People often ask Ashlee and I if transitioning to a vegan diet was hard, and to be frank, it really wasn’t. Obviously, the first couple of weeks of transitioning was a bit rocky, but all in all, it was fairly easy for us.
Although I almost never crave meat, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t crave a crab cake every once in awhile.
I know, who the fuck craves crab cakes?
My only response is, some people crave chocolate. I crave crab cakes.
Many of you may already know this, but I grew up in the South. There, remoulade is life. Since crab cakes are so reminiscent of southern cooking, I decided to pair my vegan crab cakes with a dill remoulade. The outcome? A match made in vegan crab cake heaven.
We make our vegan crab cakes with hearts of palm and seasoned it was Old Bay. Combined with a few more ingredients and our delicious remoulade, you’ve got yourself a vegan crab-less cake that’s eerily similar to the real thing.
We hope you guys love the recipe for our vegan crab cakes as much as we do! If you try it, take a photo and upload it to Instagram! Be sure to tag us at Eat_Figs_Not_Pigs…we love to see your recreations! Til next time, guys! XOXO
- ¾ cup vegan mayonnaise
- ½ cup ketchup
- 3 TBS dijon mustard
- 1½ TBS fresh dill, finely minced
- 1 TBS fresh parsley, minced
- 1 green onion, minced (green parts only)
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- ½ tsp capers, minced
- 2 TBS olive oli
- Canola oil, for frying
- 2 - 14 oz cans whole hearts of palm, drained
- 1 green onion, minced (white part included)
- ⅓ cup red bell pepper, diced
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 TBS Old Bay seasoning
- 1 tsp Slap Ya Mama seasoning (hot), optional
- 1½ cups panko bread crumbs
- 1 cup unsweetened, unflavored almond milk
- 1 cup flour, divided
- In a bowl, mix all ingredients until they are thoroughly combined
- Place in a covered container and set in the refrigerator while you make the crabless cakes
- In a saute pan on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Once the oil is hot, add shallot. Saute for one minute. Add hearts of palm and begin to mash with a potato masher or the back of a fork. Cook mashed hearts of palm on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes
- Add green onion, bell pepper, garlic, Old Bay, and Slap Ya Mama seasoning. Mix to combine. Cook for an additional 3-5 minutes
- Remove mixture from heat and let cool about 10-15 minutes
- Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, add ¼ cup flour and mix to combine thoroughly
- With ¼ cup of the crabless mixture, form crabless cakes with your hands
- Transfer the crabless cakes to a parchment paper lined tray
- Once you have formed all your crabless cakes, set them in the freezer to solidify just a bit, about 15-20 minutes
- While you're crabless cakes are in the freezer, set up your dredge and frying stations
- In a shallow bowl, add flour. In another, add almond milk. In a third shallow bowl, add panko bread crumbs
- Once you're crabless cakes have solidified in the freezer for a few minutes, you can begin to bread them
- Place each crabless cake in the flour, then the almond milk, then the panko bread crumbs. Be sure to coat each cake evenly and thoroughly with each coating. Continue until all the crab;ess cakes are coated
- In a frying pan on medium-high heat, add enough canola oil to cover an inch of the pan from the bottom
- Once the oil is at 325 degree F, fry each crabless cake for about 6-8 minutes or until golden brown and crispy, flipping halfway through
- Serve warm with dill remoulade and atop a bed of greens (optional)
- ENJOY
These look stunning and delicious! I was never a crab cake person before going plant-based, but I might become one now :O NICE!!
This looks awesome! I love heart of palm-going to give it a whirl! Thanks!
This looks so good. I’m pecetarian trying to go full vegan I always have hearts of palms. Thanks for this great recipe. I do think I’ll try it with garbanzo flour for protein, Do you think it’s proportional to AP ?
Hi, Roxana!! I’ve never tested the recipe with garbanzo flour, so I’m not sure if it will work exactly the same. If you try it, please let me know 🤗
I just want you to know this is the best vegan recipe I have eaten thus far. My husband and started going vegan only a month ago and I have tried dozens of recipes, all delicious in there own right, but this one by far is the best. The only thing I did different was I added flax egg to the crabless mixture and it was perfect. Great recipe!
Thanks, Jasmin!!!!! N
Do you think jackfruit would sub well for the heart of palm?
Janine, I’m not sure if jackfruit will work in place of hearts of palm as I’ve never tried before! If you do try it, please let me know how it turns out 🙂
I don’t usually write comments or reviews. But, this will be my third time making these, and they are absolutely amazing. I first stumbled upon this recipe my second week of being vegan, so it helped a lot. My boyfriend, who is very much a meat and seafood eater LOVED it.
If you’re thinking about it, I say just go for it! You won’t be disappointed!
THANK YOU STEPHANIE!!!!
So, I am oil free and wanted to know if these would work in an air fryer?
Hi Cody! I’m not sure if they’d work in an air fryer as I have never tried, but I have gotten lots of feedback from people who’ve baked them and they’ve come out great! If you do air fry them, please let me know how they turn out. Good luck!
Has anyone tried baking instead of frying? It’s not that I am against frying I just never know what to do with all the oil once I am finished.
Hi Kaitlyn! I’ve had a couple people message me and said they’ve baked them and they came out just as good!! I definitely think it’s worth a try 🙂
Would you happen to know the calorie count for the crab cakes and the remoulade individually?
Hi, Janine!! Unfortunately, I don’t. I don’t really track calories, but there are many apps for smart devices that do! My Net Diary is a great one 😊
These are delicious! My non vegan friends complimented them as well! We subbed the bread crumbs and flour to gluten free and they turned out wonderful!
