These vegan fish tacos will change your world. Crispy battered “fish” on a lime-dressed purple cabbage slaw and a refreshing mango-avocado salsa. All topped of with a squirt of spicy chipotle-lime vegan crema. Great for Taco Tuesday, Taco Wednesday, Taco Thursday....
This recipe for vegan fish tacos is full of flavour but so, so easy to prepare! There’s no messy double dredging of these babies, a super simple one bowl fish ‘n chips-style batter is all you need to get amazingly crispy vegan “fish” bits perfect for fixing your Baja fish taco craving!
If you’ve come to this page after seeing the recipe video on Facebook, then you already know that the fish-like ingredient I used for these vegan fish tacos was hearts of palm. I tested this recipe several times with different fish-like ingredients and liked the brininess and texture of hearts of palm the best.
However, depending on where you live, hearts of palm can be a bit expensive. For that reason I offer you some alternatives that are equally delicious and a bit cheaper: quartered artichoke hearts or oyster mushrooms. Both of those will hold the batter and fry up well but, imo, the taste and texture are less fish-like than hearts of palm.
So once you’ve chosen your fish ingredient, you’ll need to whip up a simple batter of flour, baking powder, salt and water. This is the most basic batter. You can add whatever spices and seasoning you want to it to give it more of a taste of the sea: powdered seaweed, crumbled nori sheets, Old Bay Seasoning, etc. Add whatever you want and get creative with it!
For the fixings, I kept it simple. Rather than the typical mayo-heavy coleslaw, just a lime and salt dressed shredded purple cabbage. (Since we’re frying the “fish” bits, we might as well try to be a bit healthier with the fixings, am I right?). I also made a refreshing salsa of mango, avocado and red onion. I love this combination of fruits and the sweetness is just what you need to compliment the battered and fried “fish” bits.
Finally the sauce: creamy, smoky, spicy and lime-y. I used the adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers stirred into soy yogurt. You can also use a vegan sour cream product or a homemade cashew cream, and if you don’t have a can of chipotle peppers handy, use smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, Mexican hot sauce or sriracha.
Pile it all on top of toasted tortillas and devour these amazing vegan fish tacos!
Wanna see how easy it is to make vegan fish tacos? Watch the video:
Vegan Fish Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 cups (about 300 grams) shredded purple cabbage - $0.58
- 2 limes the zest and juice of one, the other sliced for serving - $0.46
- 1 teaspoon sea salt divided - $0.03
- 1 mango diced - $0.75
- 1 avocado diced - $1.25
- ½ medium red onion diced - $0.17
- ½ cup (120 ml) soy yogurt - $1.00
- 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers - $0.33
- 1 jar of hearts of palm 6 pieces (can sub quartered artichoke hearts or oyster mushrooms) - $3.09
- Oil for frying - $0.40
- ½ cup (64 grams) flour - $0.04
- 1 teaspoon baking powder - $0.04
- ½ cup (120 ml) ice water (put some ice cubes in a measuring cup first then add water to reach ½ cup) - $0.00
- 12 small tortillas toasted in a pan or warmed in the microwave - $2.45
- A small bunch of cilantro chopped - $0.20
Instructions
- Put the cabbage in a bowl and squeeze over the juice of half a lime and add ½ teaspoon of salt. Toss to combine and refrigerate.
- Combine the mango, avocado and red onion in a separate bowl and refrigerate.
- Combine the soy yogurt, adobo sauce, the zest of one lime, the juice of ½ a lime and ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl and refrigerate.
- Slice the hearts of palm crosswise and lengthwise into four pieces. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and prepare a plate lined with paper towels. Make sure all the taco fixings are ready and the oil is hot before you mix up the batter.
- In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and ¼ teaspoon salt. Whisk in the ice water to make a thick batter. Don’t over mix this, it’s okay if there are still some lumps. Drop in a few pieces of hearts of palm and transfer them to the hot oil. Work in batches to avoid dropping the temp of the oil. Fry, flipping once if necessary, for a couple of minutes until they are golden brown then remove them to the paper-towel lined plate to drain.
- Serve all the fixings on top of warmed tortillas with a drizzle of sauce on top and a sprinkling of fresh cilantro and a slice of lime on the side.
Nutrition
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Eleanor Iannelli says
I made this for dinner tonight! It was so DARN good that I’ll be making it when my sisters come over this Friday! How did you come up with this? Keep up the great work! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Tanisa says
In the list of ingredients you listed baking POWDER. Then on step 5 you say to mix the baking SODA with the other ingredients. I am confused as to wether I should be using baking powder or baking soda. Please respond. THANK YOU. Very excited to make this recipe!
Melissa says
Oops, glad someone's paying attention! Should say baking powder, fixed it.
Dahlia says
5 stars
Dahlia says
Thank you!!!
What an amazing,easy, yummy, recipe.
We enjoyed it sooo much it's going to be our number 1 lunch/ dinner this summer ♥️