Lightlife Smart Bacon Review

Are you sizzlin' for a bacon fixin', but have cut ties from the meat industry for moral and/or health reasons? If so, you aren't alone on your quest for the best, most accurate vegan bacon alternative.

Today I decided to experiment with Lifelight's Smart Bacon Meatless Veggie Bacon Strips. As compared to animal product bacon's 43 calories per strip, Smart Bacon sits at a mere 20 calories per strip. Moreover, pig bacon consists of 9 mg of cholesterol per strip, whereas Lightlife's vegan bacon has none and is arguably more heart-healthy. With that being said, Lightlife bacon has 2g of protein as compared to animal-bacon's 3g per strip!

The Lightlife Bacon Strips are enclosed in an air-tight plastic sealing, which ensures the bacon keeps it's moist flavors.

Now to get cooking! First off, the packaging suggests that you cook the Lightlife Smart Bacon in either two ways:

1. Skillet: "Lightly coat skillet with oil; preheat over medium heat. Place strips in single layer and cook 3 to 3/12 minutes, turning once."

2. Toaster Oven: "Preheat oven to 450 degree F. Brush baking sheet with oil. Place strips in a single layer; lightly brush top side of strips with oil. Bake 5 minutes, turning once."

First attempt: I decided to deviate from the directions slightly, to see if there was a an alternate way to cook the Smart Bacon Strips without oil on a nonstick frying pan.

I cooked the Smart Bacon Strips for about 2 minutes on each side, as I have always preferred my bacon on the crispier side. Result? The bacon tasted like a high-end, gourmet pupperoni-- but definitely not bacon. Though stomachable in taste, you are almost guaranteed to break a tooth on these rock-hard strips.

The issue with refraining from greasing your pan is the fact that the Smart Bacon Strips take way too long to gain a light crunch. Instead, the strips begin to dry out and then eventually burn in random sections. Therefore, do not follow my first attempt method, it was a solid fail.

Second attempt, I greased my non-stick pan with vegan butter and cooked the bacon strips for 1.5 minutes on each side. I decided to go with vegan butter, as opposed to oil, to aim at achieving the salty grease that regular bacon has.

Frying the Smart Bacon Strips in vegan butter resulted in a more even cooking, while also adding an additional moisture that is inherent to bacon. In addition, I finally got the crunch I wanted!

Conclusion: Lightlife Smart Bacon Veggie Bacon Strips, when cooked in vegan butter on a medium flame for 3 minutes total, mimic an accurate depiction of animal-bacon-- minus the fat and extra crisp that animal-bacon has. Although you can tell that the product is not real meat, the flavor is satisfying and hits the mark for what the brand was trying to achieve. I will definitely be purchasing Lightlife's Smart bacon again, within my quest for the perfect vegan bacon!

Overall rating: I'd give Lightlife's Smart Bacon Strips a B grading, with room for improvement in texture. I'd like a vegan bacon that allows for a darker crisp, while also maintaining the moist, savory bacon flavor that we all feen for.

Though, I must admit that Lightlife's Smart Bacon has been the best vegan alternative to bacon that I have tried thus far!