Fried vegan shrimp with hearts of palm (air fryer or pan fried)

With crispy panko coating and cocktail sauce for dipping, it was a regular pick for birthday dinners.

I’m not alone in that. Fried shrimp is one of the most popular foods for date nights and celebratory meals.

Once I went vegan, I assumed that experience was behind me. After all, vegetarians and vegans don’t eat fish or other sea life.

But then I realized that a lot of the experience of eating shrimp comes down to breading, sauce, and texture.

Shrimp itself doesn’t have a ton of flavor outside of vague fishiness. However, add some Old Bay seasoning, breading, and cocktail sauce with zingy horseradish, and that all changes.

Luckily, it’s easy to do all of those things with plant-based ingredients. That makes a vegan fried shrimp experience not far out of reach.

So what about the “shrimp” itself?

While there are store-bought vegan shrimp on the market, I prefer to use hearts of palm.

Those packaged vegan shrimp are often made with konjac, and that’s not my favorite. I find it to be rubbery.

However, hearts of palm have a lovely toothsome texture and light briny flavor. (If you like jarred artichoke hearts, you’ll enjoy hearts of palm.)

Hearts of palm are harvested from the inner core of certain palm trees. I became a fan of the ingredient about a decade ago when I started using it to make vegan ceviche.

In this post:

Why readers love this recipe

“These were outstanding! I used rice flour and gluten free panko. I don’t usually fry things and looked guiltily at my air fryer as I heated the oil. BUT So good!” – Earlene

Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.

Hearts of palm: Look for hearts of palm in cans, jars, or vacuum packaging in the center aisles of grocery stores. They’re often next to the artichoke hearts and other brined foods.

Note that hearts of palm vary in width. The organic hearts of palm I used for these pictures is a little skinnier than most, which is ideal as far as breading to filling ratio. But any will work for this recipe.

Flour: Standard all-purpose flour works here.

Non-dairy milk: Use plain, unsweetened non-dairy milk. Soy, cashew, or almond milk all work here.

Panko breadcrumbs: This Japanese style of breadcrumbs offers the perfect texture, crunch, and flakiness. They can be replaced with standard breadcrumbs.

Old Bay seasoning: This seasoning mix is often used on seafood, which makes it ideal here. Old Bay is made with celery salt, red pepper, black pepper, and paprika. (Keep scrolling for ideas on what to use as a replacement.)

Oil: Use a neutral-flavored, high heat cooking oil. Avocado oil is my preferred option.

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Drain a 14-ounce can or jar of hearts of palm. (The drained weight is 7.7 ounces.)

Pat the hearts of palm dry on a clean kitchen towel.

Cut the hearts of palm into roughly ½ to 1-inch pieces.

That’s about 3 to 5 pieces per standard-sized sticks.

Make a breading station with the following:

• A plate with all-purpose flour
• A small bowl with a mix of flour and non-dairy milk
• A plate with panko breadcrumbs seasoned with Old Bay seasoning

One piece at a time, roll the hearts of palm in flour.

Dip it in the flour/non-dairy milk mixture.

Then coat it in seasoned breadcrumbs.

Fry in a skillet with oil at a medium-high heat for about four minutes, turning as it browns.

When the hearts of palm is brown all over, move it to a towel-lined plate to drain. Season with a couple more dashes of Old Bay seasoning.

If you’d like to serve the vegan shrimp on the side of a cocktail glass as shown, carefully make a small cut into the side of a few of the breaded & fried hearts of palm.

Be careful not to cut all the way through.

Put sauce in a cocktail glass. Then place the vegan shrimp on the side through the slits.

If you’d prefer to make these vegan popcorn shrimp in the air fryer, bread the hearts of palm the same way as directed above.

Then put the breaded hearts of palm into the air fryer basket, and spritz with avocado oil spray. (If you avoid oil, you can skip this step. However, the breading won’t brown as well.)

Tip: Be careful not to overcrowd. If your air fryer is on the small side, you may need to cook in batches.

Air fry at 380 degrees for 10 minutes. (After about 6 minutes, stop and gently shake the basket. Then spritz with more oil for even browning.)

Remember: Every air fryer runs differently. Times given are a general recommendation and should be tested in your own air fryer. Adjust as needed.

You can make this dish your own by varying the seasonings.

Instead of Old Bay seasoning use any of the following:

• Cajun seasoning salt
• Paprika
• Granulated onion
• Granulated garlic
• Cayenne
• Salt & pepper
• Nori flakes for added fishiness

Instead of serving vegan shrimp with cocktail sauce, serve it with lemon wedges, malt vinegar, lemon dill aioli like in my vegan crab cakes, or sriracha mayonnaise.

As far as I’m concerned, cocktail sauce is a must to really bring this experience home.

Homemade cocktail sauce is an easy recipe to make ahead of time. Or if you prefer, vegan cocktail sauce is readily available in most grocery stores.

Trader Joe’s has a cocktail sauce that happens to be vegan. That’s what I usually buy when I don’t feel like making my own.

When looking for cocktail sauces, check the ingredients. Some brands use non-vegan Worcestershire sauce, which includes anchovies.

(Use any leftover cocktail sauce on vegan crab cakes or fried almond cheese balls!)

Vegan fried shrimp is a terrific appetizer all on its own.

You can add it to tacos by replacing the Gardein in these vegan fish tacos.

