Vegan Fish Sticks are made with easy to find, simple ingredients. Coated with a breadcrumb/seaweed coating, they can be fried or baked. Perfect with Vegan Tartar Sauce!
I have been thinking about creating a vegan “fish” recipe for a long time now. I was never a huge fan of fish myself, in fact, I hated it as a kid. EXCEPT for fish sticks, you know, the frozen ones your mom would pop in the oven and serve for lunch.
So I thought creating a vegan version of fish sticks would be a perfect place to start! Let’s leave the fish in the ocean and eat tofu instead, shall we?
I worked hard to make this recipe as simple as possible. I didn’t want to have to marinate the tofu for hours or make you search for hard-to-find ingredients.
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Ingredients Needed
- Extra-firm tofu
- Flour
- Soy sauce
- Lemon juice
- Unsweetened non-dairy milk
- Breadcrumbs
- Seaweed snack sheets
- Salt
How to make Vegan Fish Sticks
First, press your tofu. Once pressed, slice into sticks. Then, you are going to coat the sticks in flour and set aside while you make the other simple coatings.
In a bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, lemon juice and non-dairy milk. In a food processor or blender, add the breadcrumbs, seaweed sheets (1 or 2 packages for a fishier flavor). Blend until the seaweed is broken down and it’s all combined, then add to a bowl.
Dip the flour coated tofu in the liquid mixture, then in the breadcrumb mixture.
Bake or Fry
I do prefer frying these in a pan with some oil, but baking works pretty well too!
To bake, place on a lightly greased pan and cook for 40 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until golden and crispy.
To fry, place in a pan (cast iron preferred) with some oil and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy. Yum! I suppose you could deep fry them, but I just used a thin layer of oil to pan fry.
Serving suggestions
Serve with Vegan Tartar Sauce, for sure! And ketchup.
I also recommend eating vegan fish sticks along with some fries, either Potato Wedges or even a bag of frozen fries to make things easier.
Storing leftovers
Leftover fish sticks will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Simply reheat in the oven, on the stovetop or in an air fryer if you have one.
Vegan Fish Sticks
Ingredients
- (2) 14-16 ounce blocks extra-firm tofu
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons squeezed)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used soy)
- 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
- 1-2 packages seaweed snack sheets
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Press the tofu by wrapping in paper towels (or a clean dry tea towel). Place a plate or pan on top of the wrapped tofu, and put a couple of heavy books on top of that. Let the tofu press for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
- For Baking: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a large pan (I used spray oil).
- Once the tofu is done pressing, slice it into sticks. Add the flour to a bowl, then coat the tofu sticks in the flour. Set the flour-coated tofu sticks on a cutting board or other clean surface while you prepare the rest of the coatings.
- In another small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, lemon juice and non-dairy milk. Set aside.
- In a blender or food processor, add the breadcrumbs, seaweed snack sheets and salt. Use two full packages for a fishier taste, or one package for a less fishy taste. Blend until the sheets are broken down and it is all well combined. Add to a bowl.
- Dip the flour-coated tofu sticks into the wet mixture, then immediately coat in the breadcrumb/seaweed mixture.
- To Bake: Place on the greased pan and bake for 40 minutes, flipping once halfway through, until crispy and golden.
- To Fry: Heat a large pan (cast iron preferred) over medium-high heat. Fry the tofu in a fair amount of oil, for 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and crispy.
- Serve vegan fish sticks with Vegan Tartar Sauce, ketchup and with a side of potato wedges or fries. Enjoy!
Notes
- I used seaweed snack sheets because they are easy to find and I usually have them on hand. If you prefer, you can use nori sheets instead, to taste. Kelp powder would likely work as well.
- These definitely taste a lot better when fried in a pan, but are quite delicious baked as well.
- It is almost essential that you dip the vegan fish sticks in tartar sauce, so make a batch while you are at it.
- Leftover "fish" sticks will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Reheat in the oven, in a pan or an air fryer if you have one.
I made them last night. Outstanding. Instead of bread crumbs, I substituted Cajun(y) seasoned corn meal and corn flour. Each block of TOFU made 24 sticks. I slightly worried that they would be too small. However, once breaded they came out regular fish stick size. And yes, frying is the preferred method of preparation.
How fantastic that you had great success! Your fish sticks sounds really delicious! Thank you for sharing your fantastic ideas and feedback!
This looks good, but I’m gluten free. Can I use oatmeal for the breadcrumbs?
