Vegan Fish Swaps: Recipes and Products to try

While meat and chicken substitutes dominate supermarket shelves and vegan recipes, fish substitutes seem to take up less space. However, the tide is slowly turning with exciting launches like vegan tuna, salmon and more.

Whether you’re new to veganism, a non-vegan looking to prepare a fishless meal for a vegan loved one, or a seasoned vegan on the hunt for more tasty seafood substitutes, we have three great recipes featuring some Vegan Trademark certified ingredients, as well as suggestions for readymade swaps for you to explore.

Three easy fishless recipes

From an easy sandwich for a fresh lunch option, a quick, baked tofish dinner, to fishcakes suitable for both toddlers and adults, these recipes utilise nutritious whole foods that you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting hold of.

Chickpea Chuna Crunch

First up, we have a Chickpea Chuna Crunch. This vegan take on the popular ‘Tuna Crunch’ swaps out tuna for chickpeas from our Trademark holder KTC, plus Clearspring’s Japanese Green Nori Sprinkle for a fishy taste. Rough measurements are included, but feel free to use as much or as little as you fancy.

Ingredients

• ½ tin chickpeas
• Sprinkle of nori (seaweed) flakes
• 3 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
• ¼ small red onion, cubed
• ¼ red pepper, roasted
• Small handful of salad leaves
• Black pepper, to taste
• Bread of choice
• Vegan spread
• Olive oil

Method

1. Place your red pepper in foil with a drizzle of olive oil, wrap up and bake for 20 minutes on gas mark 8 in a preheated oven. Skip this step if you have leftover roasted red pepper from a previous meal.
2. Whilst the pepper is baking, drain chickpeas (save the chickpea water for your bakes, or for homemade vegan mayonnaise). Roughly mash, chop red onion into cubes, add vegan spread and salad leaves to your bread, and wash up as you go.
3. Add nori, red onion, vegan mayonnaise and black pepper to the chickpeas.
4. Once red pepper is roasted and cooled, chop into cubes and add to mix. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients if desired.
5. Add the chickpea filling to the bread and slice.

Vegan Fish Cakes

Vegan dietitian, Reena Sharma, has an excellent recipe for Vegan Toddler Fish Cakes which can be enjoyed by all the family and easily adjusted to add flavourings like chilli flakes and salt for an adult palate. This recipe uses young jackfruit, chickpeas and seaweed to replace the flavour and texture of fish. You might be more used to using young jackfruit as a pulled pork alternative, but it works brilliantly as a fish alternative, too. I use Clearspring’s Organic Young Jackfruit Chunks for this recipe. If you can’t get hold of young jackfruit, banana blossom is a wonderful fish alternative with a realistic texture. I love to add finely chopped fresh or frozen lime leaves to elevate the flavour and fragrance.

Follow Reena’s vegan fishcake recipe in her reel caption and serve them with vegan tartare sauce, in burgers or alongside steamed vegetables. For a quick homemade vegan tartare sauce, simply combine vegan mayonnaise, chopped capers and fresh dill. These fishcakes freeze well too, so they’re great for meal prepping.

Baked Tofish

This fishless recipe is fairly easy to throw together but is sure to impress (for date night, or otherwise)! It’s a take on a delicious Tin Foil Tofu recipe from Life By Ms. Lewis. The hero ingredients here are Tofoo’s Extra Firm Naked Tofu for protein and texture, and seaweed and capers for that seafood flavour. Find my adapted recipe below, which generously serves two, but can stretch to three servings. Measurements are a guide – add more, or less, as you please. For garlic, measure with your heart.

