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. This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
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.
