Happy National Coffee Day!

Ok. I know this might seem a little crazy to some of you, but I promise it’s delicious! Don’t worry...this does not taste like you dipped your burger into a latte. The earthy coffee flavor is subtle and well balanced by the salt, spices and brown sugar. All of that seems to play well with the rich & savory Beyond Burger.

The Maple Glazed Soy Bacon is a delicious addition to the breakfast inspired burger, and was adapted from a Sauce Stache recipe with a few of my own minor adjustments. I was not only surprised with how easy it was to make, but also at how similar it tasted to real bacon.

Without any further ado, I bring you the Red-Eye Burger!

Notes & Substitutions:

Equipment: I like to use a mortar and pestle to grind the ingredients together when making the rub. If you don’t have one, you can probably pop all of the dry ingredients in a blender or spice grinder. You will for sure want to grind down the instant coffee granules, so that they become fully incorporated into the rub.
Maple Glazed Soy Bacon: If you are using this recipe to make vegan bacon from scratch, you will most likely find soy sheets at your local Asian market. I get the fresh ones in the refrigerated section by the tofu. You can also purchase or order dried soy sheets online, however, chances are, they will be much cheaper at your local Asian Market. If you opt for the fresh ones, try to get the thicker sheets. At the time I purchased the kind used in this recipe, I didn't realize there were different kinds of sheets & accidently purchased the thicker kind when shopping for a different recipe. The thinner ones are super thin, so if you can only find those, just don't pull the layers apart. To summarize… The thicker sheets work best for this bacon. If you want to skip this part altogether, feel free to use your favorite vegan/vegetarian bacon. My favorite is the Smoky Tempeh by Lightlife.
Burger: I created this recipe with the Beyond Burger in mind. You can use any burger you'd like but I highly recommend something with a higher fat content (like a Beyond Burger, Impossible Burger or something similar) to balance out the rub. I haven't tried it with a veggie or bean based patty yet but my hesitation would be that they don’t have enough fat content to balance out the rub, causing the bitterness of the coffee to dominate the dish.
Buns: The buns I used in this recipe are not vegan (as I am a full-time vegetarian, part-time vegan) but you can use a vegan bun instead.
Cheese: My all-time favorite vegan cheese to use on my Beyond Burgers is Chao Creamy Original. However, I was not able to find it at the time of making this recipe, so I used my own mixture of other vegan cheeses that I will not be listing because I VERY MUCH prefer Chao to this mixture.
Low & Slow: I cook this burger (and the bacon) on a slightly lower heat for a longer amount of time than I normally would to ensure the burger cooks through without burning the brown sugar in the rub.

Ingredients: See ‘A Pinch, A Dash & A Smidge’ for measuring references.

Beyond Burger
Burger Buns
Chao Creamy Original Vegan Cheese
Leafy Lettuce
A few slices of tomato
A few drops of cooking oil or cooking spray

For the Maple Glazed Soy Bacon: Adapted from Sauce Stache's Tofu Skin Bacon

Soy Sheets (a.k.a bean curd sheets, bean curd skin, tofu sheets, tofu skin, soy skin, yuba skin or yuba sheets)
⅓ cup Tamari (or soy sauce)
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
A tad of mushroom seasoning
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1-2 dashes smoked paprika
1-2 dashes garlic powder
A pinch brown sugar
Ground pepper to taste
A few splashes of water

For the Rub: The coffee can be bitter if you use too much, so I highly recommend keeping the ratio of instant coffee, brown sugar & coarse salt close to what’s listed below so that the coffee isn’t too overpowering in the dish.

2 tads (or 1 tsp) of smoked paprika
2 tads (or 1 tsp) of onion powder
2 tads (or 1 tsp) of garlic powder
1 tad (or ½ tsp) of coarse kosher salt
2 tads (or 1 tsp) of brown sugar
2 tads (or 1 tsp) instant coffee
2 pinches of ground chipotle powder
A pinch of Chili Powder

Instructions: See ‘A Pinch, A Dash & A Smidge’ for measuring references.

To prepare your Maple Glazed Soy Bacon, pull out one soy sheet and slice strips approximately 1”-1.5” wide.
In a bowl or food storage container, mix together the tamari, nutritional yeast, liquid smoke, maple syrup, smoked paprika, garlic powder, brown sugar & ground pepper. Place your soy skin strips and add a splash of water a little at a time until the marinade covers the strips. Cover and set in the refrigerator for at least 2+ hours. If you are using fresh soy sheets, the soy will begin to rehydrate itself when absorbing the marinade. If using dried soy sheets, you will want to let it soak in water first to rehydrate, before squeezing out excess water and letting soak in the marinade.
To make the rub, add in the smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, coarse salt, brown sugar, instant coffee, ground chipotle and chili powder to the mortar and pestle. Grind ingredients until instant coffee is ground down and mixed well with the rest of the dry ingredients.
Lightly oil your pan or skillet and preheat on stove. Once pan is hot, turn burner down to medium-low heat.
Place marinated soy sheet strips to make the Maple Soy Bacon in pan for approximately 4-6 minutes on each side. The soy sheets sometimes get hard and extra chewy (similar to a jerky) if you cook for too long. I recommend undercooking just a tad, knowing it will continue to cook a little even once removed from heat.
Sprinkle dry rub onto one side of the Beyond Burger and place seasoned side down in pan for about 5 minutes. Season the other side before flipping burger.
Once burger is flipped, immediately add the slice of Chao Cheese and cover to let steam. Sometimes vegan cheese takes a bit longer to melt than dairy cheese and I don’t always lover the texture of not-yet-melted vegan cheese slices. My not-so-secret way to make sure I get yummy melty cheese on my burger is to cover and let steam while cooking.
Assemble the burgers, adding lettuce and tomato, then enjoy hot.