6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (2024)

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (1)

There's a time (brunch) and a place (your favorite greasy spoon) for bacon. And despite all the recent hullabaloo, a couple of scrumptious strips here or there really isn't going to kill you.

Still, the fact that it's OK to eat fatty cured pork once in a while isn't license to start adding it to everything you eat.And that's not so bad, really, because there are tons of other, healthier ways to imbue your food with the same smoky, meaty flavor. These six totally do-able tricks are proof.

1. Liquid smoke
The potent liquid is made from distilled hickory or mesquite smoke—and you only need a drop or two to add instant depth to meatless chilis, marinades, and homemade vegetable "bacon" strips (more on those below). Try Lazy Kettle All-Natural Liquid Smoke, and steer clear of brands that contain caramel coloring, soy, or preservatives. (Here are 10 food additives you should absolutely never eat.)

2. Smoked paprika

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (2)

Plain paprika has almost no flavor. But the smoked stuff—which is rich, earthy, and delicious—is a totally different story. It's traditionally used in Spanish dishes like chorizo and paella, but it makes almost anything taste better. Try adding a few teaspoons to veggie burger mixes, roasted vegetables, homemade aioli, or even scrambled eggs.

MORE: The Sketchy New Ingredient in Your Bacon (And How to Avoid It)

3. Veggie bacon

No, we're not talking about the weird, soy-based faux bacons loaded with unpronounceable ingredients.Eggplant, shiitake mushrooms, andtempehall make awesome meat-free bacon substitutes when you soak thin slices in a smoky marinade and bake them until crisp. Vegan BLT? You bet.

4. Dark beer

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (4)

The smoky sweetness in porters and stouts is amazing in sauces and marinades. Smoky-sweet Guinness is always a solid choice, but you could up the flavor factor even more by using smoked brews like Stone Brewing Co.'s Stone Smoked Porter or Dark Horse Brewing Co.'s Fore Smoked Stout. Pour some into sauces or marinades for your favorite grilled vegetables, then char 'em to smoky perfection.

MORE: We Tried It: Seaweed That Tastes Like Bacon

5. Blackstrap molasses

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (5)

The dark syrup is richer and less sweet than regular molasses, and it's exactly what you need to add robust smokiness to barbecue sauces or even savory baked goods like corn bread or beer bread. Bonus: Unlike other sweeteners, this one isn't nutritionally worthless. A tablespoon of blackstrap molasses delivers 20% of your daily iron and almost 10% of your daily calcium and magnesium.

6. Smoked salt

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (6)

Use it as a finishing salt to up the savory deliciousness of almost anything you can imagine: soups, roasted vegetables, eggs, dips and spreads, whatever. Anything the stuff touches automatically tastes like it came out of a pit master's smoker.

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (7)

Marygrace Taylor

Marygrace Taylor is a health and wellness writer for Prevention, Parade, Women’s Health, Redbook, and others. She’s also the co-author of Prevention’s Eat Clean, Stay Lean: The Diet and Prevention’s Mediterranean Kitchen. Visit her at marygracetaylor.com.

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6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon (2024)

FAQs

6 Ways to Add Smoky, Meaty Flavor to Your Meals without Using Bacon? ›

Smoked Olive Oil

Smoked olive oil is a type of premium olive oil that has been cold smoked, imbuing it with a rich smoke flavor. It's a healthy alternative to using rendered smoked bacon fat to imbue foods with smoky flavors.

How do you make smoky flavor without bacon? ›

Smoked Olive Oil

Smoked olive oil is a type of premium olive oil that has been cold smoked, imbuing it with a rich smoke flavor. It's a healthy alternative to using rendered smoked bacon fat to imbue foods with smoky flavors.

How to get smoky flavor without meat? ›

Smoked paprika comes in mild and hot varieties and gives a lovely smokiness to many dishes. We use it in pea soup and baked beans in place of the more usual ham and bacon. There are also smoked salts, but you have to be careful about using them because it's easy to oversalt your dish in quest of the smoky flavour.

What makes food taste smoky? ›

Smoky flavors

Cooking over wood or charcoal involves a lot of smoke. Even on a gas grill, melting fats will drip onto the heat source and produce smoke. As smoke swirls around the barbecue, the food will absorb its flavors. Smoke is made up of gases, water vapor and small solid particles from the fuel.

What is a smoky flavor for meat? ›

Widely recognized as the top choice among smoking woods, hickory is renowned for its strong and smoky flavor, which pairs exceptionally well with various meats, especially pork and beef. Hickory lends a distinctively rich and robust taste, making it a favorite among barbecue enthusiasts.

What is a smoky flavor? ›

: suggestive of smoke especially in flavor or odor. 3. a. : filled with smoke.

What is the substitute for the flavor of bacon? ›

A number of substitutes exist for people who, for ethical, environmental, health, religious, or other reasons, prefer not to eat bacon. The flavor of smoked paprika resembles cooked bacon to some people.

How to give burgers a smoky flavor? ›

Add ¼ to ½ teaspoon Wright's® Hickory Liquid Smoke per pound of ground beef when making hamburgers. If using premade patties, combine ½ teaspoon Wright's® Hickory Liquid Smoke, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire and 1 tablespoon water and brush on burgers before cooking. Broil or cook on grill pan.

How do you make homemade smoke flavor? ›

You can make your own smoky flavoring and substitute for liquid smoke with just a couple of slices of bread. Add the bread to a pan on the stove or oven and burn evenly. Leave the bread out to dry thoroughly overnight and crumble, then ground the bread into a fine powder.

How to get flavor inside meat? ›

Marination is a great way to break down the fibers and infuse the flavors deep into the meat. You can create a marinade using a combination of oil, acid (like lemon juice or vinegar), herbs, spices, and even a touch of sweetness.

How to add smoky flavor to beans? ›

Adding a few drops of liquid smoke to your favorite bean soup is the fastest way to add a smoky flavor to beans. Liquid smoke is a condiment that is created by passing smoke from smoldering wood chips through a condenser and then cooling the vapors to liquefy them.

What food is smoky? ›

Meats and fish are the most common smoked foods, though cheeses, vegetables, and ingredients used to make beverages such as whisky, smoked beer, and lapsang souchong tea are also smoked. Smoked beverages are also included in this list.

What to use for flavour instead of bacon? ›

There are a variety of ways to make vegetarian bacon, but it is often made from ingredients such as soy, tempeh, or mushrooms, which are flavored and processed to mimic the taste and texture of traditional bacon. Some brands may also use pea protein, rice, or wheat gluten to make vegetarian bacon.

What tastes like bacon but no bacon? ›

Hooray Foods' plant-based bacon has less sodium and fat than real bacon but tastes a whole lot like the real stuff.

What spices mimic bacon? ›

It's a vegan and gluten-free flavoring that has that smoky flavor that people usually associate with bacon. Smoked paprika and onion powder are two other highly recommended ingredients to get that umami flavor.

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