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
- ¼ 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
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 ¼-1 ½ cup dark beer
- about 2 cups cooking oil
Tartar Sauce
- ½ 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 ¼ 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
Daniel says
Worcestershire sauce has fish in it. Not Vegan.
Sarah McMinn says
Yes, but you can find vegan Worcestershire sauce, which I link to.
Sandy says
766 calories PER SERVING?
Is that correct?
Akadia says
I just made this recipe and LOVED it!!! It reminded me of fish but also tasted like something even more delicious than that! I didn't have beer so used club soda instead and it worked just as well 🙂 Thank you for the step by step instructions! Appreciated the tip about squeezing excess water out--I used a paper towel for that part. So good can't wait to make them again!!! Thank you so much.
Cap'n Dave says
Definitely bookmarking this one! I love beer-battered...well, pretty much anything. Mushrooms, "fish" sticks or fillets, cauliflower, sweet potato wedges, basically anything that you'd otherwise have tempura? Beer batter is better in my book. (Say THAT 5 times fast! LOL!)
I may just have to get a small Fry Daddy now. I bet these would be GREAT deep-fried (especially with chips!) - would likely do lemon or malt vinegar instead of the tartar sauce. Don't get me wrong, I love tartar, but (ironically, after I just mentioned deep-frying), too much oil. Great for a dollop on a sandwich...oh, I bet these would make a great sandwich!! Add some vegan cheese and some lettuce, maybe some read onion? But as a dip? Gonna have to pass.
And did someone seriously say that vegetable oil causes heart disease but animal fat was okay??? /facepalm
Now to find a vegan equivalent for pan-fried Red River-style "catfish" and "mountain-stream-caught rainbow trout". Alaskan "halibut" is easy. I could probably use tempeh for the "catfish". The delicate texture and flavor of trout? That's MY Mount Everest (especially since the last time I had it was 44 years ago. Yikes! Still remember the flavor/texture combination, though. No idea how I'm even going to begin!)
Yolanda says
I think this was absolutely fantastic. I over-processed the hearts of palm (bc I forgot the panko at first!), but it was still so tasty! I used Stella bc that’s what I had on hand & it worked fine. I also added chopped capers, minced garlic, green onions, Old Bay, & ground celery to the tarter sauce. I’m not vegan, but I found this recipe fascinating & wanted to try it for myself. It did NOT disappoint! I’ll use that beer batter even if I’m not cooking vegan & I’d gladly serve this as fried hearts of palm to anyone, vegan or otherwise. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Sarah-Jane says
These look so delicious! Can't wait to make these this coming week for a dinner party.
Just a quick question. Do I need to use the chickpea flour? Can I just use more regular flour?
Thanks!
Sarah says
The chickpea flour, when combined with water, works as the egg would which is important for the battering. Unfortunately wheat flour would not do the same.
Heather says
Hi,
Is the seaweed you are using Nori?
Also for the people that want them baked, they could try breading instead of battering. Spraying with oil after breading but before baking should give it a nice brown color.
Sarah says
Yes, the seaweed is Nori. I think they would have a harder time holding together breaded but if you give it a try, let us know how it turns out!
Suze says
WOW! I could serve these to my Wisconsin Fish-Fry-lovin' friends and they'd never be the wiser! I only wished I'd have made up some vegan coleslaw and rye bread as go-withs! They were amazing!! I'm not a fan of tartar, but husband loved it. The only downside -- I did throw out a LOT of batter; I think I could have easily halved that part of the recipe. I'd love to try baking as well, but I'm not confident they would come out as well. But overall, wow...just wow!!! Thank you Sarah!
Sarah says
Yay! Glad they were a hit!
Nova Brilliant-Smith says
These look great, but I have a little trouble with anything fried. Can these be oven-fried? If not, I'll tough it out because they look so good.
Sarah says
I'm not sure since I haven't tried it and generally you'd have to adjust the recipe a bit for oven-fried. Do let us know how it turns out if you try it. Also, have you looked into an air fryer? I recently got one but haven't tried this recipe yet using it. I could imagine though that that would work well!
Hello world says
You should fry in animal fat. Frying in vegetable oils are unhealthy and cause heart disease.
Sarah says
This is a vegan food blog. I would never suggest frying in animal fats.
Nick says
Frying in vegetable oils is actually much healthier then frying in animals fats. You have them completely switched lol..
margaret says
Is this person real? lmao, chastising vegans for frying in vegetable oil when we now know how unhealthy all animal products are... wow
Tracey says
What can I replace the beer with?
Sarah says
You could replace beer with water or a soda.
Rakel says
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has experience with freezing these ??
They look lovely but I'm expecting my 4th daughter in a month and trying to stock up on freezer friendly food to make lunches and dinners easier when the baby arrives 🙂
Thanks !!
Ellie says
Did you try it? I’m dying to know if they’ll freeze!
Jena Leigh says
Wow, I have never tried hearts of palm before. Im going to try this recipe cause I usually but the frozen mock fish sticks and it gets a little pricey lol. Thanks for this recipe ?
Tarin says
I love these as a replacement for fish!! Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe! Oh, and any batter we have left I used to make onion rings which are super yummy!!
Bunnie says
Really interested in using your find in the hearts of palm! I am thinking artichoke heart as being similar? so really anxious to give your discovery some attention. Wanted to ask you if you had tried Jack fruit yet? I just found it on the shelf in the grocers, instead of the refrigerated section. Having it as a pantry staple is great. This new product is non flavored. Jackfruit many may find similar in texture to the pineapple. But will take on any flavor you choose. Well, thanks for the great tip and recipe. Really love thinking outside the box. ; ) PS. I am prohibition, ha ha, so I use mineral water in place of the beer, and some ACV.
JoAnn M Lakes says
Connie's rawsome kitchen does a youtube video of fish fillets made with young green jackfruit.
Milena | Craft Beering says
These hearts of palm look so appetizing that I'm going to have to give them a try very soon. Pinned! Totally thrilled to see you use paprika (love, love, love) and chickpea flour in the beer batter. Of course, anything beer battered is automatically coated in an extra level of deliciousness. Beer makes the best batters:)
Sarah says
Thanks! I appreciate it!
Jason says
Sara, are you supposed to put the 2 cups of oil in the beer batter? Or is that the oil you use to fry the faux fish sticks? It's listed under beer batter ingredients.
Sarah says
It's the oil that you fry it in. I can clarify that in the recipe.
Rebecca says
I just cannot wait to make these! Perhaps minus the beer...but still! I love you are using heart of palm! So cool!