This recipe is inspired by Gordon Ramsay’s viral vegan BLT recipe. And I think it’s one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever made and those who tried it agreed. I made some of my own creative tweaks to the recipe, subbing reg lettuce for arugula, adding stoneground mustard to pair with the “bacon”, as well as making it both soy free and gluten free!
Since all my recipes are also whole food plant based, I made an avocado aioli to sub his basil aioli that uses vegan egg yolks from Just Egg, in which the first ingredient is canola oil (one of the most inflammatory and rancid oils) not mention sugar and preservatives. So with that said, I subbed in out for fresh avocado and a little avocado oil for the fat to get the creaminess, in what I feel a healthier way. I’ve also replaced the vegan butter (which can often have similar issues in regards to whole food ingredients) I simply substituted for coconut oil and avocado and it worked perfectly.
I feel this recipe is a bit more accessible in that I didn’t need to get as many speciality ingredients and these were things I already had in my kitchen.
Now the vegan bacon is obviously and deservingly the star of this dish. Using tofu, or in this case “pumfu” to create the fat of the bacon, its truly brilliant and so delicious. Since this recipe is completely soy free, I swapped the regular tofu for my new obsession Pumfu, which instead of soy is made entirely of pumpkin seeds. It creates the same exact tofu like texture and taste, and cooks the same as tofu. Unlike tofu, that comes in variations of softness, Pumfu is already quite firm. Which is great for this dish because you don’t need to press it, its ready to go! You can find Pumfu at many Whole Foods and health food stores, as well as online. It seems to be becoming more and more ready available. If you are not soy-free, you can use firm tofu as well.
For the crispiness of the bacon, we’re using rice paper strips. Which are so versatile and absorb a nice flavor when soaked in the marinade. The key is to dip it in the marinade for just a few seconds so that it keeps its structure. 
Once the “bacon” is lined on the baking sheet I spray it with a little extra avocado oil.
TIPS:
Once you take them out the oven, let them cool completely before removing from the parchment paper, this is allow them to come together more.
For the rice paper strips, use good quality scissors to cut them into strips. If they break, just save those bits to use with the extra marinade.
- 3 pieces of rice paper, cut into 8 1½ in. strips
- ½ package of Pumfu, crumbed into bits
- FOR THE MARINADE:
- 2 tbs coconut oil
- 1 tbs avocado oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 tbs nutritional yeast
- 3 tbs coconut aminos
- 1½ tbs garlic powder
- 1½ tbs smoked paprika
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne (optional)
- FOR THE SANDWICH:
- 4 pieces of gluten free bread (for 2 sandwiches)
- 2 handfuls of arugula (drizzle of avocado oil and lemon juice: optional)
- 2 tomatoes (or 10 cherry tomatoes), sliced
- ½ avocado, sliced
- AVOCADO AOILI:
- ½ avocado, mashed
- 2 tsp avocado oil (optional)
- 2-3 tsp stoneground mustard
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- In a large shallow bowl, start by combining all the marinade ingredients and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine you Pumfu crumbles. I use my hands to break it apart into small bits. Spoon 4 tbs of marinade into your pumfu mixture and mix until well coated and set aside.
- Then place your rice paper strips into the remaining marinade for a few seconds on each side and place 4 down onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Top each strip with some of the Pumfu crumbles.
- Marinate the remaining rice paper strips and top them onto the pumfu covered strips and gently press the sides down. Spray with avocado oil (optional)
- Bake at 380F for 10 minutes.
- Let the bacon cool and assemble your sandwich.
- Mix together all the avocado aioli ingredients into a bowl until smooth.
- Spread the aioli mixture onto toasted bread.
- Top with arugula, tomato, “bacon” and avocado.
- Enjoy!
For the bread I used gluten free bread, you can use whatever bread you like. I recommend a good quality bread. I got this bread for Erewhon market in Los Angeles. I find health food stores often have better GF bread available or local bakeries, if they gluten free options. You could also make a lettuce wrap, as well as just make the bacon to put on really anything you want, vegan breakfast etc!
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