You can make delicious vegan Smoked Salmon out of carrots! Everything Bagel + Vegan Cream Cheese + Carrot Lox = HEAVEN!

I love, love, love creating vegan fish recipes because it's easy to blow peoples' minds when you tell them that you use banana flowers, artichokes, tofu, chickpeas, and now even carrots to make 'fishy' meals!
Carrots, shaved into carrot ribbons, are perfect for Vegan Smoked Salmon, also known as Carrot Lox. And I have to tell you, I don't think there are many things better than homemade Everything Bagels, Almond Cream Cheese, this Carrot Lox and topped with fresh dill and cracked pepper. So I am really excited to share this recipe with you!
There are a lot of different ways to make Carrot Lox:
- bake the carrots in a salt-crust, then cut into stripes and pickle them (takes forever)
- cut carrots into ribbons and just pickle them (carrots could be softer)
- cut carrots into ribbons and steam them, then pickle them (I feel like steaming them hinders them from soaking up more of the flavor later)
- cut carrots into ribbons, add them to the boiling pickling liquid and pickle them (< This is the version I liked the best!)
It's the ideal mix of making the carrots soft, getting that flavor in, and also it doesn't take too much time. I always try to keep my recipes simple (when it comes to the ingredients as well as the preparation).
How to make Carrot Lox
The ingredients
You will need:
- carrots - use large carrots! they are easier to shave into carrot ribbons with the veggie peeler
- rice vinegar - apple cider vinegar or coconut vinegar will also work
- liquid smoke - adds that smoky flavor
- soy sauce - or tamari for a gf version
- lemon juice
- salt
- fresh dill
- capers
- nori flakes - add nori sheets into a blender or food processor to make nori flakes. I always have a batch at home because I like to sprinkle the flakes on top of my sushi bowls. You could also cut up a nori sheet or rip it.
The basic steps
Serve it with..
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I hope you will enjoy this vegan Smoked Salmon aka Carrot Lox as much as I did! Let me know if you give them a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Vegan Smoked Salmon (Carrot Lox)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 3 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 sprigs fresh dill
- 2 teaspoons capers
- 1 teaspoon nori flakes
Instructions
- Using a veggie peeler, shave the carrots into carrot ribbons.
- In a small pot, add the rice vinegar, water, liquid smoke, soy sauce, lemon juice, and salt. Bring it to a boil. Add the carrot ribbons. Let them cook for 10-15 minutes until they are very soft.
- Prepare a pickling jar, add fresh dill, capers, the carrot ribbons with the hot pickling liquid as well as nori flakes.
- Let it cool off for a bit, then place it in the fridge and let the carrot ribbons soak up the flavor at least overnight.
- The next day, you can enjoy it with e.g. bagels and vegan cream cheese!
May says
This is genius! I have to try this!
Linda says
Substitude for liquit smoke and nori? I can't find it in the shops
Diego Gal says
I was excited to try this lox variation as I have made the baked-in-salt method a few times and it comes out amazing but is quite a process. The flavor on this version seems a little less authentic than the salt-baked version (vs. real salmon), but it still tastes wonderful when topped on a Kite Hill cream cheese-slathered onion bagel. It was also super easy, so I would totally make this again. One thing, I simmered my carrots for 3 minutes as instructed and did not realize they weren't cooked all the way through. After marinating a full 24-hours, despite being thinly sliced, they still had some snap to them. I remedied this by microwaving a serving for about 45 seconds and then letting them cool before I put them on the bagel. Next time I will boil them longer to make sure they are sufficiently limp before marinating. Thanks for the delicious, quick version lox!
Rosie says
Would it be possible to jar these a week prior to using ? Would the flavour be compromised ?
Bianca says
absolutely! I actually always have a jar of carrot lox in the fridge - it keeps forever, just make sure that the carrots are covered by the liquid.
Ashley says
I think the flavor of this is perfectly on point. Bit 3 minutes boil time isn't anywhere close to long enough. It was very crunchy and I ended up putting it back on the burner for am additional 10-15minutes. Love the idea but texture is an important factor for lox.