The best vegetarian and vegan bacon you can buy in the UK (top 5 options)
Recreating the taste and texture of bacon seems to be the trickiest challenge facing vegan and vegetarian food brands - there are plenty of great vegan chicken alternatives, lots of great veggie sausages, and even veggie mince is mostly good, but for some reason, a veggie bacon alternative seems like a tricky product to nail. In our opinion, no brand has really managed to nail the flavour or the texture of the real thing.
That said, there are some good veggie bacon options out there which, although not perfect, do a pretty good job of recreating the tastiness of real bacon. We wanted to highlight them for any vegetarians or vegans who are really missing the taste of bacon, let's get into the list of the best veggie bacon options:
THIS Isn't Bacon Rashers
We've raved about the THIS isn't chicken previously, and although their take on bacon isn't quite as good as their chicken, it's still probably the best veggie bacon we've found. The texture is actually really good, but it's the flavour that impressed us the most - it doesn't have that artificial taste that most of the other vegan and vegetarian bacon options we've found seem to have. If you're looking for the ideal veggie bacon to add to your breakfast then we think this is your best option. You can actually buy it in bulk from Amazon here - amazon.co.uk
SGAIA smoky rashers
SGAIA is a Scottish brand which is creating quite a stir in the world of vegan and vegetarian meat alternatives. Their smoky flavour rashes are an awesome alternative to bacon - we had them torn up and mixed with pasta which worked really well. If the rest of the SGAIA range tastes as good as their take on bacon, this brand is definitely going places. Check them out here - sgaiafoods.co.uk
Quorn bacon
Quorn pops up in just about every list of the best vegetarian products we have on our website, so regular readers won't be surprised to see the brand included in this list too. We'll admit that their bacon is far from the best product in their range, and doesn't really work as an alternative for the really crispy bacon that some people like. But if you're the sort of person who likes their bacon a bit softer and maybe in a roll, then the Quorn bacon is ideal for you.
Richmond meat-free bacon
The first thing you'll probably notice about the Richmond meat-free streaky bacon rashers is that they really look like the real thing - more so than any other product we've included in this list. This is actually a really big deal, especially if you're trying to convince someone who rarely eats meat-free alternatives to give this a try. The taste is pretty good and the texture is nice too.
Vivera plant bacon
Vivera is a brand that we really like, especially their plant shwarma kebab which is great for making Gyros. Their plant bacon isn't quite as good as that product, but it is certainly still worth trying. You can probably see from the image that the size of these bacon bits is probably better suited for mixing in salads and pasta sauces rather than putting on toast with eggs, but it's still a pretty versatile product. The taste is also great - smokey but not too much.
Final thoughts
Bacon is often the one food that vegetarians and vegans have the hardest time giving up, so it's nice to know that there are quite a few veggie alternatives out there which actually taste quite good. Let us know your favourite in the comments!
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.