Got some mushrooms to play with? This one’s been on my list for years. Actually went so far as to buy the mushrooms once, but didn’t follow through.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/02/crispy-smoked-mushroom-bacon-bits-vegan-recipe.html

That reminds me of when I tired describing my kale chips to a forum friend. I said that they eat like potato chips, as in crunchy, tasty, and enough salt to just eat one after the other. She made them and said they were nothing like potato chips. Which I agreed to wholeheartedly. In substance, you can't compare a dried out kale leaf to a slice of potato. But for snacking, they eat like potato chips. And for something to munch on, a tiny drop of oil, leaf, S&P might not be actually nutritious, but it's not a mass of greasy carbs either (I eat potato chips for non-sweet carb snack when I'm looking for carbs).

So, the next question about your carrots is if they're tasty crumbled in a salad or on a sandwich. Maybe in that way they could be considered a bacon substitute, rather than a just a cured flavor carrot. :)

Pillog's suggestions for alternate uses sound good.

There is so much desire for ersatz because of special dietary needs and wishes that they'll name something almost as click bait.

High end restaurants sometimes name foods in unexpected ways. I saw "braised blueberries" and was intrigued. A little Google search made me decide it's pretty much just blueberry compote.

Similar to the kale chips was the oven dried salmon skin dog snack I made. I blanched the skin to lose a little of the fat and then dried it at very low heat for a long time. The dogs love it but they are not choosy. It is greasy enough that it must be refrigrtated.

ROTFL!! OMG, braised blueberries! Probably a good selling strategy because braising is in and compote is something from the 19th century to some people (though chefs on TV say the word all the time).

Lucky pups that you make them such treats. :)

It does look a lot like bacon! I can't imagine why it wouldn't have the same taste and texture. lol!

Braised blueberries -- that's code for 'these blueberries are looking pretty ratty so let's cook them a little to disguise it'. :O)

LOL!!! I.e., "compote". :D

I've made Rice Paper Bacon. It really wasn't too bad. Crispy, tasty, but not thick enough to be substitute but as the recipe said, doubled was OK. I hate that DH has alpha-gal. I miss smokey thick greasy bacon right off the real hog.

Rice Paper Bacon

Liquid smoke - ugh!

There is a funny video of someone making chick pea liquid into ‘whipped cream’. At the end of a rather laborious process she says rather politely that she had no idea why anyone would do that...

I rather like oily salty carrot chips - carrot bacon seems like it would fill a similar role. Mostly though I like carrots as carrots. My dog rates them up near tennis balls in his pantheon of favorite things. So I generally have them around and chop one up daily to split with him.

so, you're saying ... bacon is good for my eyesight?

lol

FOAS, that's the problem, I used the wrong carrots!! (snicker)

No, I didn't really expect them to taste like bacon, but I'm a skeptic, which is why I had Elery test them. The person who first posted the video swore they were like bacon, she used them for BLTs. Um....nope, I can't see that working well. They would be OK crumbled over salad but I think they would get flabby pretty quickly. They stayed crisp on the counter for about 2 hours, then started getting a lot softer, so they could be made in advance, if a person was inclined. I could see the kids liking them, they are sweet/spicy/crunchy and, as Elery said, taste a lot like BBQ potato chips, but without any fat or salt.

Bragu, I think bacon would be very good for your eyesight, and so would this stuff, LOL.

plllog, I tried the kale chips too. I like kale, it should be good. Um, no, I really just can't, there's something about them that just isn't right, LOL. However, I crumble them up and put them in meatballs and no one notices, so that's probably good, right?

nancyofnc, I can't even imagine the problems with alpha-gal. (sigh) The real irony of this is that I don't really even like bacon. Yeah, I know, it's heresy, bacon is food of the gods according to my grandkids, but a couple of years ago I just completely lost my taste for it. Ham too, I don't know what that's all about.

Seagrass, I agree about the liquid smoke, but I couldn't figure out how to give it a "smoky" flavor without it. As I said, it tastes like a BBQ chip, so definitely fake, but the texture is actually pretty good, nicely crunchy.

Annie

LOL I just watched a YT video last night of Chef John (Food Wishes) making eggplant 'bacon', pretty much same prep as the carrot bacon, except he baked them in the oven. The carrots look a bit more like bacon than the eggplant strips did. lol

My mother used to say that soggy boiled summer squash tasted like nuts....nope!!
And I won't be making carrot bacon....too much work for something that isn't very good....if you want bacon, cook some up....if you want a fat free snack, eat carrots, or celery.

Annie, what kind of kale did you try for chips? The only kind i like is curly. They turn into crispy air. As opposed to dino kale which gets sad and leathery and rehydrates in your mouth.

Re liquid smoke, it really is smoke. It's not fake. They capture the smoke in a still-like contraption where it condenses ,presumably with ambient moisture, and rolls down the tube into the bottle (or vat which goes to fill the bottle). You can make your own. Whether or not it tastes good is up to you, but it's real. :)

I made a batch of veg chips last week. Golden beet, radish, curly kale. I did one potato and half a sweet potato. Long gone so need to make another batch session.

The oven is definitely the way to go.

I have lots of carrots but forgot how much I like them as chips. I will try tamari.

I agree liquid smoke is fine. I don't stock it and never have but seems a good use for it.

I have made the rice paper bacon and it IS really good. Fussy but worth it if you need that bacon flavor in your life. I never got really good at it. Just made some for a friend.

plllog, I grew some Red Russian kale, and it was so mild that I could actually eat it raw and enjoy it, instead of just chomping through it and swallowing hard. It dried, but wasn't crumbly/crunchy, although I could crumble it into smallish pieces for the meatloaf. I did try giving it a "whiz" in the food processor, hoping for kale powder, but it didn't get there. I dried the next batch even longer, and made sure I took out all the ribs, but it still just wasn't right, there was a residual "chew" to the texture.

