Vegan Lobster Roll

I’ve never had a conventional lobster roll — I stopped eating meat pretty young. In fact, I’d never even heart of a lobster roll until recently! I grew up in Pennsylvania and apparently lobster rolls are more of a New England thing. But I didn’t let any of that stop me from making a vegan lobster roll! Lobster, from what I know, has a mild flavor and flaky texture. A mix of heart of palm and chickpeas seemed like the perfect stand-in. And while I honestly can’t tell you how these stack up to non-vegan lobster rolls, I can promise that they’re delicious!

What You’ll Need

Heart of palm. You can usually find this in cans or jars, either near where canned vegetables or olives and pickles are sold at the supermarket.Chickpeas. We’re using canned or precooked chickpeas.Celery.Vegan mayonnaise. Look for brands like Vegenaise, Just Mayo, or Hellman’s vegan.Lemon juice.Fresh chives.Fresh dill.Old bay seasoning. Look for this in the spice aisle of your supermarket.Paprika.Salt & pepper.Hot dog buns. Traditional lobster rolls are made with split top hot dog buns, but finding vegan ones is tough (assuming they even exist?). So I went with regular hot dog buns.Vegan butter. This is normally sold near the regular butter or in the natural foods aisle. Look for brands like Earth Balance or Miyoko’s.

How to Make Vegan Lobster Rolls

The following is a summary of how to make this dish. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post if you’d like to skip to the full recipe!

Roughly chop your hearts of palm — think ¼ to ½ inch chunks. Roughly mash the chickpeas and add them to a bowl with the hearts of palm. Add everything else but the hot dog buns and butter. Mix it up, taste-test, and adjust the seasonings as needed!

Melt your vegan butter and heat up a grill pan or nonstick skillet on the stove. Brush the butter all over the outsides of your hot dog buns, then briefly grill them in the pan, turning them every few minutes so you get crisping on all sides.Stuff your heart of palm mixture into the buns. You can top them with an extra sprinkle of paprika and chives if you’d like!