How to make 2-ingredient vegetarian bacon out of halloumi cheese

Breakfast sandwich with halloumi bacon, fried egg, spinach, and tomato on no-knead bread

In my previous post, "A love letter to halloumi: When will America finally fall for this fried cheese?", I bemoaned the fact that halloumi is surprisingly hard to find in the U.S. However, if you CAN get your hands on halloumi, you can make the best vegetarian bacon ever! 

My husband gets credit for this 2-ingredient recipe. One time, he accidentally sliced halloumi particularly thin and it cooked up faster and crunchier than usual. It tasted a lot like crispy bacon! My only contribution to this recipe was to add a sprinkle of smoked paprika to add smokiness and color.

Why it works

Halloumi doesn't melt when heated; it toasts instead, allowing it to get crunchy and smoky. Halloumi has a naturally high salt content, so it is already bacon-level salty.  

What can you do with halloumi bacon?

There's almost nothing that can't be improved with (vegetarian) bacon! It's great served with eggs, a stack of pancakes, and/or hash browns. Stack it on a breakfast sandwich, BLT, or veggie burger. Cut or crumbled halloumi bacon is a delicious topper for sauteed spinach or other veggies, mac and cheese, salad, or baked potatoes.

Here is the recipe, if you can call it that:

Halloumi bacon
~2 t butter or oil for the pan
~4 oz halloumi, cut into 1/4-1/8 inch slices (basically as thin as you can slice it)
~1/2 t paprika

Heat a non-stick skillet on med-high heat. Add oil and halloumi. Sprinkle with smoked paprika. Cook until browned on the first side, about 3 minutes, then flip, and brown the other side for 2-3 minutes. Halloumi is done when it is browned on both sides and quite crisp.