I Tried 8 Plant-Based Bacon Brands And Ranked Them Worst To Best

Plant-based bacon might not always taste like actual bacon, but that's not to say it can't be completely delicious and a great meatless option. And although you can make vegan bacon out of crispy carrots at home, there are plenty of store-bought options to choose from. Different brands use different primary ingredients, though, with some utilizing high-protein options like tempeh or seitan and others using soy or even mushrooms.

This begs the question: Which one reigns supreme as the perfect bacon substitute? I was on the hunt to find out. I picked up every available option of plant-based bacon near me, a few of which were available at my closest chain grocery store, and most of which came from Los Angeles' beloved local vegan shop, Besties Vegan Paradise. They don't have to taste like bacon to score higher on the list, but they do need to be tasty. This is the resulting ranking of plant-based bacon brands.

With a name like Thrilling Bakon, how could you possibly go wrong? Well, unfortunately, of all the plant-based bacon on this list, this one is the only one I didn't like very much. First of all, it's extremely delicate, and if you do not follow the exact instructions and separate the strips of bacon with a dull knife or pastry sheet, it will absolutely crumble in your hands. In fact, even when you follow the instructions, you will still lose a good amount of the bacon due to it completely falling apart and turning to mush. This wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't the least unpleasant thing about this plant-based bacon experience.

The smell is so aggressive. Do not — I repeat, do not — ever prepare this bacon in a small space because it will envelop your whole life for days to come. And the taste, well ... honestly, it tastes like smoke and lingers in your mouth long after you've eaten it. For a good half hour after eating one slice, it felt like I had smoke in the back of my throat. Sorry to this brand, but it's a no from me.

Beleaf Vegan Bacon Strips are much wider than regular bacon — seriously, these are some very huge rectangles. The first and primary ingredient in this plant-based bacon option is non-GMO textured soybean protein. This means it's packed with protein (soybeans are the legume highest in protein, after all), which is great.

Right off the bat, it's noticeably very delicate (though not as much as Thrilling Bakon, luckily) and burns easily when pan-fried. The directions aren't listed on the packaging, so you'll have to do some online searching and keep a close watch on it. That said, the taste is sort of bland overall on its own. It just doesn't have that much of a taste at all, really. It definitely tastes meat-adjacent, though, and it's not bad at all. This is a plant-based bacon that would definitely benefit from being an ingredient in something, like a BLT sandwich or over-the-top BLT pasta salad recipe, for example, rather than being eaten on its own. For this reason, it takes the No. 7 spot.

LightLife Smart Bacon is another primarily soy-based option, and the brand can be easily found at many grocery stores, as opposed to a specialty store like Besties Vegan Paradise. Overall, it's a perfectly fine plant-based bacon option, but I found that it tastes more like turkey bacon than regular bacon, especially as you keep eating it. The flavor seems to grow and grow, and after eating a second piece, it really did feel like I was eating slices of turkey bacon.

The taste really hits right before you swallow it, which is fascinating, and it sort of crumbles in your mouth. This was a little different but not unpleasant. I liked this one overall, and it was super easy to prepare, without any aggressive smells or clouds of smoke filling up my entire home. There's certainly nothing wrong with this plant-based bacon brand — it gets the job done. It's tastier than the previous two brands with simple preparation and ranks at No. 6 because of this.

Prime Roots Sliced Applewood Bacon, the resident deli vegan bacon at Besties Vegan Paradise, is made primarily of a whole-food, clean protein blend composed of mycoprotein, yeast, and koji. The great thing about this mushroom-made, plant-based bacon is that it truly tastes nothing like actual mushrooms and does indeed have a bacon-like taste.

Here's the thing with this one though: The cooking process really takes over your whole life. Seriously, pan-frying this plant-based bacon will fill your entire home — not just your kitchen — with its smell, which can best be described as "generic meat smell." I didn't even use that much oil and had to keep the windows open all afternoon, and honestly, it still sort of smells like meat. Cooking this one in the oven might be a better tactic, but for me, the aftermath isn't worth the good taste. It would probably rank higher if this weren't the case, though.

MorningStar Farms is a plant-based grocery store staple and has plenty of great non-meat products. That said, MorningStar Farms Bacon Strips are readily available at most grocery stores and are probably the most easily acquired plant-based bacon option. Right out of the package, these meatless bacon strips are extremely colorful and honestly funny, as they look like a bacon costume. This is one of the easier brands to prepare (you can even cook it in the microwave), and right away, it smells like actual bacon.

The taste is what I can best describe as matte bacon. This is basically a cracker in texture, and there are definitely notes of an artificial bacon flavor, but it's extremely tasty nonetheless. I would happily eat this plant-based bacon on its own and be entirely satisfied. It's nothing fancy, but it's a solid, middle-of-the-road plant-based bacon option that gets the job done. It's a perfect plant-based bacon for beginners.

Upton's Naturals Seitan Bacon is made of seitan, and boy oh boy, can you tell. This definitely isn't a critique, though, as seitan is both delicious and an underrated meat replacement. It just tastes like straight up seitan and not bacon at all, so if that's a credential you're looking for, you'll probably need to look elsewhere. That said, it does taste like actual meat and has a smoky and pleasant flavor. This plant-based bacon may not taste like bacon, but it's totally delicious.

Upton's Naturals Seitan Bacon also has the most interesting consistency of the bunch, as it's kind of tough to bite into, like jerky. And when you do manage to tear off a piece, it's extremely chewy and even hard to chew at times. I didn't mind this, though — the great taste made it well worth the extra chewing. This is just an overall great meatless option and has a flavor so tasty that it easily takes the No. 3 spot.

All Vegetarian Inc Vegan Bacon Slices look almost just like Beleaf Vegan Bacon in appearance (and in many of the ingredients, as they're both soy protein-based), but they couldn't be more different in taste. Where Beleaf was bland and not-so-flavorful, these plant-based bacon strips are incredibly tasty with a flavor I'd describe as being "bacon lite." This meatless bacon is to regular bacon what a Bud Light is to a Budweiser. It tastes just enough like its meat counterpart and delivers on the "realistic salty and smoky taste" promised in the description on Besties Vegan Paradise.

This brand is absolutely one of the best. It's not fussy to cook (no overwhelming smoke plumes or lingering smell), and the end result is a delicious, light bacon replacement. It also crisped up real nice and tasted a lot like bacon jerky (compliment). It was one of the priciest options, but the taste and texture made it worth it.

MyForest Foods MyBacon might be the most hilarious name of all of these brands, but we're not here to chuckle at names — we're here to taste bacon that isn't really bacon. This brand had the odds stacked against it, as it's one of the plant-based bacon options made of mycelium (mushrooms), and I'm a staunch mushroom disliker. However, that said, I adored it. If you're a mushroom hater like me, don't be afraid of this plant-based bacon; you can't taste any mushrooms here, despite being very aware that you're eating them. I've never experienced such a phenomenon — it's sort of amazing.

This brand is the clear winner here. It's smokey, delicious, and tastes like bacon while also having a completely singular taste altogether (in a good way). I will say it looks a little frightening right out of the package due to all of the coconut oil chunks, but don't let that scare you. This is a wonderful bacon replacement. MyBacon, I salute you.

I tasted every single brand of plant-based bacon available at grocery stores near me, one right after the other, and judged them based on general taste, texture, and how pleasant the overall experience was preparing it. Comparison to actual bacon was a plus but did not affect rankings. All brands were cooked using the same method (pan-frying).