Prepare yourselves, this is my personal favorite Almost Like Mom’s recipe to date! I go the idea to make Vegan Crab Cakes from one of my favorite vegan You Tube channels Hot for Food. Even if you’re not vegan, you should check out their videos. They’re an adorable couple and their food looks amazing! They made crab cakes using artichokes which I had never thought of before and I thought was genius! I switched up their recipe slightly by adding some fresh herbs and more seasoning and it is absolutely outstanding. It’s the perfect recipe to serve vegan non-believers.
The idea of making crab cakes with artichokes because it’s actually a pretty popular and well known thing among vegans. But, being new to veganism I was amazed at how perfect they worked! They have a similar consistency to crab and their flavor mixes well with the lemons and old bay seasoning that makes them very similar to crab cakes. Honestly, I think these are better than any regular crab cake I’ve ever had a restaurant! I promise you will not be sad that it’s not crab.
I also kicked this recipe up a notch with cayenne pepper and added my favorite secret ingredient capers. If you haven’t been cooking with capers yet, start now! They add the perfect flavor to almost any dishes. I love throwing them in pasta or rice dishes and they really make these crab cakes special.
The Roasted Red Pepper Aioli I made for this recipe is amazing! It’s the perfect accompaniment to the crab cakes. Andrew and I both ate these with my homemade tartar sauce as well and that might’ve been even better. If you’re making them for a crowd I recommend making both sauces and putting them on a platter. You can even try to trick them by not telling them it’s not crab until they love it, and I promise they will.
As always, don’t forget to subscribe if you like this recipe and remember to follow Almost Like Mom’s on social media.
Until Next Time,
Jackie
The Best Vegan Crab Cakes
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Vegan Crab Cakes made with artichoke hearts, fresh herbs and spices, served with homemade Roasted Red Pepper Aioli! The perfect way to please even the toughest vegan critics.
Author: Jackie DeSana
Recipe type: Dinner, Snack, Appetizer
Cuisine: Vegan, Vegetarian
Serves: 10 cakes
Ingredients
- Crab Cakes
- 2 cups canned artichoke hearts, chopped
- ¼ cup liquid from artichoke can
- juice of 2 lemons
- ½ white onion, diced
- 3 stalks celery, sliced
- 2 tsp old bay seasoning
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
- 2 tbs capers
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper
- Batter
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (more if you need it)
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup almond milk
- vegetable oil (enough to fill ½ at the bottom of a pan)
- Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
- 1 cup vegan mayo
- ½ cup roasted red pepper, chopped
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper
Directions
- Chop all your vegetables and drain and the artichokes, reserving ¼ cup of the can liquid. In a large bowl combine all of the crab cake ingredients. Mix thoroughly until all the ingredients are combined into kind of a paste.
- Heat the oil on your stove until it's ready for frying. It's ready when you splash water into it and the water sizzles. Prepare your battering station by placing the panko bread crumbs, almond milk and flour into separate shallow bowls.
- Dust your hands with flour so that they won't stick to the crab cake mix. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop out the crab cake mix and flatten it with your hands into a cake. Dip the cakes into the flour then the almond milk then the panko. It may help to just splash the cake with the almond milk to avoid it falling apart. You really just need it moist enough for the panko to stick.
- Place the battered crab cakes into the hot oil and cook until they're slightly browned and crispy. This will take about 3 minutes on each side.
- Make the red pepper Aioli by placing all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Serve the crab cakes with an extra squeeze of lemon and the red pepper Aioli on the side or drizzled on top! This recipe is also delicious with my homemade tartar sauce from my fish taco recipe.
Notes
*If you're not vegan, you can make the Aioli with regular mayo or Greek yogurt, whatever you have!
*For a gluten free option, I recommend using chickpea flour or brown rice flour and then for the batter use almonds chopped in a food processor. I haven't tried it with this specific recipe but I have battered with almonds before and it works well!
*For a gluten free option, I recommend using chickpea flour or brown rice flour and then for the batter use almonds chopped in a food processor. I haven't tried it with this specific recipe but I have battered with almonds before and it works well!
