Carrot lox-vegan salmon from carrots

This is the easiest recipe to make vegan lox. This simple recipe makes a carrot salmon that holds together, which is great for vegan salmon sushi and sandwich cakes.

You can use this carrot lox also to make delicious Danish-style smørrebrød.

Ingredients for the smoked salmon carrot

Carrots. You get nice wide slices if you choose big carrots.

Oil. I used extra virgin olive oil, but you can use rapeseed oil also. If you choose flaxseed oil, then you also get omega-3, like from the real salmon. Just make sure the oil is fresh and has not turned bitter.

Vinegar. I recommend apple cider vinegar. White wine vinegar or red wine vinegar will work great also, even rice vinegar. Rice vinegar is a mix that has some sugar in it, so you don't then necessarily need any additional sugar. If you like some vinegary taste in your lox, use two tablespoons, but add one tablespoon of vinegar if you want a more sweet taste.

Dill. Fresh dill gives a nice taste. Dried dill works also. If you use the carrot lox for decorating, you can leave the dill out or put it in bigger pieces; they are easy to pick out then.

Sweetening. Some sugar balances the vinegar. You can use plain white sugar or other sugars. Maple syrup is a great substitute.

Salt. Salt is quite essential to the lox flavor. You can use sea salt, pink Himalayan salt, or low sodium salt. For extra smokiness, use smoked sea salt. Ikea sometimes sells this smoked salt.

Pepper. My favorite is lemon pepper. This can be replaced with pink pepper, black- or white pepper. They do, though, all have different flavors.

Liquid smoke. Applewood smoke aroma is best with carrot lox. I have only found hickory smoke in our stores, so that is what I used. It is very concentrated, so one teaspoon is enough. You can find hickory liquid smoke on amazon. Check below different alternatives.

Additional ingredients. You can add some lemon juice if you like acidity. For some extra "sea" taste, you can crumble half a sheet of nori seaweed in the mixture. I rarely use this because I'm not too fond of the bites' look on the ready product, but this also gives a nice extra flavor.

Also, some alcohol can give a nice taste to the lox. I suggest whisky, brandy, or cognac.

How to choose the right type of liquid smoke for lox?

Liquid smoke comes in different tastes; hickory, mesquite, applewood, and pecan. Liquid smoke is made from distilling smoke, so it tastes like the wood it came from. It can be hard to distinguish these subtle taste tones but choose how strong you want the smoke flavor.

• Mesquite is the strongest, assertive and bold.
• Hickory, pecan, and oak are slightly milder.
• Applewood is lighter and sweeter. This works best with fish and also with vegan lox.

If your lox tastes bitter because of the smoke aroma, then you probably have used too much of it. You can start by adding 2 drops or ½ teaspoon and reflecting how you like it. We like the smoke taste, so 1 teaspoon of hickory is fine for our taste buds. Applewood is great to start with; it has a softer taste. Different brands can also have different nuances in the taste, so another brand's smoke aroma can taste different. Often, the rule of thumb is that a big bottle is less smoky and may be diluted. Tiny bottles are often strongly flavored.

Carrot lox without liquid smoke.

You can do this without the liquid smoke. Many people don´t like the smoke taste. Salmon lox also comes in two varieties, smoked and non-smoked. If you don't like the smoke taste, then leave the smoke aroma out. You don't have to replace it with anything.

How to make vegan lox?

• Boil 3 litres of water on your stovetop in a big pot. Around 3,1 quarts (12 cups).
• Choose 3 big carrots, peel and wash them. Cut out the edges.
• Peel slices from your carrots. Use a sharp peeler to make 0,5-1 mm thick slices. You can also use a mandolin.

• Put your thickest slices in the simmering salted water and boil 2 minutes, then add the thinner ones and boil an additional 2-3 minutes. When you peeled your carrots you get thick parts from the middle and thinner from the sides. You also end up with the middle part that can not be made into thin slices. You won't use that part. Since the carrot slices are of different thicknesses, they need different cooking times.
• Drain your carrots in a strainer. When the slices are soft, you can drain them. Usually, 4-5 minutes of boiling time is perfect. Let them cool down like this for some minutes.
• Make the marinade. Chop the fresh dill and mix all ingredients in the bowl where you will put your carrots in.
• Let the carrots marinate for at least 2 hours. Preferably 1-2 days. Mix occasionally around.

How to make whole foods plant-based lox?

If you follow a whole food plant-based diet, you might want to cut the oil and salt from the lox recipe totally. But what is lox without the salty flavor?

You can replace salt with tamari or soy sauce. Also, white miso mixed in some water will give saltiness. Tamari is very dark, so it alters the color somewhat to a browner tone. You can also choose a salt with less sodium.

Oil is unnecessary, but it gives a nice "salmony" shimmer since real lox is fatty. Replace the oil with some vegetable broth.

How to serve carrot lox?

• Smoked carrot sandwich
• Vegan smoked salmon pasta
• Vegan salmon sushi
• Bagel and lox
• Vegan Salmon sandwich cake
• Vegan lox pizza
• Tortilla rollups

Nutrition content

This whole amount only has around 200 calories. 120 of them come from olive oil. Eating just a ⅓ of the batch gives you all A-vitamin you need. Comparing carrot lox to salmon lox:

Recipe variations

This is not the only way to make carrot lox. This is just the easiest way, in my opinion. Here are some other examples of how you can make lox.

Oven-baked in a salt crust and then marinated. It takes a couple of hours to bake the carrots inside the salt. This gives a salty flavor to the whole carrot and makes it replicate the best real lox.

Peeled in slices and baked in the oven in the marinade. This often also makes softer carrot sices.

Cold smoked. The most advanced method, and for true culinarians.

Slices cooked in water and then marinated. Gives often a bit firmer variation of carrot lox, the most simple solution.

Slices steamed and marinated. This method is similar to the above but keeps the nutrients in the carrot.

From what other ingredients can you make vegan lox?

Yellow beetroot, tomato, and parsnip are all alternatives to carrot when making vegan lox. Tomatoes are skinned in boiling water, then they are cut in half, and seeds are trimmed away. Marinated the same way as carrot lox. Beetroots and parsnips can be made in all the same ways as carrots.

FAQ