• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • YouTube
TVV-Logo-for-bright-bg

The Viet Vegan

Vegan. Feminist. Nerd.

  • Home
  • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipe Index
  • Work With Me
    • Press

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls

January 31, 2018 by Lisa Le 32 Comments

Jump to Recipe
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

Continue to Content
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
Spread the love:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Filed Under: Gluten-Free, Lunch, Vegan recipes Tagged With: crab salad, meal prep, sandwich, vegan, vegan crab salad roll, vegetarian

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.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. JoAnne says

    January 31, 2018 at 6:13 PM

    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

      January 31, 2018 at 6:15 PM

      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

    January 31, 2018 at 6:27 PM

    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
    • Lisa Le says

      January 31, 2018 at 6:30 PM

      Either nori or dulse flakes :) I have the link to that recipe in this post, but just above the comment section, there’s a jump that that recipe since that was the last one I posted!

      Reply
      • Sher says

        August 31, 2019 at 7:49 AM

        This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing! What kind of buns are those?

        Reply
        • Lisa Le says

          September 30, 2019 at 12:33 PM

          They’re just regular sausage buns from my grocery store haha.

          Reply
  3. Marissa says

    February 1, 2018 at 12:53 AM

    Do you think jackfruit would be a good substitute to the smoked tofu?

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      February 1, 2018 at 1:28 PM

      It could work yes :) Young jackfruit would probably work best

      Reply
  4. Teresa says

    February 1, 2018 at 1:23 PM

    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
    • Lisa Le says

      February 1, 2018 at 1:29 PM

      You can use any sort of pressed tofu! I showed the package in my video if you want to see if you can find something similar in your area :)

      Reply
      • tessa says

        March 27, 2018 at 8:23 PM

        I marinate my tofu in liquid smoke! It seems to work well.

        Reply
        • arj says

          January 20, 2019 at 12:57 PM

          This is a cool idea! Would you mind sharing how much liquid smoke and if you dilute with water or anything? Thank you!!!

          Reply
  5. Web Info says

    February 4, 2018 at 9:22 AM

    Nice recipe as an alternative to crab. Very easy to prepare too. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  6. Mrs says

    February 8, 2018 at 4:25 PM

    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
    • Lisa Le says

      February 10, 2018 at 6:47 PM

      So glad you liked it :) I’m a lazy cook so I’m glad people find that helpful hahaha

      Reply
  7. Karen says

    February 9, 2018 at 9:04 PM

    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
    • Lisa Le says

      February 10, 2018 at 6:41 PM

      I have the weight of the package I used in the ingredients list :)

      Reply
  8. Lisa says

    February 21, 2018 at 9:22 PM

    This looks delicious. Must try:-)

    Reply
  9. Debbie says

    March 5, 2018 at 3:58 PM

    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
    • Lisa Le says

      March 5, 2018 at 8:38 PM

      I just liked having a bit of acidity to balance and cut through the richness :)

      Reply
  10. Claudia says

    March 12, 2018 at 2:08 PM

    This turned out amazing. Thank you for this perfect recipe!!

    Reply
  11. RunningVegan says

    March 21, 2018 at 5:49 PM

    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

      March 21, 2018 at 5:52 PM

      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

    March 24, 2018 at 8:32 PM

    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

    March 30, 2018 at 12:40 PM

    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
  14. Kendra says

    April 23, 2018 at 3:21 PM

    This was so good!!

    Reply
  15. Bob says

    May 4, 2018 at 11:47 AM

    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
  16. Julie Perreault says

    July 19, 2018 at 10:13 PM

    I love it so much. I made this recipe so often, thanks

    Reply
  17. Lenny says

    July 28, 2018 at 12:48 PM

    Made this for the family for lunch – awesome recipe. They all loved it!

    Reply
  18. Nancy says

    October 12, 2018 at 5:10 PM

    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
  19. Alice says

    September 25, 2020 at 9:19 PM

    Where do you buy smoked tofu, or do you smoke it yourself? I’ve never seen smoked it at grocery stores.

    Reply
  20. Mary says

    October 25, 2020 at 2:42 PM

    Yum They look so delicious <3 Gotta love that smoked tofu!
    <3 Mary

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome!

Lisa

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

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

looking for something?

Recipe index sidebar
YouTube-Graphic-side
Vietnamese recipe index button
  • Popular
  • Recent

Footer

What are you craving?

Recipe index footer

Looking for something?

