Since my parents love seafood so much, my sisters and I grew up eating a lot of it. In fact, the last "animal with a face" I stopped eating is crab cakes. So I guess you can say I enjoy a crab cake just as much as the next person. Taking a few ingredients from my dad's homemade recipe, I took my time with this dish to capture some of that childhood essence. Mission accomplished.
Even though these crab cakes will never taste exactly like the original, they do an excellent job of having the same texture, flavor, and goodness of a traditional crab cake.
Since oyster mushrooms live up to their name by having a natural oyster flavor, I knew they would be a perfect main ingredient. Be sure to grind them up in a food processor (or blender) for a few seconds, so the crab cakes patties don't fall apart while frying.
I experimented with kelp powder and there wasn't much of a difference in flavor to me. If you have some on hand when making this recipe and decide to use it, please update me on whether or not it worked for you. :-)
I used this curry slaw from Vegan Cooking with Love to go with the crab cakes.
Check out the full crab cake recipe below and watch me make it on YouTube.
Vegan Crab Cakes
Keywords: fry vegan vegetarian
Ingredients (6-7 Crab cakes)
- About 4 ½ cups of oyster mushrooms, cleaned, broken in pieces with stems trimmed off
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 4 tbsp warm water
- ½ cup white onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ¾ cup Panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup vegan mayo
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ cup vegan mayo
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp capers
Instructions
For the Crab cakesPut the mushrooms in a food processor (or blender) and chop for about 5 seconds. Transfer to a large bowl. Don't skip this step because the crab cakes will fall a part while frying if they're not finely chopped.
In a small dish mix together the flaxseed and water until it has a runny consistency like an egg, Mix the "egg "in with the mushrooms.
In a skillet, saute garlic and onion on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients of breadcrumbs, garlic powder, Old Bay, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Mix that in with mushrooms. Next, add in cooked garlic and onion, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and vegan mayo.
Mix together well.
Form crab cakes into patties and fry on medium heat in a large skillet using vegetable oil. You can also coat with additional breadcrumbs, if you prefer a firmer crab cake.
Allow to drain on a napkin or towel.
For the sauceMix all ingredients together in a bowl and generously add on top of crab cakes.