Hmm I’m not sure. It might work but I doubt they will turn out very crisp. Almond flour would probably work better.
Try Sugar free corn cereals and crumble them until they are like crumbs. Works aswell as Bread crumbs.
These are SO TASTY! I made some as recipe describes, and some with a shot of liquid smoke, garlic powder, and Old Bay seasoning in the breadcrumb mixture. Both were awesome. These would be great on not-fish tacos. Next time I will try baking them for a bit less oil. A winner recipe!
PS A tip: I used Nori sheets, as I didn’t know what ‘seaweed snack’ is and that’s what I had to use… I would use LOTS of these, like at least 5-6 per recipe, for lots of marine flavour.
PS again… Now I’ve also I baked a bunch and they were still fantastic — lighter and healthier than the fried ones. This time I also threw in some smoked paprika, dried onion, and lemon salt. SO good. We’re thinking to make a whole bunch and maybe even freeze them. Thank you Nora for a great recipe!
Thank you for sharing your experiences, ideas, and positive feedback! I’m really glad you love the vegan fish sticks!
Hi there,
I am looking forward to making this recipe. It looks awesome! I have a question about the 1-2 packages seaweed snack sheets. First, I have Roasted Seaweed Sheets by Bento at Home company. Can I use those?
Second, can you tell me a cups amount for the seaweed? Every package might be a different size…
Lastly, how do I decide between 1 package or 2 packages?
Thank you so much for all you do!
Hi there! I think those should be fine to use. You want to avoid any that are teriyaki flavored or any other special flavor. I’m not sure about cups, but the packages I use are about .35 ounces. Use 2 packages for a fishier flavor, or 1 for less fishy flavors. You really can’t go wrong, they will be good either way, even if it’s not exact. Hope you enjoy the vegan fish sticks, thank you!
Wonderful! I didn’t have seaweed so used Bay’s Seasoning. They were great. Thanks so much.
You’re welcome!
Ah, the perfect kid-friendly finger food. I used to LOVE fish sticks when I was a kid, but wasn’t very keen on the larger battered fillets. Now, I’m pretty much the opposite – love the fillets (Gardein’s are phenomenal!) and typically find the sticks lacking – more fried breading than anything else, and I’m pretty sure that was intentional on the part of the companies to save money. Well, I don’t eat theirs anymore, so what do we have here? Oh, yes, this looks WONDERFUL! Serve it up with some coleslaw and a wedge of lemon (and yes, tartar sauce – really, all a fish stick IS is a vehicle to shuttle tartar sauce up into your mouth, right?), and maybe a nice pilaf…sorry, that’s the adult in me talking. Give me CHIPS! (Fries – or your potato wedges) and drown them in ketchup or malt vinegar!
Will definitely be trying these very soon!
I made these using gf panko which is what I had on hand. I gave them a good pulsing in the food processor along with 2 nori sheets until they were like fine bread crumbs. The coating adhered perfectly and I baked them. I did not tell my carnivorous grandbabies they were vegan, and I had not 1 leftover. Such a great idea…best of all didn’t have to purchase frozen premade options. Thank you so much.
You’re welcome!
Hooray for ‘fish’ Friday! Oh my…this was amazing!!! I used the pan frying method and it was perfect. To make it gf, I used Bob’s gluten free all purpose flour and it worked out well. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes. I have tried many and not one hiccup. You are a genius!
Can’t wait to try these. I only have full nori sheets. How many large sheets would equal 2 packs of the snacks? Thanks.
I’m not sure exactly, maybe 2-4, depending on how “fishy” you want them to taste. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi, we tried making these and didn’t get quite the results you did—which I am pretty sure is on us, not you! For us, the breading didn’t stick very well. We had panko, not regular bread crumbs. I feel this was part of the problem, hubby not so sure. What would you say is crucial to achieving the evenly breaded result you get?
Yes, it was the panko breadcrumbs. To really coat the sticks, you need fine breadcrumbs. I can find vegan ones at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, or online. Hope that helps!
I can’t believe you created a vegan fish stick, and that it is so good! Ideally enjoyed this and will make it regularly!
I’m so glad you liked it!
would you know the settings for an air fryer?
I haven’t tried it yet, but I would try 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
This looks very interesting. I can’t wait to try it!
Hope you love it!
Can’t wait to try this! I have powdered kelp seasoning. Any idea how much a package of seaweed powder down to approximately?
I would try just a teaspoon or 2 of kelp powder, and taste to see if you want more fishy flavor. Hope that helps and you enjoy!