Find me in other places :)

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find me on YouTube!

youtube_watch

View

Jan 13

Open
Just a new What I Eat In a Day vlog where I make many bready things and get extremely excited about my new water bottle 🤣Featuring the vegan spicy negi ramen kit from @crafty_ramen (gifted), my go-to daal, sourdough naan experiments and discard bread experiments!It's live on the channel now 😊
https://youtu.be/QuagXSKuknE#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #whatieatinaday #kwvegansociety #hamiltonvegan #hamont #veganfood #veganuary2021
1033 29
View

Jan 9

Open
Henlo it's been a very busy week on my end but I've been working hard to try to get back up to 2x a week uploads again. So last week I posted two bookish videos and today I posted my sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies!
🍪
Crisp edges, chewy centre, crunchy flakes of @maldonsalt on top...MMM. A perfect way to use up some sourdough discard!
🍪
Video is up on the channel, and recipe is on the blog🥰https://bit.ly/2LilQk3#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #sourdoughdiscard #sourdough #🍪
705 17
View

Dec 16

Open
[AD] Tis the season for finger food and delicious bites! So many vegan charcuteries tend to be nut-heavy, but for those who are allergic to many things like me, you might enjoy this pizza snack board I created for @whollyveggie with some marinated mushrooms (recipe on the blog), fresh veggies, and olives, and vegan salami to snack on, with pizza sauce to dunk in!
🍕
I used the Classic Cheese, Margherita pizzas, and Naked Cauliflower Crust that are frozen and delicious for a snack board. I honestly kind of forgot that they were gluten-free because I love a nice, crisp thin crust and this was tender enough to yield a nice, chewy bite while being golden and crisp!
🍕
Find the recipe on my blog, deets on your closest Wholly Veggy retailer on their website, and please tag me and @whollyveggie in your homemade pizza snack boards! I'd love to see how you customize yours :)
🍕
#thevietvegan #whollyveggie #veggiefullmeals #respecttheveg #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #bestofvegan #vegancharcuterie #thevietveganrecipes https://bit.ly/3gTF22N
604 37
View

Nov 28

Open
Feeling like I got my mojo back! Also coincidentally my cycle ended, so maybe that had something to do with this week of super low energy and negativity 😂❣️😭Today I cleaned out the fridge, treated myself to a schnickers square from @covenhamilton and made some Instant Pot phở because Eddie's been missing @saigonlotustoronto and we haven't been able to go all year (for obvious reasons).You can find the recipe on the blog. I'll put a swipe up link since the link in bio sometimes take a second to populate, or you can use the search bar at the top of my blog! Hope you are all having a relaxing weekend ☺️Instant Pot Phở: http://bit.ly/2DdKATA#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #veganpho #vietvegan #vietnamesefood
1587 30
View

Nov 26

Open
A lot of you are celebrating Thanksgiving today, and while this Instant Pot red curry lentil and potato stew is not a Thanksgiving recipe, I wish you all the best this weekend and kindly remind you that Thanksgiving has a lot of colonial, traumatic and genocidal origins of Indigenous peoples across North America.
🍂
Eddie loves Thanksgiving food (I mostly like stuffing/dressing and mashed potatoes haha) so I understand that nostalgia and love for Thanksgiving fare, but I hope you also take this time to continue your education in Indigenous history, culture and how the exploitation and trauma still affects Indigenous cultures and peoples today.
🍂
I always worry I'm being like a bummer to remind you of this year after year, but I'm on my own journey of education and unlearning the history we were erroneously taught and all the convenient gaps that didn't tell the whole story. We are all unlearning together.
🍂
And while it is important to learn about the heavy history, I also implore you to appreciate and support Indigenous art and cultures. I recently finished reading Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson and I have many more books by Indigenous authors on my to-read list!
🍂
Enjoy the time with your loved ones (hopefully very safely, and hopefully you've quarantined before seeing each other). It can be hard to deny our families who have varying levels of concern, but know that the precautions you take now show the people you love and the communities we're in how much you care. Virtual celebrations aren't quite the same but are a nice stand-in for being alone.
🍂
Also fyi this is an Instant Pot red curry lentil and potato stew I shared last week. On YouTube and the blog! https://bit.ly/3nCsQWm
🍂
#thevietvegan #thanksgiving #thanksliving #veganthanksgiving #thevietveganrecipes #whatveganseat #veganmealprep
361 4
View

