This vegan bagel breakfast sandwich is absolutely incredible with flavors from pesto, smoky plant based bacon, eggy tofu, and creamy avocado on a toasty bagel.
Table of Contents
This vegan bagel breakfast sandwich is fully. LOADED. And it's easy to make! It's perfect for breakfast or brunch with 21 grams of protein per serving!
While you cook the eggy tofu in the air fryer or the oven, throw the pesto ingredients into the food processor, pan fry some vegan bacon, and then put it all together.
I love to serve this on an everything bagel, but you can choose your favorite savory bagel, if you prefer.
No matter what bagel you choose, this vegan breakfast sandwich packs protein from marinated eggy tofu and from vegan bacon. You can use store-bought vegan bacon or make my shiitake bacon or vegan Canadian bacon for this sandwich.
For the pesto, I'm using my super flavorful arugula pesto, and we're piling some fresh arugula onto the sandwich, too! It adds so much zesty, peppery flavor. If arugula isn't your jam, feel free to use my oil-free avocado basil pesto or red pepper pesto on this sandwich, and pile on your leafy greens or sprouts of choice instead.
This recipe is as flexible as it is delicious, and I can't wait for you to try it!
✓ Ingredients and Substitutions
- tofu - Firm or extra firm tofu is your "egg" today. If you don't want to make the tofu egg, you can use your vegan egg of choice, like Just Egg.
- soy sauce - Adds umami to the eggy tofu.
- turmeric - Gives the eggy tofu a vibrant, yellow color.
- olive oil - Helps the tofu crisp up in the oven. You can omit it from the tofu. You will also use olive oil in the pesto, unless you choose to use my oil-free pesto instead. And frying the vegan bacon in oil helps give it that fatty texture you expect from bacon.
- onion powder - Adds umami to the tofu.
- black salt - Gives the tofu its eggy flavor. If you don't have black salt, you can use sea salt, but the flavor won't be quite the same.
- basil and arugula - The base for the pesto, and you'll be piling extra arugula onto the sandwich, too! Feel free to add other veggies of choice to the sandwich, like tomato, cucumber, sliced red onion, etc. You can also add vegan cheese slices!
- garlic - Adds umami to the pesto.
- lemon juice - Adds acidity to the pesto.
- cashews - Gives the pesto a nutty flavor. You can substitute pine nuts, if you're wealthy. For nut-free, use pumpkin seeds.
- vegan bacon - Use your favorite! I'm using store-bought to simplify things, but you can make your own vegan bacon from scratch, if you prefer.
- bagels - This is also a choose your favorite situation! Any savory bagel will work for this vegan breakfast sandwich. Gluten-free is fine to use.
- avocado - Adds creaminess to the sandwich.
🔪 How to Make a Vegan Breakfast Bagel Sandwich
Preheat the oven to 400° F (if baking the tofu), and whisk together the soy sauce, water, turmeric, olive oil, onion powder, and black salt to make your marinade.
Toss the marinade with the tofu pieces, and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
Arrange your tofu strips on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it reaches your desired texture. (See recipe card for air fryer directions.)
Make the pesto by combining all of the pesto ingredients in the food processor.
Pulse until it reaches your desired consistency.
Once the pesto is ready, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the bacon. Cook until the bacon is crispy on both sides. You can also toast the bagels now, if you want them toasted.
When the tofu is done cooking, spread the pesto onto your toasted bagel halves and add the avocado.
Layer on the tofu.
Add the bacon and arugula.
Serve immediately or store components separately until you're ready to assemble.
💡 Helpful Tips
- Save time by getting the tofu marinating first, then prepping everything else while the tofu marinates and bakes/air fries.
- Make this gluten-free by choosing a gluten-free vegan bagel.
- This recipe uses a half batch of my arugula pesto. This is a small amount for a food processor, so it may yield a chunky pesto, and that's okay for this recipe. If you have a smaller food processor, you can get a smoother pesto. You can also double the pesto amounts and save the extra to use with pasta or rice.
🫙 Make-Ahead and Storage Directions
I do like to make the bacon right before serving, so it's nice and crisp, but you can marinate and/or bake the tofu in advance. If you bake the tofu ahead, warm it up in the microwave or on a skillet. That mix of temperatures is part of what makes this sandwich so good. You can also make the pesto up to a day ahead. Just stir well before spreading onto your bagels.
Store leftovers separately, and assemble yourself a vegan bagel breakfast sandwich whenever you like!
💬 Frequently Asked Questions
They definitely can be. Some delis/companies will add an egg wash to make the tops of their bagels shiny, and these are not vegan. But it's usually pretty easy to find dairy-free and egg-free bagels.
What DON'T we put on a bagel?? You can pile on breakfast-y options, like vegan egg, plant based bacon/sausage, vegan cheese, etc.
Or you can use a spread of choice, like vegan cream cheese or hummus and add cooked and/or raw veggies. Vegan egg salad or mashed chickpea salad are great on a bagel, too!
📖 Recipe
🥯 Vegan Bagel Breakfast Sandwich
Ingredients
For the Eggy Tofu
- 14 ounce block extra firm tofu sliced into 8 rectangles
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black salt or sea salt
For the Pesto
- ¼ cup fresh arugula loosely packed
- ¼ cup fresh basil loosely packed
- 1 clove garlic or more, if you like! See note.
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons roasted cashews
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅛ teaspoon salt or more, to taste
For the Sandwich
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 8 strips vegan bacon
- 4 bagels of choice gluten-free is fine
- fresh arugula or leafy greens of choice, like lettuce, spinach, or kale
- 1 Haas avocado sliced, optional
Instructions
Make the tofu.
- Preheat the oven to 400° F (if baking), and whisk together the soy sauce, water, turmeric, olive oil, onion powder, and black salt to make your marinade. Toss the marinade with the tofu pieces, and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes. If you like, you can make these the night before, so they'll be ready to bake in the morning.
- To Bake: Arrange your tofu strips on a lined baking sheet lined, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until it reaches your desired texture.
- To Air Fry: Arrange the tofu in your air fryer basket and cook at 400° F for 12 to 15 minutes, shaking once halfway through cooking.
Make the pesto while the tofu marinates/cooks.
- Toss all of the pesto ingredients in the food processor and pulse until it reaches your desired consistency. If it's too thick, you can add a tablespoon or two of water or more olive oil to get it to the consistency you like. Season to taste with more salt and black pepper. This is a small amount for a food processor, so it may yield a chunky pesto, and that's okay for this recipe. If you have a smaller food processor, you can get a smoother pesto. You can also double the pesto amounts and save the extra to use with pasta or rice.
Cook the bacon and assemble.
- Once the pesto is ready, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the bacon, and cook until crispy on both sides. You can also toast the bagels now, if you want them toasted.
- When the tofu is done cooking, spread the pesto onto your bagel halves, then add the bacon, tofu, arugula, and avocado slices. You can also add other veggies, like tomato and sliced onion, if you like. Serve immediately or store components separately until you're ready to assemble.
Got a question? Tried this recipe? Leave a reply!