitchen has been something of an eggplant-free zone of late (I haven’t been getting to farmers markets as much as I would like to).
Well, you *have* been a little busy. 🙂 But know this: there will be antipasto and your pickled eggplant waiting for you next time you visit!
I am really intrigued by this! I’m also an eggplant hater: I want to like them, but they’re just so…squishy. Thankfully, I don’t have a CSA loading me up or a garden full of them (I don’t plant them because I don’t like them, benefit of being an adult) but I just may now buy one!
I REALLY think you should just come down here and take some of mine instead. 🙂
Bravo! I really don’t like eggplant either. The only way I can stand it is my husband’s Italian family’s method of paper-thin slicing, air-drying and then breading and frying and making into Eggplant Parmesan. Mind you, the only reason I like that terribly unhealthy dish is that it no longer resembles eggplant. Oh, yeah, and in some Japanese dishes with miso (that taste good in restaurants but not so great when I’ve tried at home). This sounds like an interesting idea.
I love eggplant and can’t wait to try this – not as fake bacon but as a great looking eggplant dish!
I LOVE eggplant but… I find I have to “sweat” the eggplant first or it will be spongy. I usually sprinkle a nice coating of salt on both sides, then let it sit for about 30 minutes or so on paper towels. Then rinse off the sat and squeeze the eggplant out like a sponge. It changes the texture completely.
I am so impressed! This is a wonderful “plan” and I wouldn’t have even thought to consider it. I love eggplant and this knocks my socks off! Debra
Sorry to hear you didn’t like it. You must be very sensitive to the eggplant taste because I didn’t find mine that eggplanty at all. I did find themarinade more flavourful than the actual eggplant. I ended up using mine in a delicious BLT COrn Pinto Bean Salad if you need any inspiration for using yours up: http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/blt-corn-pinto-bean-salad-with-raw-eggplant-bacon/
I love eggplant, but I know the bitterness issue. “They say” that larger eggplants have more seeds, and it’s the seeds that cause the bitterness (which is what another commenter said). I’ve always heard to salt. I usually salt, and I think it improves the texture as well–it becomes creamy rather than spongy. But with all that I’ve heard about the size (and smaller being better) I got some tiny eggplants that looked like mini habanero peppers from the farmer’s market, a Brazilian variety. They were the most awfully bitter things I had ever tasted. I was trying to convince my son that eggplants were yummy and it backfired royally. My CSA is offering crates of extra veggies like eggplant–I thought of you! (I love eggplant, but no way do I know what to do with 20lb at one go).
I call it ughplant. I almost made a sport out of trying different ways to like it. I was intrigued by the idea of making eggplant bacon. But, I think I am just going to start hoarding real bacon — there’s a shortage out there, you know.
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Small eggplants have smaller undeveloped seeds.. I dice it and dehydrate it.. Add it to meatloaf and it seems to disappear when baked. I like it that way.. good luck y’all.
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I also hate eggplant. I hate most vegetables, honestly. This makes me the worst vegetarian in the world, I must admit.
What I end up doing for veggies I don’t like, but know I should eat, is dehydrate them (sliced very thinly) and then grind them to a powder. I use my husband’s nutrablender thing, but a coffee grinder would work really well also. I’ll add powdered veggies to my baked goods, most other dishes, and even my smoothies. I make my own super green powder for smoothies as well. Saves a lot of money. Maybe consider eggplant powder the next time you have a surplus 🙂
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If you skin the eggplant and soak it overnight submerged in salt water, it removes the bitterness. Its what I do when I make my eggplant parm
Forgot to mention you need to slice it up, dont just emerge the entire skinned eggplant into salt water
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Eggplant chicken breast parm.
I don’t skin or seed slice thin add oil seasoning and ground up oats as breading.
Do this to the Chicken breast too. Air dry them then assemble sauce eggplant mozzarella cheese chicken eggplant parm. Bake to hear through. Oh cool good.
Oops Air fry not sure dry,,,,but I do like to dehydrated them and also zucchini when making lagzana due to all the water.