Thanks, Jasmine!! So happy your non-vegan friends love them, too 😊
This recipe was incredible. I added diced celery and it worked really well. My family, which includes meat eaters, LOVED this!! Will definitely make this often in the future! 😊
Wen, SO happy to hear your family loves the recipe!! Thank you for sharing it with your loved one’s!
Trying them tonight. They look amazing! Love the sauce too.
Thanks, Jan!! Hope you love these crabless cakes as much as we do!
Had to make these twice. First time I mistakenly used the Slap Yo Momma spice instead of the Old Bay. Anyone who knows both of these will realize this was a huge mistake. I did salvage it a bit by adding an additional can of hearts of palm and some additional Old Bay but still way to spicy for every day people. Second time I left the Slap Yo Momma out altogether just to see. I think it needs a some of the heat but definitely not the tablespoon I used the first time. Love learning about the hearts of palm. I see a lot of things I am going to try with this. I did put these in a food processor for the second batch and was much happier with the texture.
Anyone know if I could make these a few days in advance and freeze them? I’ve made these several times before and now I want to take them on vacation and share with family.
Yes you can absolutely make them ahead and freeze them!!
This is hands down one of my fav recipes! They tasted absolutely amazing to say the least, Pretty sure I licked my fork, my fingers and plate once I was done. It was my first time cooking with hearts of palm and all I can say is WOW, I’m seriously amazed how spot on the texture was. The sauce was also super easy to make and now one of my go to sauces for EVERYTHING! This is definitely a must try! Thanks for the amazing recipe Ash!
I can’t wait to try some of your recipes! I just got my first crock pot (and I’m a senior) and am exploring the world of slow cooked food. Thanks!
This looks soooo good!! I’m not a fan of the flavor/texture of soy milk. Did you by chance test with dairy milk, or have thoughts on subbing it? Thanks!!
Hi Rose! I do not cook with any animal products, so I have not tested this recipe with regular dairy milk. I have, however, tested it with oat milk and almond milk – and because the protein content is higher in soy milk, I find it works best for this recipe.
CALLING ALL CRAB CAKE AND FOOD LOVERS!
I can say, hands-down, that these are the best crab cakes I have ever had. Before going vegan, I would order them off of almost any menu. I have travelled the country over the past 12 years for work and if there was one appetizer I would expense, it was almost always crab cakes. I am SO HAPPY that I can indulge in them once again and the texture, flavor and sauce are seriously on point. I made them for my dad and boyfriend who are both meat eaters and I didn’t have to ask them, “Well, what do you think? Are they good?” like I have to with other veganized recipes. They both told me immediately how much they liked the crab cakes and I even filmed the reaction of my boyfriend when he tried them, he was in shock at how closely they resembled the real thing. Please do yourself a favor, if you’re reading this and contemplating making them, go check your ingredients, get the ones your missing, do yourself a favor and make these awesome plant-based crab cakes, you will NOT regret it!
I tried this last night after finding it on Pinterest and we loved it! It’s definitely on my list to make again!
I am not vegan, not even vegetarian, but really liked these. I could not mash the heart of palm in the pan so I removed them and pulsed in the food processor. Also living in Europe I do not have your seasoning I used mustard, worcestershiresauce, tabasco, paprika powder. Instead of regular flour I used chickpea flour and regular dairy milk. The texture was fabulous!! They tasted good and I imagine they would be even better with the seasoning you have in the recipe. Lovely healthy find!
Absolutely delicious! We will be making these for Christmas Eve dinner…Do you have other vegan( seafood )non seafood recipes?
Hi Annette! I have a vegan scallops recipe on my blog that is quite popular as well, and perfect for Christmas dinner! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe … it’s one of my favorites!!!
Yasssss to these amazzzzinggg 🦀’less cakes
I used Gf flour mixed with chickpea flour for my dredge, almond milk and GF crumbs……..soooo crispy and delish, right down to the sauce that perfectly compliments them.
Will def be making these again real soon!!!!
Thank you 🙏🏽
Incredible! These cakes have a wonderful texture and they’re so flavorful. I was also surprised at how easily and quickly they came together… I skipped putting the formed cakes in the freezer to set and they still came out just right. I’ll be making these again soon.
Hi! I have made these quite a few times and they are positively delicious!!! I would like to make them a few days ahead of time and freeze them. Would you suggest freezing them uncooked or after frying them?
I made these last night and omg they are delicious!! I used Just eggs in place of the almond milk and I added just eggs to the mix itself and they turned out fabulous. My hubby is making vegan hallndaise sauce today so we can have crab cake bennicts, we will use the just egg patty’s from the freezer. Thank you for all your delicious recipes love them all!!
This was amazing and came out so much better than I thought. I will be making this again
These vegan cakes are the best I’ve ever had. I bought The make it Vegan cookbook and I have made almost all the recipes in the book and every single one is hands down Delicious!! Thank you Ashley for all the wonderful recipes!!
After going vegan, I realized I didn’t crave a lot of what I used to eat but what I DID crave was crab cakes! Seafood was the most difficult to give up for me (I was pescatarian first) so I am SO excited to try this! I have most of the ingredients but I think I’ll go run to the store today to get the rest so that I can make this tonight. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I just made these for vegans and non- vegans and everyone went nuts for them. Just the other day I was mentioning to my husband how every time I try to make breaded anything, the breading falls off when I fry it. These came out perfect and exactly like the picture. Tasted so good too.
I just made these and they were awesome. I used chickpea flour and baked in the oven. I didn’t make the sauce because I am trying to stay low fat. I ate with cocktail sauce instead. I was amazed how much like a crab cake it was. Definitely will make again.