Pork bacon is smoky, salty, rich, sweet and oh, so satisfying. Did “good for you” make it onto that list? No.
Recipes for carrot bacon in plant-based food blogs and cookbooks made me decide to give it a try. I bought sweet, fresh from the field carrots from Aluma Farm, just off the Westside Beltline, and got to work.
I tried a half-dozen recipes starting off with carrots sliced on the mandoline. Turned out they were too thick and never developed the crunch I was looking for. I turned to a Y-peeler, a $1.99 tool available at most grocery stores. By laying the carrot flat on a work surface and holding the thin (root end), then pressing firmly with the Y-peeler, I got perfect slices maybe 1/16-inch thick.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
I experimented with seasoning mixes. In the end, I settled on two mixtures: one for farm fresh carrots and one that worked well on storage carrots, the ones that have been in your vegetable bin for weeks.
It was fun to watch them bake in the oven and see these thin strips curl and twist just like pork bacon. And then finally to use those carrot bacon strips in a BLT and on avocado toast.
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Credit: C. W. Cameron
Spice Mixture #1
Use this mixture if your carrots are farm fresh and very sweet.
Spice Mixture #2
Use this mixture if you are working with storage carrots.
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