What Is Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan?
Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan is a wheat-gluten-based vegan bacon sold in strips, built to be sliced thin, pan-fried, and used anywhere a recipe calls for real bacon — BLTs, breakfast plates, salads, and loaded baked potatoes. Upton's has been making seitan since 2006 out of Chicago, and Bacon Seitan is one of its longest-running products, which puts it in a different category from the newer wave of coconut- and mushroom-based vegan bacons that have shown up in the last few years.
That wheat gluten base is the defining thing about this product, for better and worse. It gives Bacon Seitan a genuinely chewy, meat-like bite that a lot of vegetable-based bacons struggle to match, but it also means this is not a product for anyone avoiding gluten, and the texture is closer to a smoky jerky strip than the shattering crispness of pan-fried pork bacon.
Ingredients
Upton's Naturals lists the ingredients as: Water, Vital Wheat Gluten, Soy Sauce (Water, Soybeans, Wheat, Salt), Whole Wheat Flour, Natural Hickory Smoke Concentrate, Paprika, Sea Salt, and Onion.
It's a short, recognizable list by processed-food standards. Vital wheat gluten is the protein base that gives seitan its chew; soy sauce and natural hickory smoke concentrate do the heavy lifting on flavor, giving it that salty, smoky bacon-adjacent taste without any liquid smoke gimmicks or artificial flavoring. Paprika adds color and a little extra smokiness, and onion rounds out the savory profile. There's no added sugar, no soy protein isolate, and no oil in the ingredient list at all — which explains why the fat content on the nutrition label is so low. Allergens: contains wheat and soy, so this is off-limits for anyone with a gluten intolerance or wheat allergy, not just people avoiding animal products.
If you're double-checking any ingredient on a plant-based label, the spvegan.com ingredient checker is a quick way to confirm it's animal-free before you buy.
Is Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan Vegan?
Yes — Bacon Seitan is 100% vegan. Every ingredient on the label, from the vital wheat gluten to the soy sauce and hickory smoke concentrate, is plant-derived. Upton's Naturals markets the product as vegan and cruelty-free, and it's also Non-GMO Project Verified and certified kosher. There's no honey, gelatin, dairy, or any hidden animal-derived processing aid to watch for here — it's a straightforward one.
Nutrition Facts
Here's how a 2 oz (57g) serving of Bacon Seitan compares to the same serving size of conventional pan-fried pork bacon:
| Nutrient (per 2 oz / 57g) | Upton's Bacon Seitan | Conventional Pork Bacon (pan-fried) |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 80 | 262 |
| Total Fat | 0.5g | 19.6g |
| Saturated Fat | 0g | 6.7g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 55mg |
| Sodium | 400mg | 943mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 5g | 1g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1g | 0g |
| Protein | 15g | 19g |
This is one of the more lopsided nutrition comparisons you'll see in a vegan-vs-conventional matchup. Bacon Seitan comes in at roughly a third of the calories and almost none of the fat of real bacon, with zero cholesterol and, notably, less sodium than pork bacon despite bacon's reputation as an already-salty food — though 400mg per 2 oz serving is still a meaningful chunk of a day's sodium budget on its own. Protein is close between the two (15g versus 19g), which is unusually competitive for a plant-based product going up against pork. The catch is that low fat content is also why it won't crisp up the same way real bacon does — fat is what carries a lot of that crackling texture.
Taste and Texture
Straight out of the package, Bacon Seitan strips are dense, chewy, and deeply smoky-smelling, closer in texture to a jerky strip than a raw bacon slice. Pan-fried in a bit of oil for a few minutes per side, the outside firms up and picks up some color, but it never gets truly crispy the way pork bacon does when its fat renders out — there's simply not enough fat here to do that job. If crispiness is the whole point of bacon for you, this will read as a miss.
Where it does work is flavor and chew. The soy sauce and hickory smoke combination reads as convincingly smoky and salty, and the wheat gluten base gives it a genuine bite and pull that's closer to real meat than the soft, sometimes mushy texture you get from coconut- or mushroom-based vegan bacons. Chopped into small pieces and added to a carbonara, tossed into a Cobb salad, or crumbled over a baked potato, it holds its own well. Laid whole across a BLT, the difference in texture from real bacon is more noticeable, though the flavor still lands.
