Vegetarian Crab Cakes With Homemade Tartar Sauce

A delicious and vegetarian twist on a childhood favorite of mine that we make a lot these days!

I grew up in South Florida and always enjoyed a well made crab cake. To me, that meant one that was composed of large lumps of crab meat while still having a good amount of textural variance between the meat and the fillings. I prefer crab cakes that don’t use too much breading which leads to a more cakey bite vs a more ‘tear away’ bite defined by the large chunks of crab meat. And while you could find crab cakes at many South Florida restaurants, there were only a few that would make them this way.

Flash forward to 2024 and these days, I probably eat more of this vegetarian crab cake recipe that I developed vs the real thing. And there are a few reasons for that…

First off, my lovely wife Sami is a vegetarian and loves these! Over the many years of being together, I’ve grown to adopt a much more veggie forward diet. And when solid vegetarian substitutes like this (or buffalo cauliflower for instance) come around, I’m generally pretty happy to opt for it so we can both enjoy it.

Second off, these are far more economical. Lump crab meat is very expensive and replacing it with essentially canned hearts of palm and chickpeas cuts the cost down tremendously. In doing this, it’s been really easy to share this recipe with others as well since you can make a ton of them for well under $20.

And Lastly, they are damn delicious, delivering a surprisingly similar result to the real deal. At least to the point where I’m just as satisfied and don’t really care if it’s real crab meat or not. 

The meat of these vegetarian crab cakes is a lightly pulsed mixture of canned hearts of palm and chickpeas. It may sound like an odd combo, but the texture that you get is varied and very similar to that of lump crab meat. It has a kind of ‘tearing’ quality to it when you take a bite of the finished cakes. 

I had actually first heard of this chick pea x hearts of palm technique years ago. A friend of mine was going vegan with her husband and was looking for clever replacements for some of their old favorites and stumbled upon the idea. They also used to add in a crumbled up sheet of toasted nori to their recipe, which was all in services to helping to amp up the umami and overall ‘presence and flavor of the ocean’. 

This recipe isn’t vegan since we’re using using some eggs for our mayo, general mixture and breading stage. However, you can definitely sub these for plant based options and the recipes will still work great!

We’re going pretty heavy on the herbs and with a little bit of heat (which you can adjust to your preference). We’re using a decent amount of panko bread crumbs to help hold everything together. The trick is to add just enough breading to help hold everything together but not too much to where they come out overly bready. I know I keep saying it but you really do want that ‘tear away’ sensation when eating these.

To finish them off we simple pan fry them in a mixture of butter and oil until crispy on both sides.

For a sauce, we mix up some pickles, herbs, lemon juice and mayo for a tangy tartar/remoulade situation.

Side Note: Cool down your mixture in the fridge for a half hour or so. It will help to make it much easier to form your patties! 

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

Joey

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Full Recipe Below

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4-6 people, this recipe will make around 12(ish) of the cakes depending on how large you make them.

Ingredients for the Cakes:

• 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained

• 3 15 oz cans hearts of palm, drained and cut into short baton

• 2 tbsp chives, minced

• 2 tbsp tarragon, minced

• 1 tbsp coconut aminos or vegan worchestire 

• 2 tbsp toasted nori, ground

• 2 tbsp dijon mustard

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp aleppo pepper flakes

• 1 tsp old bay seasoning

• 2 large eggs

• 2 cups panko bread crumbs

• 1 cup mayo

• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

• 2 tbsp avocado oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Sauce:

• 1 cup mayo

• 2 tbsp capers, minced

• 2 tbsp cornichons, minced

• 1 tsp tarragon, minced

• 2 tbsp chives 

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp Dijon

• salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

• Lightly pulse chickpeas and hearts of palm in a food processor, be careful not to over process. The texture should still be fairly chunky while still well mixed.

• In a large bowl, ad mayo, half the panko, chives, tarragon, lemon juice, aleppo pepper, old bay, mustard, coconut aminos, toasted nori and 1 egg. Season with salt and pepper and mix until thoroughly combined. Note: At this point, you can let the mixture sit for a bit in the refrigerator which will help make forming the patties easier if preferred.

• Make your sauce by mixing together mayo, capers, cornichons, tarragon, chives, lemon juice and Dijon mustard in a medium sized bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside for later.

• Form your 'crab cake’ mixture into patties using a 1/3 measuring cup. Arrange them on a 1/2 sheet pan lined with parchment.

• Set up a plate with the remaining egg (whisked) and another with the remaining panko. Dredge each of the patties into the egg and then the breadcrumbs, covering both sides.

• Heat butter and oil in a cast iron skillet. Add patties and cook until browned and crispy on both sides, about 10 minutes total.

• Serve with tartar sauce (recipe on the next page) and more chives.