I was watching Ina Garten make crab cakes on TV, and they looked very yummy. I wondered if I could make them with tofu. After carefully crafting this tofu crab cake recipe, I enlisted my friends to act as taste testers, and they gave it two thumbs up. These make great appetizers to serve at parties with other finger foods, but you could certainly make a meal out of a pair and add a tasty fresh green salad or slaw on the side.
You can top this dish with any kind of salsa, but I prefer a fruit salsa, like mango. You won’t be disappointed at all with the flavor of this dish. I didn’t have any Old Bay seasoning on hand, so I added a pinch of this and that. If you want that traditional crab cake spice, then you should use Old Bay or at least a few key seasonings that are in Old Bay, like celery seed, red pepper, and paprika.
If you want to add more depth to the crab cake or change the flavor profile slightly, add fresh herbs. The recipe calls for parsley, but you can add other herbs. Fresh herbs each have a list of benefits significant to each individual herb.
When following a plant-based meal plan, it is always a good idea to start your own herb garden. You can grow herbs on your countertop or plant fresh herbs in your garden. Pinterest is loaded with tips on how to grow an herb garden.
One of the steps you’ll find when using tofu is to press it, which will remove excess water. This allows the tofu to absorb all the flavor from a recipe. Do this easily by pressing the tofu using a tofu press or by wrapping it in paper towels and placing it on a plate with another plate on top. Put something heavy on top. Press for around 15 minutes while you prepare the other veggies.
One of my favorite presses is The TofuBud.
Looking for more tofu-inspired recipes? Here’s a few more to try:
- Breakfast Burrito with Tofu Scramble
- Spinach Tofu Benedict
- One-Pot Thai Coconut Curry Tofu
- Pineapple Fried Rice with Tofu
- Vietnamese Tofu Noodle Bowl
I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Tofu Crab Cakes recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
Tofu "Crab" Cakes
Ingredients
- 1 block firm organic tofu
- 3/4 cup red onion small diced
- 1 1/2 cups celery small diced
- 1/2 cup red bell pepper small diced
- 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper small diced
- 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley minced
- 1 tbsp capers drained
- 1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce recommended: Tabasco
- 1/2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning (Or use the Old Bay recipe listed below)
- 1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp lemon juice + 1/2 Tbl lemon zest
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- salt and black pepper to taste
Homemade Crab Boil Spice Mix
- 1/2 tsp ground mustard
- 1/2 tsp sweet or smoked paprika
- 1/8 tsp ground celery seeds
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- pinch crushed red pepper flakes
- pinch ground cloves
- pinch ground mace
- pinch ground cardamom
- pinch ground allspice
Instructions
- Combine 2 Tbl ground flaxseeds + 4 T. water. Let stand for a few minutes
- Press the tofu using a tofu press or by wrapping in paper towels. Place on a plate with another plate on top. Put something heavy on top. Press for around 15 minutes.
- Place onion, celery, red and yellow bell peppers, parsley, capers, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, crab boil seasoning, salt, and pepper in a large saute pan over medium-low heat. Add about 1/4 cup of water (in place of oil) and sauté until the vegetables are soft, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
- In a large bowl, mash the tofu with a fork into small pieces and toss with the bread crumbs, lemon juice and rind, mustard, and flaxseed mixture. Add the cooked mixture and mix well.
- Salt & pepper to taste and cover to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Shape into bite-sized crab cakes.
- For a lower fat version, heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake on parchment paper for 20 minutes, flipping half way through.
- Heat a small amount of oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the crab cakes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until browned. Drain on paper towels; keep them warm in a 250 degree oven.
- Serve hot with mango salsa.
Just an fyi, Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies…
Yep, there are vegan versions, Annie’s has one. I’ll update the recipe the ingredients to reflect that. Thanks 🙂
Hello there,
These look great! I am just wondering about the “lemon rind”, is this the same as lemon “zest”? If so, would it be 1/2 Tbs lemon zest?
Thanks!
Yep, that’s same thing as lemon zest. I’ll update that on the recipe to make it clearer. Plus 1/2 Tbl lemon zest. Thanks.
This nutrition information states that these tofu crab cakes each have 46.8 mg of cholesterol.
Where does the cholesterol come from. It seems to me that all the ingredients are plant material.
Paul
Hi Paul, I don’t know what happened with that nutritional calculation. If you want something done right, do it yourself… Anyway, I recalculated the nutrition and there is no cholesterol. The calories did go up a bit. These are always a little tricky to figure out but it’s way more accurate now.