Crispy Vegan "Carrot-Bacon" Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Feta

Want to try a recipe that seems like it should be bad for you…but really isn’t? These little Crispy Vegan "Carrot-Bacon" Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Feta are sweet, salty, creamy and decadent without much of the guilt of the traditional appetizer. Perfect for a party or as a tapas plate to enjoy with your pre-dinner drinks, even your non-veggie friends will love them!

This recipe isn’t hard, in fact…it’s another one of those dishes that almost seems too simple to really dedicate an entire blog post to BUT I got such a good response over on the Plant Based Ginger IG account about these that I thought I would share some of my tips on how I make mine!

What you are going to need to buy:

Whole Dates, buying the pitted ones is easier but I personally think that the ones with the pits are sweeter. (I have NO proof of this, only a personal theory. Pick your battle.) Either way you’re going to need to get your hands on some dates sans the pits.

Carrots, the biggest and fattest you can find.

Your Dairy Free cheese of choice. (I love the Block Feta from Violife and that’s what I always use for this recipe!

Liquid Smoke

Minced Garlic - (we like these jarred options from Spice World!)  

Maple Syrup - (The good stuff, not pancake syrup.)

Garlic Powder, Paprika, Onion Powder

Salt & Pepper

Chives (Optional)

What you are going to need to do:

If you’re reading this blog, I am going to assume that you probably already do a fair amount of plant-based cooking, and may have already heard of this carrot-bacon craze. If you have a preferred concoction that goes into making your carrot bacon…do that (and you can probably just make like a 80’s choose your own adventure book, and skip to the end for the “tips” I have about making this recipe in general.)

For the Carrot Bacon:

Using a mandolin or a veggie peeler slice your carrots into long thin strips/ribbons. If your carrots are pretty skinny, like only an inch or so you may want to budget two carrot ribbons for each date because they shrink up a lot. Otherwise, one ribbon per date will be fine.

Into a zip-top baggie that is large enough to hold your ribbons add 1 -2 tablespoons of Liquid Smoke, 1-2 tablespoons of Maple Syrup and 1/2 teaspoon each of the spices.

Let the carrot ribbons marinate for anywhere from 10-30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

On a baking tray lay out your carrot ribbons and place them in the oven to crisp up for 10 minutes. (Keep an eye on them, flipping after 7-8 minutes. You can also baste the reverse side with the leftover marinade when you flip them.

After 10 minutes your carrot bacon will be soft, but still floppy enough that you can roll/wrap it around the dates. This is the goal. If you get it too crisp in the beginning you won’t be able to wrap them.

Remove from oven and let sit for 1 -2 minutes until cool enough to handle.

The Assembly:

Cut chunks of the feta cheese to fit inside of your dates, place them inside, and pinch to close. It’s okay if they don’t close entirely.

Wrap the dates with the carrot-bacon ribbons and return to the baking sheet.

Baste with the remaining marinade and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.

You can turn on your boiler for the last 1-2 minutes to get them really good and crisp but make sure to keep an eye on them because the dates can burn pretty quick.

Now, for the TIPS:

If you made the jump down from the first paragraph and skipped the carrot-bacon tutorial…welcome back! I have made this recipe several times now and here are some of the tricks that I have found helped me:

🌿 Use giant carrots...like really the fattest ones you can find. My local Asian Market has the biggest carrots I’ve ever seen!
🌿 Use a mandolin or a peeler because you won't be able to slice the carrots thin enough with a knife. I love my Pampered Chef Simple Slicer. I use it for everything!
🌿 I use the @violife_foods block feta cut into long chunks and I pop them into the freezer for a few minutes so that the cheese doesn’t ooze and spill out before the carrot bacon is crispy.
🌿 Painstakingly garnish with chives if you're desperate to impress the internet! (Or just use a toothpick)

Enjoy!