Or it can be a main course with any of the following:

• Spinach salad with strawberries
• Corn chowder
• Buffalo grilled corn
• Lemony potatoes or baked potato
• Roasted cabbage or coleslaw
• Pesto rice
• Roasted asparagus with chickpeas & spinach
• Buttery garlic noodles with red wine mushrooms
• Sautéed kale with garlic

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. They will keep for 3 or 4 days.

To reheat fried hearts of palm, I recommend using the air fryer for the crispiest coating. In fact, it’s virtually indistinguishable from when it’s freshly made.

To reheat, air fry at 375 degrees for 5 minutes, stopping once to carefully turn the pieces.

📖 Recipe

Fried vegan shrimp with hearts of palm (air fryer or pan fried)

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 12 votes

If fancy to you is a platter of shrimp with cocktail sauce for dipping, you're going to love this vegan version. It's made with hearts of palm that's cut into bite-sized portions, breaded with panko, and fried until crisp. Great for romantic dinners or parties as an appetizer or main course.

Serve with homemade cocktail sauce.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 16 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: finger food, party food, starter

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 (14-ounce) can hearts of palm drained (7.7 ounces drained weight)
• ▢ 3 Tablespoons all purpose flour divided
• ▢ ¼ cup non-dairy milk
• ▢ ¼ to ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
• ▢ ½ to 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning plus a couple shakes more
• ▢ Avocado oil for shallow frying (or your preferred high heat oil), or oil spray if air frying

Instructions

• ▢
  Put the drained hearts of palm on a clean kitchen towel and pat dry.
• ▢
  Move the hearts of palm to a cutting board. Cut them into ¾ to 1-inch long pieces.

  From a standard can, you'll get 3 to 5 "shrimp" per each stick of hearts of palm, depending on the thickness of each one.*
• ▢
  Now it's time to make a breading station. Put 2 Tablespoons of flour on a dinner plate.

  Put the remaining Tablespoon of flour in a small bowl with non-dairy milk. Use a fork or whisk to evenly combine it and get out any lumps.

  Finally, put ¼ cup of panko breadcrumbs on a plate with ½ teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning. Use your fingers to evenly combine the seasoning throughout the breadcrumbs.
• ▢
  Now it's time to bread the hearts of palm. One at a time, roll a piece of heart of palm in the flour until it's covered. Tap it on the side of the plate to remove any excess.

  Then dip it into the milk mixture. Tap it on the side to remove any excess.

  Finally, roll it in the seasoned panko breadcrumbs. (As you're breading the hearts of palm, if you run out of breadcrumbs, put another ¼ cup on the plate, along with an additional ½ teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning.)

  Set the breaded heart of palm on a clean plate, and continue until all of the pieces are breaded.
• ▢
  Bring a non-stick skillet to a medium high heat with about a half inch of avocado oil (or your preferred neutral-flavored high-heat oil).

  To see if the oil is ready, drop a breadcrumb into the oil in the skillet. If oil immediately bubbles around it, it’s ready for frying.

  (If you prefer to air fry, see air fryer instructions in the notes below.)
• ▢
  Put the hearts of palm into the oil (working in batches, if necessary, so as to not overcrowd). Fry for about 4 minutes, rotating the hearts of palm as they brown, so that every part is fried.

  If you're working in batches, the oil will continue to get hotter as you cook. So subsequent rounds may not take quite as long to cook. Lower the heat, if needed. Once they are brown all over, they are done.
• ▢
  Once the hearts of palm are brown all over, move them to a clean, towel-lined plate to drain.
• ▢
  Shake more Old Bay seasoning on the breaded hearts of palm while it's still hot. Serve with cocktail sauce for dipping.
• ▢
  Optional: If you’d like to serve the vegan shrimp on the side of a cocktail glass, carefully make a small cut into the side of a few of the breaded & fried hearts of palm. Be careful not to cut all the way through. Then put cocktail sauce into the glass, and place the vegan shrimp on the side through the slits.

Watch how to make it

Notes

*Canned hearts of palm varies in its thickness. Some are a little wider than a pencil, while others are the width of a Persian cucumber. So you’ll need to use your best judgment when cutting bite-sized pieces.

For skinny hearts of palm, I recommend cutting 1-inch pieces. For thicker hearts of palm, ½ to ¾ inch pieces works for the best vegetable to breading ratio. If necessary, you can slice very thick hearts of palm in half length-wise before cutting into pieces. However, the interior rings may come apart a bit in the process.

Air fryer cooking instructions: To make these vegan popcorn shrimp in the air fryer, bread the hearts of palm the same way as directed above. Then put the breaded hearts of palm into the air fryer basket, and spritz with avocado oil spray. (If you avoid oil, you can skip it. However, the breading won’t brown as well.)

If your air fryer is small, you may need to work in batches. Don’t overcrowd.

Air fry at 380 degrees for 10 minutes. (After about 6 minutes, stop and gently shake the basket. Then spritz with more oil for even browning.) Once they are done, remove the vegan shrimp from the air fryer basket and sprinkle with more Old Bay seasoning or salt. Then serve with cocktail sauce and/or lemon wedges.

Recommendation: I highly recommend panko breadcrumbs over other breadcrumbs for this recipe. This Japanese breadcrumb gives a crisper, lighter texture that is ideal.

Reheating instructions: To reheat leftovers, I recommend air frying. Reheat at 375 degrees for 5 minutes, stopping once to carefully turn.

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Nutrition

Calories: 110kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 1021mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 102IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg

Content updated March 22, 2024 to include air fryer instructions. Originally posted October 29, 2012. This breaded hearts of palm was originally a recipe for a Doctor Who-themed fish fingers & custard.