The only problem with liquid smoke is that it just tastes too "smoky", not like actual smoked food, but more like chimney sweepings. And it does give the carrots that "fake" BBQ chip flavor. Does the stuff ever spoil? My bottle is pretty old and it's still 3/4 full...

But, LindaC, it IS actually pretty good, especially for someone like Elery who craves those BBQ potato chips. Doing a few strips in the air fryer is tedious and time consuming and clean up is terrible, but doing a sheet pan full in the oven wouldn't be problematic at all. I also noticed that they got a little spicier as they sat and cooled, which Elery also liked. I think I could make them a LOT hotter and he'd be very happy.

I'll do it again, maybe when the kids are here.

Annie

Years ago a restaurant that I worked in received a bottle of liquid smoke that was purchased as and labeled as vanilla. One ruined dessert but not a huge problem. When we reported to the mfr they apologized and said that the folks at Bills BBQ had beenreal unhappy because they'd had the inverse problem. That was a bunch of bad BBQ.

Ohhh, I have to try these. I don't like liquid smoke though. I might have to break down and buy a bottle just for this recipe. If I leave it out I wonder what spices I could use to sub. Maybe they'll taste like "All-dressed" chips or something.

I looooove chips. I'll have to make a batch as I want them though. I wonder if a quick heat up in the counter-top oven will restore the crispness.

I haven't seen this on FB or anywhere. I'll have to noodle. Unless you want to post the recipe, Annie?

Annie, thank you for showing your carrot bacon.... They look like a really good snack, but if as you said, they don't stay crisp after a while, I probably won't bother unless it's an afternoon snack, when I'm not tired and have time. So again, thanks for updating on the longevity, or lack of. Any crispy vegetable always tastes good to me. Crispy kale is very nice, and I love crispy sage as a garnish that actually tastes good.

I agree about the liquid smoke, Annie. I have a bottle around that I bought for something, but it didn't appeal. Nice to know about the chips though, in case I get super bored. Think I'd rather just have roasted carrots, could eat them all the time.

2Many reminds me of when I tried to fry sage like they do on TV. It tasted burnt even if it wasn't burnt. Ugh! Ovened like the kale would be better. I have lots of sage growing, some of it even purple. :D (Yes, I know that The Purple Sage is brush, not herbs.)

Re the liquid smoke in the chips, the problem may be distribution. Maybe mix it into the oil thoroughly, so it gets all through, like real smoke? You only need a drop or two. It's very concentrated. I don't think it could go bad, being just combustion residue. It could condense from evaporation, or lose flavor from oxidation.

So, kale chips. You need thin kale if you aren't going to get Annie's results of the never dried. I don't know what kind of kale it is that we get in the grocery store here. There's curly, red curly and dino...then others come in randomly. I usually use red curly, which tastes best, but green also works. Remove the big spines and use herb shears or similar to cut into 1.5" approx. pieces, each having at least a little curl edge. Make a pile on parchment on a baking sheet, and drizzle with thin (low viscosity) oil. I use Extra Lite Olive. The temperature is low enough for EVOO, but it's too viscous. Safflower would be fine. I don't like Canola, but it's probably fine too.

After drizzling the oil, sprinkle the mound with fine salt (table salt or finely ground) and fine grind pepper. Fluff up by reaching your fingers underneath to mix and toss. Repeat the drizzle and season. Spread out so that the pieces aren't on top of each other. Some overlap is fine, but try for a single layer. Bake at 240° F for 20 minutes. Use tongs to turn over as much at once as you can. Don't fiddle too much at getting each piece. The point is more about releasing the steam from underneath than "doing the other side". Bake another 20 minutes until very wispy and crunchy. When cool, store in an air tight container. They will absorb ambient moisture and go soggy, so don't even try when it's very humid.

Plllog, there is no oil in the carrot bacon, and I did mix the maple syrup, liquid smoke and dried spices well with a small whisk, then mixed it a couple more times when the carrots were marinating, stirring them around to get them covered with the seasonings.

Jasdip, here's the recipe:

Carrot Bacon

Peel two large carrots, then cut them into ribbons with your peeler. Mix:

2 tbls maple syrup
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Marinate the carrot strips in the mixture for 5 minutes or so while your oven is preheating. Spread the carrots in a single layer on a rack with a baking sheet under it. It's kind of sticky, so a sheet of foil under the rack would make clean up a lot easier. Bake at 400F for 15 or 20 minutes (or for 5-7 minutes in the air fryer at 400F), depending on how crunchy you want your "bacon" to be. It does get crunchier as it cools, so if it's kind of "floppy" when it comes out of the oven, it'll crisp up and stay crisp for a couple of hours. It needs to get brown, but not charred.

I'll be excited to see how you like it, Jasdip!

Annie

Well, there's the problem! I bet they'd taste a lot more like bacon if they had a little oil!

I keep liquid smoke on hand because I put it in canned beans, with molasses, brown sugar, and bourbon - not my standard beans, but works when I'm in a rush/last minute. I add the tiniest bit, and occasionally I add it to burger meat - again, a quick dash. 1/2 teaspoon seems like quite lot to me - and for that small amount of carrot. Perhaps that's the problem? The rest of the ingredients look fine, and I think I'd like to make these some time!

When I fry sage, I typically do it in a skillet with enough oil to also fry pounded chicken cutlets. I The chicken and sage go in at the same time and the sage gives a lovely flavor to the chicken. Once it turns dark, but isn't crisp I take it out and place it on paper towels - it turns crisp after a minute. Otherwise, yes, it gets too done. Whether baked, or added to oil and fried, it still carries an intense flavor of sage, which I love.