How to Cook It
Bacon Seitan ships refrigerated or frozen, and Upton's recommends thawing frozen packages either under cold running water for about 10 minutes or in the refrigerator over 24 hours if you're planning ahead. Once thawed, the strips cook fast — 3 to 5 minutes per side in a lightly oiled pan over medium heat is usually enough to get them heated through and lightly browned, and the package specifies cooking to an internal temperature of 165°F. Because there's so little fat to render, a nonstick pan or a bit of extra oil helps prevent sticking, and it's easy to over-char the edges if the heat is too high since there's no fat layer to buffer against burning.
Once opened, Upton's recommends using the strips within about 5 days, and the whole package also freezes well if you want to portion it out. A few preparations where it performs particularly well: chopped and crisped in a pan before folding into a carbonara or mac and cheese, crumbled over a loaded baked potato or twice-baked potato, layered into a club sandwich alongside avocado and tomato, or diced into breakfast hash with potatoes and peppers. It's less convincing eaten cold or barely warmed, since the smoky flavor and chew both benefit from real heat.
Price and Where to Buy
Bacon Seitan retails for around $6.99 for a 5 oz package, which works out to roughly $2.80 per 2 oz serving — noticeably more expensive than a comparable serving of conventional bacon, which is typical for the plant-based meat category generally. Unlike some of the harder-to-find plant-based products on the market, though, this one is genuinely easy to buy: it's stocked at Kroger, Whole Foods, H-E-B, and a long list of regional chains and independent natural food stores, and it ships through most major grocery delivery services as well as directly from Upton's Naturals' own website. That combination of real availability and a track record going back to the mid-2000s makes it one of the more dependable vegan bacon options to actually find on a shelf, rather than something you have to hunt down or order in bulk.
Vegan Bacon Comparison
| Brand | Base Ingredient | Texture | Retail Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan | Vital wheat gluten | Chewy, jerky-like | Kroger, Whole Foods, H-E-B, and independent grocers |
| Hooray Foods Plant-Based Bacon | Coconut oil and rice | Softer, closer to raw bacon fat marbling | Whole Foods and select regional grocers |
| Lightlife Smart Bacon | Soy protein | Thin, softer strips | Widely available at major grocery chains |
| Conventional Pork Bacon | Pork belly | Crispy, rendered fat | Any grocery store |
Who Should Buy Bacon Seitan?
Bacon Seitan makes the most sense for people who want bacon's smoky, salty flavor and some real chew in dishes where it's an ingredient rather than the main event — think pasta, salads, sandwiches with other toppings, breakfast hash, or crumbled over soup. It's also a strong pick for anyone specifically prioritizing protein and low fat over trying to replicate crispy bacon exactly, since the nutrition numbers here are genuinely good. It's a weaker choice for someone whose only goal is a crispy BLT centerpiece, or for anyone avoiding gluten, since there's no substitute ingredient here to fall back on.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Brand
Upton's Naturals also makes a broader seitan lineup beyond Bacon Seitan, including Traditional Seitan, Italian Seitan, and Chorizo Seitan, all built on the same vital wheat gluten base with different seasoning profiles. That consistency matters for anyone trying to figure out whether the brand is trustworthy on vegan claims across its catalog: the company has stuck to whole-food, recognizable ingredient lists across its seitan line rather than drifting toward the longer, more processed formulations some competitors have moved to as they've scaled. It's also worth noting the company started as a small Chicago operation cooking seitan in-house before growing into national distribution, which is part of why the ingredient list here still reads more like a home recipe than a lab formulation.
Final Verdict
Upton's Naturals Bacon Seitan doesn't chase crispiness, and it shouldn't be judged like it's trying to. What it delivers instead is real chew, a convincingly smoky flavor built from simple ingredients, and a nutrition profile that beats conventional bacon on nearly every metric except sodium and protein, where it's close rather than superior. It's one of the more honest vegan bacon products on the market in the sense that it doesn't pretend to be something it isn't — it's a seitan strip that tastes like bacon, not a bacon clone.
Rating: 7.5/10 — a reliable, widely available vegan bacon that nails flavor and nutrition, and only really disappoints if you're chasing crispy-fried-pork texture specifically.
