This easy vegan shrimp recipe is bound to satisfy all your seafood cravings. It’s perfect for finger food with your favourite sauce, or served in a sandwich or on top of a salad. Have it ready in less than an hour with only 10 ingredients.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
This vegan shrimp is everything you want in a crispy, satisfying bite—perfectly crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside and packed with flavour.
Not only is it easy to make, but it’s also incredibly versatile. You can bake it for a lighter option, air-fry it for maximum crispiness with minimal oil, shallow-fry or deep-fry it for that classic golden crunch. Whether you’re serving it as an appetiser next to a creamy sauce, in tacos or over rice bowls, this vegan shrimp adapts to any dish you dream up.
🍤What Is Vegan Shrimp?
There are quite a few choices when it comes to vegan shrimp substitutes. If you’re looking for a truly authentic alternative, there are plenty of mock shrimps on the market. When it comes to homemade vegan shrimp substitutes, the goal is to find something that resembles the distinct shrimp shape as much as possible.
My two favourite options include using either king oyster mushrooms (aka trumpet mushrooms) or soy curls (which is what we’re doing in this recipe). Their shape is not as similar to shrimp as with mushrooms, but the taste and texture compensate for it.
🥣 Ingredients
- Dry soy curls — these are simply dehydrated strips of soy protein made out of whole, non-GMO soybeans that are slowly cooked until they’re soft, then processed by a machine that breaks them into strands.
- Vegetable broth — the base for the marinade that gives the fried shrimp that soft and slightly chewy middle.
- Paprika, garlic powder and salt — to season the marinade.
- All-purpose flour — used for breading the soy curls.
- Plant-based milk — soy, oat, almond, hemp… any kind will work.
- Cornstarch — for thickening the batter.
- Breadcrumbs — to make that extra crunchy outer coating of the shrimp. I like to use panko breadcrumbs, but you can also use golden breadcrumbs.
🔪How to Make Vegan Shrimp
Step One: Marinate the soy chunks.
To a medium bowl, add the vegetable broth, paprika, garlic powder and salt and whisk well to combine. Add the soy curls and stir to coat. Let the soy curls soak for about 30 minutes.
Step Two: Bread the marinated soy chunks.
Prepare three small bowls. Add flour to the first one. In the second bowl mix milk, flour, cornstarch, garlic powder and onion powder to prepare the batter. Add breadcrumbs to the third bowl.
Remove the pieces from the marinade and then dredge them first in the flour bowl and shake off excess. Then dip them in batter and finally coat them with breadcrumbs. Set aside on a plate.
Step Three: Cook the shrimp.
You can air fry, shallow fry, deep fry or even bake these shrimp. My preferred options are air frying and shallow frying, which I did in this case.
- To shallow fry — Heat oil over medium-high heat and when hot carefully add the shrimp in a single layer, giving space around each one. Fry them on one side until golden brown, then carefully flip over and fry the other side until they are browned all over, 2-4 minutes per side.
- To air fry — Arrange all the pieces in the basket of your air fryer. Drizzle with oil, then air fry for 20 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- To deep-fry — Fry in batches of 4-5 shrimp for roughly 4-5 minutes.
- To oven bake — Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), drizzle the shrimp with oil and arrange all the pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.
🍽️Serving Suggestions
Here are some ideas for getting the best out of your vegan shrimp:
- Vegan cocktail sauce — store bought or homemade. If you’re making your own, blend half a cup of ketchup with three tablespoons of horseradish sauce and a tablespoon of capers.
- Vegan yum yum sauce — whisk half a cup of vegan mayo with a tablespoon of ketchup, half a tablespoon of rice vinegar, half a tablespoon of melted vegan butter, one tablespoon of yogurt and half a teaspoon of garlic powder and paprika each.
- Vegan tartar sauce or vegan ranch dressing
🤷♀️Vegan Shrimp FAQs
Serve these piping hot to keep them crunchy with a delicious dipping sauce.
It’s best to prepare these right before you plan to bake to fry them.
In this recipe, vegan shrimp are made using dehydrated soy curls with some spices and seasoning to boost the flavour.
More Vegan Meat Recipes
Vegan Shrimp
Ingredients
- ½ cup (30g) dry soy curls
For the marinade
- ½ cup (120ml) vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of salt
For the coating
- ¼ cup (35g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (120ml) plant-based milk
- ⅓ cup (50g) all-purpose flour
- ⅛ cup (15g) cornstarch
- ½ tablespoon (0.5 tablespoon) garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon (0.5 tablespoon) onion powder
- ½ cup (50g) breadcrumbs
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix the vegetable broth, paprika, garlic powder and salt and whisk well to combine. Add the soy curls and stir to coat. Let them soak for about 30 minutes.
- Prepare the breading station with three small bowls. Add flour to the first one. In the second bowl mix milk, flour, cornstarch, garlic powder and onion powder to prepare the batter. Add breadcrumbs to the third bowl.
- Remove the curls from the marinade and then dredge them first in the flour bowl and shake off excess. Then dip them in batter and finally coat them with breadcrumbs. Set aside on a plate.
Cooking the shrimp (choose 1 of the 4 methods)
- To shallow-fry: In a large skillet or non-stick frying pan, pour enough oil to generously coat the bottom of the pan. Heat oil over medium-high heat and when hot carefully add the shrimp in a single layer, giving space around each one. Fry them on one side until golden brown, then carefully flip over and fry the other side until they are browned all over, 2-4 minutes per side.
- To air-fry: Arrange all the pieces in the basket of your air fryer. Drizzle with oil, then air fry for 20 minutes, or until golden and crispy.
- To deep-fry: Fry in batches of 4-5 shrimp for roughly 4-5 minutes.
- To oven bake: Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C), drizzle the shrimp with oil and arrange all the pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned and crispy.
- Drain the fried shrimp on a paper towel and serve with a dipping sauce of your choice.
Anonymous says
Thank you for sharing this recipe