These Vegan Fish Sticks are made with shredded heart of palm dipped in a rich beer batter and served with vegan tartar sauce for an unbelievably good snack.
Of all the foods in the world that are begging to be veganized, fish, for me, is the hardest. This may be, in part, because before my vegan days I was not a big fish eater so to recall the texture and taste of something I probably ate only a handful of times over 10 years ago is no easy task. But regardless of my own experience, I think many veganizers would agree that finding the perfect vegan fish recipe is the Mount Everest of veganizing.
As you know, I am never one to step down from a challenge and so today I took on Mount Everest in the form of these Beer Battered Vegan Fish Sticks.
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
These Beer Battered Vegan Fish Sticks are made using heart of palm and seaweed to attempt both the taste and texture that I have been seeking. They are breaded and beer battered for a delicious vegan alternative.
Here is everything you need.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Heart of Palm – Heart of palm is a tender and delicate vegetable harvested from the inner core of certain palm trees. The tender texture, as well as the indistinct flavor, makes heart of palm a very popular whole food meat substitute. You can find heart of palm in the canned vegetable section of a well-stocked grocery store. Alternatively, you could use jackfruit for this recipe.
- Panko Bread Crumbs
- Roasted Seaweed
- Vegan Worcestershire Sauce – Not all Worcestershire sauce is vegan. Most varieties use anchovies. Make sure to find one that is specifically marked vegan.
- Chickpea Flour – This is used as an egg replacer, binding the breading to the cauliflower. While I do recommend trying this recipe with chickpea flour, I have had some readers have luck with using equal amount all-purpose flour.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Spices – You will need garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper
- Dark Beer – You can omit this and replace it with vegetable broth or water.
- Cooking Oil – This is for pan frying the vegan fish sticks. I recommend canola or vegetable oil. For a non-hydrogenated oil, use coconut oil.
Recommended Equipment
You don’t need much for this recipe. A shallow mixing bowl, a good chef’s knife, cutting board, and basic kitchen utensils are all you need.
You will also need a baking dish or large cast-iron skillet. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to make vegan fish sticks
Step One – Make the Vegan Fish
Combine ingredients for fish sticks in a food processor. Pulse a few times until ingredients are broken down and well combined. There should still be texture and large pieces.
Squeeze out excess water and shape the heart of palm mixture into 8-10 fish sticks. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour. The mixture can be hard to handle. For best results, squeeze out the water with a nut milk bag until you have a shapable, firm texture.
Step Two – Make the Beer Batter
Make the beer batter. The batter should be fairly thick. However, if your fish sticks are falling apart in the batter, thin it with a little more beer.
Step Three – Fry the Vegan Fish
Coat the fish strips and fry them in about 1″ of sizzling hot oil, flipping halfway through. Once golden brown, remove from heat and place on a paper tow to absorb excess oil.
Serving and Storing
Since these fish sticks are fried, they need to be eaten quickly after preparation. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself with some soggy battered fish sticks and trust me, they don’t taste near as good.
Serve them with Vegan Tartar Sauce, with french fries, or as part of these Vegan Fish Tacos Bowls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure! If you can’t find heart of palm or would rather use something different, try this recipe with green jackfruit. You can find jackfruit in the canned vegetable section of your local grocery store.
More Vegan Fish Recipes
Beer Battered Vegan Fish Sticks
Ingredients
Fish Sticks
- 1 can heart of palm, drained and broken into large pieces
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon crumbled roasted seaweed
- 1 teaspoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
Beer Batter
- 2 tablespoon chickpea flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/4-1 1/2 cup dark beer
- about 2 cups cooking oil
Tartar Sauce
- 1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 heaping teaspoon sweet pickle relish
- 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients for the tartar sauce and refrigerate until ready to use.
- In a food processor combine ingredients for fish sticks. Pulse a few times until ingredients are broken down and well combined. There should still be large chunks.
- Shape the heart of palm mixture into 8-10 fish sticks and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, squeezing out excess water. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
- To make the beer batter, combine the chickpea flour with water until thick and goopy. Set aside. In a separate bowl combine flour and spices. Mix in chickpea egg. Slowly add beer, about 1/4 cup at a time, while mixing. The batter should be fairly thick but thin enough to evenly coat fish sticks. If your fish sticks are falling apart in the batter, thin it with a little more beer.
- Heat oil in a small cast-iron skillet, filling enough so that it's about 1" deep.
- Once the oil is hot, coat the fish sticks in the batter 2-3 at a time. With a flat utensil, gently place in hot oil and deep fry for about 2 minutes, flipping halfway in between if necessary.
- Remove from oil and place on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.
- Serve immediately with prepared tartar sauce.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Katie says
Great recipe! I haven’t eaten meat inn20 years so I’m not sure how close it is to fish, but it was really tasty.
Vicente says
Good afternoon I would like to do these vegan fish without beer
What non-alcoholic ingredient can I use instead?
You also use Nori in this recipe I don’t like the taste of Nori
Will it stay with the taste of Nori in the end?
Si says
What about a vegan fish sauce? I have used that instead of Nori.
Jo says
I was planning on trying this recipe but the sodium mg is off the chain. Which ingredients are causing that influx? Perhaps I can hopefully make some adjustments.
M says
Is there a way to bake these instead of frying?
Dz says
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Do you think bobs red mill egg replacer could be used in this recipe? Instead of the chickpea flour? Also, thinking about adding kelp powder to the mix to help create a fishier taste. What are your thoughts?
Sondry B says
This was great, next time will add a little more seasoning. I used a flax seed egg. I didn’t use beer, I used sparkling water instead.
This was my first time using heart of palm. I made vegan fish with artichoke before, and it was good too.
Thanks for this recipe.
Tess says
Very yummy! I’ve really missed fish and chips and these hit the spot 🙂 I also froze some and reheated them in the air fryer and they were great.
Osvaldo says
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Janaki says
Phenomenal!!!
We made these using jackfruit and tofu separately, and instead of combining all of the ‘fish sticks’ ingredients in a food processor, we dried the jackfruit & tofu, squeezed out all the excess water, refrigerated them for a few hours, squeezed out the water again, wrapped them in nori (brushing over a bit of lemon juice to make the nori stick), and then shallow fried them in around half an inch of oil, as we were going to later put them under the grill so we didn’t have to fry them completely (it was our first time really deep frying something so we were a little hesitant haha) . But they turned out incredible!!! The whole family were in complete shock and couldn’t believe how fishy they tasted. I’ve tasted an amazing vegan ‘fish’ & chips meal in a restaurant in Central London, after which I was stunned at how similar it tasted to the real thing – but this was totally on par and did not disappoint.
We added finely chopped pickles, capers and chives to the tartar sauce which also blew everyone away, and accompanied the meal with garlic-mint mushy peas and crispy sweet potato fries (both delicious too!).
Honestly, it was a restaurant-standard meal and everyone was stunned & completely satisfied 🙂
100% recommend!!!
Jenny says
What do you mean when you note, “mix in chickpea egg”?
Sarah McMinn says
That is the chickpea flour/water mixture. It’s an egg replacer and can be referred to as a chickpea egg.