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Xin chào! Welcome to my food blog. Thanks for visiting, reading, and enabling my obsession with food and photography.

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vegan gluten-free Vietnamese Dishes

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls

by 30 Comments

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These vegan crab salad rolls are full of tender, delicious seafood flavour without any of the seafood!
Savoury, creamy, tender and crunchy filling in a super soft bun? What’s not to love?
Vegan Crab Salad Rolls - The Viet Vegan

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls - The Viet Vegan

Apparently I’ve been really on the mayo train and I don’t really know why. I’ve been eating a lot of more typical Canadian/American food lately and less of my typical rice, noodles, and Viet-style soup fare. My tastebuds tend to go through phases where I want certain cuisines more than others, but I usually teeter back to Vietnamese style staples after a certain amount of time.

I got the idea for these vegan crab salad rolls from the lovely Mary from Mary’s Test Kitchen and decided to give it a whirl with my own spin on things. Shredding pressed, extra firm tofu gives you this incredible, shredded “meat” that is almost exactly like crab meat it’s unreal! I chose to use a smoked tofu, because smoked tofu is one of my favourite flavours of tofu because it just gives this incredible umami flavour that brings tofu to a whole different level.

Using plenty of green onion, finely diced celery (much like my last recipe) adds lots of twang, crunch, and flavour to this recipe. Not to mention the Old Bay season, commonly used for crab cakes and lobster rolls, gives this that seafoody je-ne-sais-quoi that would otherwise be pretty difficult to replicate.

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls - The Viet Vegan

I’ve been finding that I’m missing seafood a lot lately, mostly for sushi, but sometimes also for hot pot or East-Coast comfort classics like these, so having these vegan versions to replace the texture of that seafood has been awesome! Also, smoked tofu is usually a lot easier to find than vegan shrimp or vegan crab meat, so hopefully you benefit from this too.

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls - The Viet Vegan

Anyway, I hope you like the recipe, and the slightly nonsensical video that goes along with it to show you how I made it. For what it’s worth, I was REALLY hungry when I started filming and I just started to do weird stuff like sing and say odd things, so please excuse me, I was undercarbed XD

Yield: 4 servings

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls - The Viet Vegan
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 block pressed smoked tofu (210 g)
  • 2 green onions, finely minced
  • 2 small ribs celery, finely diced (about 1/2 cup total)
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper (or black pepper)
  • 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • 1/3 cup vegan mayo
  • 2 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
  • 4 hot dog buns (or hoagie rolls)

Instructions

  1. Use a grater to shred the entire block of tofu. Discard (or eat) the tough outside part that's not as easy to shred.
  2. Combine with minced green onions, celery, white pepper, Old Bay seasoning, vegan mayo, and lemon juice. Mix until combined.
  3. Fill your toasted or fresh hot dog buns or hoagie rolls and enjoy!
© Lisa Le

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Comments

  1. JoAnne says

    Have you tried this with hearts of palm? They are a bit pricey but their texture is amazing! I made a vegan crab salad sandwich with them and it was delish! I don't think I even ever tried crab before I went vegan so can't say how similar it is though.
    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      I have! But yeah it's kinda expensive haha. But I like using tofu because it also replaces the protein component of crab too :) I do find that the tofu is more crablike than the hearts of palm though.
      Reply

  2. Sarah K. says

    Hi Lisa! There was something you used in your last chickpea pasta salad recipe that gave it a fishy taste. What was this and where do you think I could purchase it! I cant' wait to try this omg I love anything smothered in mayo!!
    Reply

  4. Teresa says

    I cannot find smoked tofu anywhere around me. I live in New England and I've tried multiple Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and smaller health food store type places. I've looked in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont! This looks like a great recipe! Hopefully I will find some smoked tofu one day and stock up.
    Reply

  6. Mrs says

    This recipe is Awesome!! Thank you so much I really appreciate you sharing such a great option for people like me. I tried it and was so easy.
    Reply

  7. Karen says

    Hi there! This looks delicious; don’t have that brand of smoked tofu in the U.S., but found an alternative. The package of Soyboy Smoked Tofu states it’s 227 g or 8 oz, but your tofu block looks double the size! Just double checking that I only need one package and not two...
    Reply

  9. Debbie says

    OMG, this was so extremely good! I did add 1 red, 1 orange baby bell peppers for added crunch and color. Why did you use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar? I’m curious bc I totally forgot to add! I ate this over 4 days, and the taste never changed - only got better!
    Reply

  11. RunningVegan says

    OMG, Lisa! You are a genius!! This cannot be understated. We cannot find smoked tofu anywhere locally, so my husband smokes our own using the Vegan Dad’s recipe. Usually I freeze it, but I held a couple blocks out because I remembered the video and your recipe. I am so glad I did! On the one hand, it’s not really how I remember crab salad tasting. On the other hand, I really don’t care. This is delicious in its own right. Truly. Hands down the best thing I’ve eaten in weeks. Hearts of palm, jackfruit...they ain’t got nothing on this. Unfortunately, I don’t think my frozen and thawed smoked tofu will have the same texture as the non-frozen kind so then the question becomes, do I really have to share?!?
    Reply

    • Lisa Le says

      Hahha I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You're such a badass for making your own smoked tofu! The frozen and thawed tofu won't have the same texture but I'm sure it'll be delicious too! Heck you can chop it up into smaller cubes to be more lobster-roll-esque in this case :)
      Reply

  12. The Student-turned-Doctor @ Food for Dissertating says

    This was amazing. It was so amazing that the people at work who usually look at what I'm eating and sneer paused to say, "That looks really good. What IS that?" I will make this again, without question. Thanks so much for the recipe and for helping me figure out what to do with the smoked tofu I kept seeing and hadn't bought yet. Here's my lunch: http://foodfordissertating.blogspot.com/2018/03/eco-lunchbox-three-in-one-66.html
    Reply

  13. Dee says

    This was delicious! I added red pepper for a bit more crunch and color. My husband and I both loved it. Thanks for a great recipe!
    Reply

  15. Bob says

    I just found this recipe today. I'd already planned on picking up some smoked tofu at the reopening of an Asian Grocery today, and have been looking for a reason to try the Vegan Hellmann's. I'm going to pick up some vegan Pretzel sausage buns and we're cookin'! Cảm ơn!
    Reply

  18. Nancy says

    I made this today and it was great! Same type of texture as crab with the Old Bay seasoning and lemon juice making it perfect. I found Sriracha flavored pressed tofu at Trader Joe's so it gave it a little spice. I like the idea of soaking regular tofu in liquid smoke. Sliced black olives and cherry tomatoes took it over the top.
    Reply

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