Carrot lox … it makes a great breakfast, brunch or a late-night bite!
This recipe has been posted here before, so be sure to check out the original post.
Other recipes that use the vegan lox
Hi there, reader! If you make this recipe and love it, would you mind leaving a 5-star review? You can do this in one-click via the “leave a reply” section at the bottom of this post. It’s a really simple action that helps me out tremendously. Thank you as always for your support and happy cooking! xo
Vegan Lox
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 90 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/2 cups 1x
Description
Vegan lox … serve with cashew cream cheese on toasted bagels with capers, mandolined red onion and fresh dill!
Ingredients
- 2 cups coarse sea salt, plus more if needed
- 3 large or 5 medium-sized carrots (do not peel them)
- 1 TB olive oil*
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut vinegar (or sub with apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- To slow roast the carrots, place one cup of coarse sea salt into a glass pyrex that offers just enough room to accommodate the length and width of the carrots so you can keep them whole. Rinse the unpeeled carrots and place them wet into the salt, making sure that the carrots are nestled in the salt and do not make contact with the bottom of the pyrex. Pour about another whole cup of salt evenly over the tops, adding a bit more as needed to ensure they are fully covered in salt.
- Place into the oven to roast, uncovered, for an hour and a half.
- Once done, tip the pyrex over onto a baking sheet and allow the carrots to cool just enough that you can handle them. Crack away and brush off any salt, then peel away the skin. It’s fine if there is still some skin left on the carrot. Then, using a mandolin or sharp knife, finely chop the carrots into jagged, thin strips. Place into a clean glass container.
- To marinate the carrots, whisk together the olive oil, liquid smoke and coconut vinegar. (If you have a little more or little less than 1 1/2 cups carrot, just add a little more or less of the liquid components as needed.)
- Drizzle over the warm carrots and toss well to coat. At this point, the flavor will not taste very “lox like”—they will need to be placed in the refrigerator for at least two days to allow the flavor to deepen and mellow, and for the carrots to get really soft and silky.
- *If the carrots start to look dry during marinating time, add an additional tablespoon of olive oil and give it a good stir. (You want the carrots to look soft and slightly shiny throughout the marinating time.)
- When ready to serve, remove from the refrigerator and allow the carrots to come to room temperature, then serve with toasted bagels, capers, vegan cream cheese, red onion and fresh sprigs of dill as desired.
Notes
Make your own cultured cashew cheese!
Hi Erin, I want to try this as soon as possible – looks absolutely heavenly and delicious. I cannot get coconut vinegar, what would be a good substitute?
Thanks
Christine
Christine, apple cider vinegar can be subbed here — I just updated the recipe to include. I hope you enjoy!
Nearly scrolled right past this recipe because it looks SO much like real salmon! You’ve nailed this mate! Do you reckon it would work for sashimi too? Maybe with some tweaks to the seasoning?
★★★★★
Thank you! Yes, this lox also works well in sushi/sashimi … pairs great with avocado and/or vegan furikake.
Hi Erin, what a great recipe! Have you tried to bake without the salt? How important is it?
★★★★★
Marieta, without the salt, this would just create mushy baked carrots. Think of the salt here as a sort of cooking vessel — it creates an awesome texture without infusing any salt into the carrots (which is why it’s important to not peel them). If you try the recipe, I hope you enjoy!
Hi Erin,
I was wondering if it is possible to reuse the salt for future recipes? Or do you usually just throw the salt away after?
Thanks,
Mary
Hi Mary, yes I have broken up the salt and reused it for other batches of lox. Other readers have used it as a smokey salt/seasoning in other dishes.
Delicious! To be honest, I used to be skeptical about vegan food. But some vegan blogs, including yours, help me to see that there are so many amazing recipes, and this pleasantly surprise me. My sister-in-law doesn’t eat animal food, so I always rack my brains about what to cook when she comes.
This vegan lox looks rather natural. I hope, its taste is close to that of a real salmon.
Thank you for sharing this recipe and for your work in general, Erin! Added to bookmarks, of course.
★★★★★
Anna, thanks so much for your very kind comment … I’m so happy you’ve stopped by, and hope you enjoy the recipes!
Thanks for the recipe. I have tried a few, but this is by far the best. I added a hand full dill to and served with vegan blinis – perfect combination.
★★★★★
So happy you enjoyed, Lilly … love the idea of serving the lox with blinis!
I LOVE this vegan lox! I make it all the time, and the hardest part is waiting the 2 days for the carrots to soak up all that flavor. I’ll admit, I’ve eaten it before the time was up, haha. It’s still good, but giving it more time to soak is definitely better. I usually save the salt and reuse it 1 to 2 more times. Thanks for crafting such an amazing recipe!
★★★★★
I love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple times and love pairing it with TJ’s everything bagels, homemade cultured cashew cream cheese and all the fixings!
I use the cheapy Wright’s mesquite liquid smoke, but am curious to try another brand. I’ve found that I’m good with 1tsp or else it tastes artificial.
This time, I’ve added sea-seasonings kelp granules in the hopes it will impart a nice fishy flavor.
★★★★★
I am not vegan, but trying to eat more plant powered. I love this recipe and have made it twice now. In my opinion it is even better than the salmon version because it is less fishy. Really really delicious!
★★★★★
My husband made this for my birthday and it was incredible! Great texture and flavor. If you used to love lox (like I did before eating entirely plant based), you will LOVE this! We had it on fresh baguette with vegan cream cheese and capers; so good! Thank you for posting these incredible recipes.
★★★★★
I absolutely love this recipe! I make a spread out of it using homemade vegan cream cheese, capers and chopped red onion. Put it on a toasted bagel or really dark bread and it’s to die for! I made it for the vegan potlucks I used to go to before the pandemic. Now I just eat it by myself. Sigh. Thanks so much for all of your creative recipes. I first discovered you on a visit to my son in Finland.
★★★★★
Enid, I’m so happy you liked the lox! Thanks for sharing with friends in the Beforetimes and sad that we’re all eating stuff alone now. : ( Finland is one of my dream places to visit … for now, I’ll just be looking at beautiful photos of it.
I couldn’t stop eating this lox, I put it on everything. Delicious! Will be making this again.
★★★★★
Trina,
I love to hear that, I love putting it on everything too! Thanks for your kind feedback.