Recipe for a vegan Fish Burger (made with a tofu filet) in homemade Pretzel Rolls. It's so yummy! Completely plant-based and cruelty-free. Nothing tastes as good as a clear conscience feels.
The idea of a vegan Fish Burger has been in my head for such a long time. I can't believe I've waited that long before I finally managed to give it a try. Once I tried them, I was amazed at how awesome these burgers turned out. But you can't go wrong with a breaded tofu filet in homemade Pretzel Rolls, lettuce and a garlic yoghurt sauce, can you?
I've served these burgers with homemade potato wedges < perfect side dish for this burger to make it into a whole meal.
Panko flakes (which are practically flaky breadcrumbs often used in Japanese cooking) are the perfect base for this "fish" filet breading. They are super crispy! The dried seaweed add a lovely "fishy" and "underwater-taste"? Is this a thing? Underwater-taste? You know what I mean! :)
Do I really have to tell you how amazingly fluffy, soft and airy the pretzel rolls are? I've included the recipe for the rolls/buns as well because I want you to have the full experience. But if you're not in the mood to make your own bread, you can also use store-bought pretzel rolls or white bread.
More Vegan Fish Recipes
I hope you will enjoy this 'fish' burger as much as I did! Let me know if you give it a try!
And don't forget to rate the recipe if you like it, this helps other users figure out if it's worth a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Vegan Fish Burger with homemade Pretzel Rolls
Ingredients
Ingredients for the "fish" filets
- 1 block firm tofu
- ½ cup panko flakes
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon mild curry powder
- ¼ teaspoon paprika powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ sheet nori dried seaweed
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- canola oil for pan-frying
Ingredients for the garlic yoghurt sauce
- ½ cup unsweetened soy yogurt
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon chopped dill
- 1 garlic clove - minced and roasted
Ingredients for the pretzel rolls
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ¾ cup lukewarm water + ½ cup water for the water bath
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pretzel salt
- + a few lettuce leaves
Instructions
Instructions for the pretzel rolls
- Mix all the flour, active dry yeast and salt for the rolls, add in the olive oil and about ¾ cup lukewarm water, knead by hand until a soft dough forms or put the ingredients in kitchen machine and let the machine knead the dough for you.
- Let it sit until it doubles in size (about 1-2 hours).
- Preheat the oven to 480 °F / 250 °C.
- Cut the dough in four equal pieces and form the rolls.
- In a small pot, heat the water for the water bath and add in the baking soda. Place one roll after another in the hot baking soda water bath with the top side down and let it simmer in there for about half a minute to a minute. Then put them on a floured baking sheet.
- Carve the surface of the dough lightly with a knife and add the pretzel salt on top.
- Bake the bread in the oven for about 20 minutes and take it out once the surface is wonderful golden. You can knock on the bottom of the bread and when it sounds hollow it's done!
Instructions for the fish filet
- Carefully press out excess water of the tofu.
- Meanwhile mix the flour with 2 tablespoons of water and add ½ teaspoon of salt (it should have an egg-like consistency, add more water or flour to achieve that). Prepare the breading by mixing the panko flakes, lemon zest, dried dill, curry powder, paprika powder, salt and crumbled up dried seaweed.
- Cut the tofu in 4 slices, dip them in the egg replacement (flour + water + salt), then coat them with the breadcrumbs. Repeat for all the slices and pan-fry them in a large pan with olive oil until they're crispy and golden on both sides.
Assemble
- For the garlic yogurt sauce, simply mix all the ingredients together.
- Slice the pretzel buns, add a few leaves of lettuce, then the fish filet and top with the garlic yoghurt sauce. Enjoy!
Strength and Sunshine says
That is such a fun sandwich my friend! And the pretzel buns....That just completes everything!
Bianca says
Thank you Rebecca! A couple of years ago, I didn't like anything pretzel-style weird-me but now I can't get enough of it :)
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
This right here is the epitome of why I want to heal my digest and start eating gluten again because PRETZEL ROLLS! You are so talented with homemade bread, I'm amazed every single time! Okay, but getting past the bun, that patty is an impressive feat of vegan cooking too! Seaweed has such a fishy flavor, and the texture of tofu is actually much closer to fish than meat in my opinion so altogether I'm sure these are crazy believable! And potato wedges on the side--very good idea <3
Bianca says
Oh, Natalie, I hope you will be able to heal your tummy completely and eat all the gluten in the world again <3 But even then, I think gluten-free pretzel rolls would be possible. I kind of want to get more into gf baking but on the other hand, it's so different and new and then I always end up using normal flours :D #foodbloggerproblems And I think so too, the consistency of tofu is much more fish-like than meat-like (which I usually sub with seitan or TVP).
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
I have tried many many times to make gf pretzels unsuccessfully! I should try again though, I feel like I have a little more success with gf bread now. But I would be thrilled if you would do more GF bread recipes, you have so much more knowledge of homemade bread making than me!
Bianca says
If we could just merge our skills. <3 That would be amazing :)
Katie from Produce on Parade says
Dang! You are amazing. I love anything pretzel and these look like the real deal! I like to use the term "oceany appeal" heheh
Bianca says
"oceanic appeal" < LOVE it! :D Thank you so much, Katie! That's really sweet of you.
Kyra says
This is such a good idea Bianca! I never liked fish in my pre-vegan days, but I really like the look of that tofu-fish (tofish?). And I always love that you make your own bread too - those pretzel rolls look amazing! I've never made pretzel rolls before, but you've got me curious to try these out :D
Bianca says
Thank you, Kyra! Tofish - yes, we should make that a thing :D hehe. I had a store-bought vegan salmon (I really liked the taste of salmon before I went vegan) once and it was terrible, so I better stick to tofu-based fish alternatives :) I always feel like I'm cheating when I'm not using homemade buns for burgers weird Pretzel rolls are not much more work than regular bread, you only need the baking soda bath, then you can pretzel anything! :)
Alicia Ogard says
LOVED THIS! The sauce and fish was amazing! I used a different pretzel bun recipe that I know how to make fast and served this with a side balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing!
Bianca says
I'm so glad you liked it! :) The dressing sounds delicious!