Vegan Western Bacon Cheeseburger

Step 1

Make the Rice Paper Bacon first, follow my recipe HERE. Or use store bought vegan bacon.

Step 2

Add all the ingredients to a saucepan, whisk and then heat over medium.

Step 3

Once it starts bubbling, kill the heat. Taste and adjust for seasoning. It will thicken as it cools, but you can thicken it more by heating it and reducing for 5 - 10 minutes if desired (mine was plenty thick though!)

Step 4

Store in a mason jar or similar in the fridge for up to 1 week (possibly longer but I always eat it before then!)

Step 5

Cut the onions into 1/4"-1/2” thick slices. Separate them into rings.

Step 6

Add all the dry dredge ingredients to a bowl, do the same with the wet dredge and breadcrumbs respectively.

Step 7

Fill a large pan or dutch oven about with a couple inches of neutral oil (like peanut, vegetable or canola). Heat the oil to 350 - 375 F. (Air Fry and Baking instructions in notes below and blog post too.)

Step 8

Dredge the onion rings first in the dry, then wet and then coat in the breadcrumbs. Make sure to coat thoroughly and let the excess drip off in each step.

Step 9

Carefully add the onion rings in batches to the hot oil and fry for about 3 - 4 minutes or until beautiful and golden brown. Let them rest on a wire rack and salt them immediately.

Step 10

You can keep them warm in the oven on the lowest setting while you make the rest.

Step 11

Grill your buns in some butter.

Step 12

Divide your plant based meat into two (3 oz) patties, I recommend a using a scale and a burger press to form the patties in order to make sure they are the same size and thickness.

Step 13

Grill your patties over medium high heat for 3 minutes or until nice and browned.

Step 14

Flip your patties, add a slice of vegan cheese on top of each one, then a little bit of water to the pan, cover and then steam to melt the cheese.

Step 15

Cook for 1 minute, the cheese should be melted (if not continue cooking until it does melt). Remove from heat, and then assemble the burger as follows from bottom to top: bottom bun, BBQ sauce, onion rings, two cheeseburger patties, vegan bacon, more BBQ sauce, top bun!

Step 16

ENJOY!