Vegan Crab Salad Rolls (2024)

January 31, 2018 by Lisa Le 33 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?

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 Kitchenand 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.

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.

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

Print Recipe

Vegan Crab Salad Rolls

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Lisa Le

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

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

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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

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
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
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- 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
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
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
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
Mrs says
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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
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
Lisa says
February 21, 2018 at 9:22 PM

This looks delicious. Must try:-)
Reply
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
Claudia says
March 12, 2018 at 2:08 PM

This turned out amazing. Thank you for this perfect recipe!!
Reply
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
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
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
Kendra says
April 23, 2018 at 3:21 PM

This was so good!!
Reply
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
Julie Perreault says
July 19, 2018 at 10:13 PM

I love it so much. I made this recipe so often, thanks
Reply
Lenny says
July 28, 2018 at 12:48 PM

Made this for the family for lunch – awesome recipe. They all loved it!
Reply
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
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
Mary says
October 25, 2020 at 2:42 PM

Yum They look so delicious <3 Gotta love that smoked tofu!
<3 Mary
Reply
Simone Wiens says
January 7, 2023 at 12:36 PM

Made this today and served it a quick crunchy cabbage salad (Sam Turnbull ) and some Furikake and it was SO SO SO delicious !! Thank you.
Reply

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