I’m so excited that I was able to create a vegan BLT sandwich because since I stopped eating meat, there are for sure a few dishes that I really crave, and one of those is a salty BLT sandwich. Dunno what it is about that sandwich – the crispy, salty bacon, paired with juicy tomato and crunchy lettuce – ummmmm. So, I thought, as I lay in bed last night, what if I deconstruct it and come up with a healthy, vegan version – and at the same time reduce the bread situation. And then it came to me, as it often does while I’m in that delicious twilight zone between utter exhaustion and sleep – I would marinate wafer thin slices of Tempeh and do an open-style sandwich. I tried it out for lunch today, and it’s now my husband’s new favorite sandwich.
Now listen up folks, I do NOT use fake bacon, which is disgusting, but I use Tempeh, which is a whole food made from fermented soy beans. I marinate it so that it has a very similar taste to bacon. I then fry it to get it crisp.
I wanted the whole “sandwich” to sit in a large lettuce boat (or cup – but “boat” better describes the shape of a large Romaine leaf). This takes away the mega bread factor, but before you throw up your hands in disgust, there is bread in this sandwich, so just hold your horses. Because I’m using the lettuce boat, I didn’t want to use slices of avocado because they always slither out and make a total mess, so I created an avocado cream, with which I line the boat.
Now to the bread! I baked up some mini croutons with Sourdough bread, and of course, you could always use gluten free bread. Either way, I could honestly eat an entire zip lock bag of these little guys, which would negate the purpose of sprinkling a few atop your TLT “sandwich”, but sometimes a hungry girl needs to do a lot of taste testing, right?
I know you”’ll fall in love with the salty, creamy, crunchiness of this light “sandwich”, so surprise your family and friends this week.
This recipe for vegan BLT sandwiches serves two.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Tamari sauce
- 2 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 1 tbsp Aged Balsamic (or Balsamic glaze – you want to use the thick syrupy stuff)
- Half a packet of Tempeh (about 4 ounces), thinly sliced across. Try to make the slices as thin as possible, but not so thin that it’ll fall apart.
- 1tbsp grapeseed oil
- 2 slices of bread, cubed into tiny cubes.
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- Large head of Romaine Lettuce
- 4 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 ripe avocado
- 5 or 6 cashew nuts (ideally soaked for a few hours, but not a biggie if you forget)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Sea Salt and Pepper to taste.
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F
- Whisk the Tamari, Balsamic and liquid smoke in small baking dish and lay the tempeh pieces flat (swirl marinade around so that it covers the slices). Leave for a couple of hours.
- Heat the oil in a skillet, and when shimmering, carefully add the tempeh slices. Fry until crisp (about 2 minutes on each side). When done, remove from pan and lay on a paper towel.
- Mix the bread cubes with the oil. Use your hands so make sure each cube is coated. Lay them on a baking sheet and bake until brown (about 10 minutes (but be so CAREFUL they don’t burn – one phone call will mess you up!!)
- Take them out of oven and lay them on a piece of paper towel to cool.
- Wash your lettuce and remove outer wilted leaves in order to find the biggest, best leaves to serve as your “boats”. Dry each leaf and set on a plate.
- Whip up your avocado, cashews, lemon, and seasoning in a blender.
- Smear about 2 tbsp of avocado cream into one of your lettuce leaves. Lay around 3-4 slices of tempeh on top, and garnish with cherry tomatoes and croutons.
- Enjoy your vegan BLT sandwich!
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