Nov 7

Open
I feel like it's no suprise to anyone that my favourite colour is green and that this green ramen is an herbaceous, vibrant way to eat your greens!
💚
PLUS I use peas in the sauce to add some lean, green protein so you don't feel hungry again in 20 minutes like you would if you just ate a pack of instant noodles 😂
💚
Recipe is linked in the bio, although it might take a sec to repopulate but it's also in my Asian recipe highlight (although it's not really Asian... it's just green saucy noods but my regular recipe highlight is getting too long 😅)
💚
#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes http://bit.ly/2w7pXE4 #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #bestofvegan #eatyourgreens #vegan #vegansofig
1083 18
View

Oct 30

Open
Inari pockets with vegan crab salad from my last hiking vlog 🍱🌳🍂 some of y'all might remember that this package of tofu pockets was similar to the package I have bought before and I realized too late that they had clam and oyster extract in the seasoning.
🍁
Because I was going on a hike with a few omnis, I figured it was worth just using it anyway to feed them so it didn't go to waste, and that way Eddie and I didn't have to eat it all on our own. This dilemma can be controversial, and I've had people (well, one persistent person) hate on me for drinking a can of Arizona Iced Tea after I bought it and realized too late that it had honey in it.
🍁
Y'all, being vegan is point blank a privilege. Choosing what to eat, being informed enough to want to choose vegan, having access to fruits and vegetables that don't cost $$$$, having time to cook, having the time to LEARN how to cook, it is all overlapping privileges that enable any of us to eat vegan. Throwing food away because of a mistake you made even though it is perfectly edible is not helping the animals (and it is so wasteful!)
🍂
Obviously in this case, it was just extract and not actually pieces of meat, dairy, or egg, so it was easier for me to eat it without trying to think about it. And honestly, I'm unsure if I would be able to eat anything non-vegan without getting sick (because I got hives after eating the tofu pockets 🙃), but it's nuanced and eating a non-vegan product you bought by accident doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't discount your veganism. You simply learn from it and keep trucking on.
🍁
Anyway, I explain this in the video but have a watch it you want to see how I made the inari and the beautiful trees on the hike 😁#thevietvegan #thevietveganrecipes https://youtu.be/aBY97WhZCw4 #inarisushi #whatveganseat
1008 35
View

Oct 27

Open
From before my last manicure 😅 vegan tempura batter for super crispy, light and simple fried goodness! Recipe is live on the blog :) the last few days have been pretty busy but hopefully I will be back on testing upcoming recipes soon!Recipe will be in the swipe up in stories, and linked in the bio (although sometimes it takes a sec to populate 😅)#thevietveganrecipes https://bit.ly/34y9lYv #thevietvegan #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #vegantempura #bestofvegan #veganeats #eeeeeats #feedfeedvegan
624 15
View

Oct 15

Open
I've been eating this nearly every day for the past four days 😂 bánh hỏi thịt nướng chay! I've been meaning to develop a nem nướng chay recipe to go along with this but this week was not the week haha.
🥗
Did anyone else grow up eating platters upon platters of bánh hỏi at long weekend parties and family gatherings? I swear these take up less space in my body than actual noodles because I can always eat an alarming amount 😂
🥗
Check out the new video on YT and the recipe on my blog, swipe up links in my stories!
🥗
#thevietveganrecipes https://bit.ly/343B7vP #thevietvegan #whatveganseat #vietnamesefood #vietvegan #veganfoodshare #letscookvegan #banhhoi #vietkieu
1364 35
View

Oct 9

Open
Dinner last night was a little late, but I feel like bánh hỏi is one of those things you can eat a million of and you won't feel too full 😂
💛
Bánh hỏi is vermicelli noodles and starch in flat layers that are then cut into rectangles and rolled and dressed with a bit of green onion oil. The process used to be so tedious and annoying that I never thought it was worth making (even though I love eating it), but lately I've seen them premade and cut into those rectangles!
💛
There are so many methods: my mom boils them for 1 minute, then strains and then lays them flat to cool. The package said soak for 10 min and then steam for 10 min, but that was such a hassle. One of you suggested using the microwave and I was like oh, DUH that's how I learned to make them in the first place. So I soaked for 10 min, then microwaved for 80 seconds, et voila! They were perfect.
💛
I served them with mở hành, pan-fried soy curls in my thịt nướng marinade (I'll link that recipe in my bio/stories), and with my favourite nước mắm chấm chay! Delicious! I will buy more bánh hỏi this week so I can film a video tutorial for next week!
💛
#thevietveganrecipes https://bit.ly/3f1C3Uh #thevietvegan #whatveganseat #veganfoodshare #vietkieu #Vietnamesefood #vietvegan #chay #banhhoi
879 23
TVV logo

Copyright© 2021 · The Viet Vegan · All rights reserved

  • Recipe Index
  • Privacy Policy
  • Work With Me
  • Press