Ingredients

• 1 block firm tofu
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tin beluga lentils
• 100g chopped tomatoes
• 50g tenderstem broccoli, steamed
• 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsp garlic puree
• Sprinkle of nori
• 2 tsp capers, fried
• 1 ½ vegetable stock cubes
• ½ tbsp Italian mixed herb seasoning
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• Boiled water

Method

1. Cut tofu into 1cm thick slices and gently score diagonally on both sides. Make a marinade of olive oil, a vegetable stock cube (crushed), two thirds of the mixed Italian herb seasoning, 1 ½ tsp of the garlic puree, black pepper, and a sprinkle of nori, and brush over both sides of the tofu.
2. Lay a sheet of foil on a baking tray, lay out marinaded tofu, add cherry tomatoes in and around the tofu, and drizzle over the remaining marinade (leave a small amount for basting). Bring up the edge of the foil and loosely seal, leave some gaps to help get a golden/brown colour on the tofu.
3. Place in a preheated oven on gas mark 8 for 10 minutes.
4. Remove tofu from the oven, carefully undo the foil (use an oven glove) and turn over the tofu slices, baste with remaining marinade, leave it unsealed and cook for a further 10 minutes.
5. Heat remaining olive oil in a pan on medium heat, add remaining garlic puree and the chopped tomatoes – roughly mash in the pan and stir. Add remaining herb seasoning, remaining vegetable stock cube (crushed), pepper and lentils and mix.
6. Stir in a little boiling water if needed, cover and simmer on low heat for 4-5 minutes. Stir occasionally and add more boiling water as needed.
7. Wash and steam your broccoli for around 5 minutes.
8. Take out the tofu. If it hasn’t reached your desired colouring, bake a little longer.
9. Flash fry capers in hot sunflower oil until they crisp up. Place them on kitchen towel to absorb excess oil.
10. Spoon the lentils onto plates. Arrange the roasted tofu slices and cherry tomatoes over the lentils. Add a little boiling water to the foil to loosen the marinade and drizzle over the tofu and lentils – don’t waste all that amazing flavour! Add your broccoli, and finish with a sprinkle of fried capers.

Watch our Vegan Fish Swaps Reel on Instagram or TikTok for a visual guide on how to prepare and plate up these recipes.

Readymade fishless products and ingredients

If you’re after minimal cooking and preparation time or you’re excited to explore the fish substitutes your local supermarkets are stocking, look out for these on your next shop:

• ASDA OMV! Smoked No Salmon
• Moving Mountains Plant Based No Fish Fingers, Goujons, and Fillets 
• Quorn Vegan Fishless Fingers and Scampi
• Loma Linda ‘Tuno’ tuna alternatives in Spring Water, Lemon Pepper and Thai Sweet Chilli
• Native Prawn Crackers in Original and Sweet Chilli
• 24Vegan Oyster Sauce

Supplementing

We’ve used plant-based ingredients like chickpeas and tofu as fish substitutes in the recipes above, ensuring these fish swaps also contain a good source of protein, and the seaweed provides a source of iodine, also found in fish.

Omega-3

Omega-3 supports cardiovascular health, helps regulate inflammation, and plays a role in healthy brain functioning. It’s especially important for children and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding due to its role in brain, nerve and eye development. Many obtain omega-3 from fatty fish but there are plenty of vegan sources. Plus, fish don’t actually produce omega-3, they get it by consuming microalgae and smaller marine organisms. You can obtain omega-3 fats DHA and EPA by consuming rich vegan sources of ALA daily, including walnuts, flaxseed (ground linseed), chia seeds and hemp seeds, which our bodies then convert into DHA and EPA. Alternatively, if you’re concerned about getting enough of those foods daily, you can supplement with Novomins Vegan Omega 3-6-9 Gummies. They’re infused with Perilla oil, a rich source of ALA, and a convenient way to boost your omega 3, 6, and 9 intake without relying on fish sources.

VEG 1 and VEG 1 Baby & Toddler

Don’t forget to also include VEG 1 in your vitamin routine. Alongside other essential nutrients like vitamins D and B12, it also contains your recommended dose of iodine, which many obtain from fish as well as other sources. For your little ones, be sure to supplement with VEG 1 Baby & Toddler.

  If you give any of the fishless recipes from this blog a try, be sure to tag us on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter (X).

By Vegan Society Brand Marketing Officer, Nishat Rahman.