Happy New Year!!!! Can I get a "woot woot" for 2018? I'm giddily jumping in and starting off this year's recipes with a real ohh ahh bang: hello, Heart of Palm Calamari!
Do you see that photo? Yeah, pretty dang cool if I do say so myself. A new vegan restaurant moved into town (woot woot!) and although I have yet to visit it, I have heard rumours of their vegan calamari. Always the impatient one I needed to make it for myself ASAP. The resto uses mushrooms for their version but after a bit of googling and coming across a recipe from One Green Planet, I decided heart of palms were just the thing I wanted to use.
Tender, flaky, crispy fried rings of deliciousness with a squeeze of lemon. Yes please, I'll have 10 orders. When heart of palm is sliced you can pop out the center making these perfect little rings. How cute are they? This vegan calamari is more on the tender side than traditional calamari (it's not chewy), but that makes this heart of palm calamari recipe even better in my opinion!
If you are new to heart of palm, believe it or not, it's usually available canned in almost any grocery store. There are even three different brand options in my local grocery store! This tropical veg stole my heart (ba dum dum tsk!) as a perfect seafood substitute because of it's tender, flaky texture and mild taste. I've already used it a few times in my cookbook, Fuss-Free Vegan, but I'm thrilled it's making it's first blog debut today!
Note: if you're concerned about the sustainability of heart of palms, rest assured that, unlike some palm oils, most canned varieties of this veggie comes from farmed peach palms. Just check with the brand you are purchasing to be sure.
To make Heart of Palm Calamari: Slice the heart of palm into 1 inch slices. Then you should be able to pop out the center of each slice to make a ring. Some heart of palm is a bit on the smaller side and may be too small for the center to pop out, and that's ok, those solid slices will work just as well.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and garlic powder.
Cover the bottom of a skillet with about ¼ inch of oil and put over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, take a handful of heart of palm rings (which should still be wet from draining). Dredge the rings in the flour mixture shaking off the excess, and carefully drop them into the hot oil. Repeat with the remaining heart of palm. You may need to do this in batches so your pan isn't too crowded. Fry, turning the pieces until they are lightly golden all over. Drain on paper towel. Serve hot garnishing as desired.
Heart of palm is the perfect vegan substitute for calamari. The tender, flaky texture is perfect. Toss in seasoned flour mixture and serve with wedges of lemon for an easy vegetarian seafood treat!
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon salt (plus more for garnish)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- oil for frying
- 1 398ml can heart of palm, drained, cut into 1" pieces, rings separated
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 1 handful parsley, chopped
- Aioli (page 208 in Fuss-Free Vegan), marinara, or tartar sauce (page 144 in Fuss-Free Vegan), for dipping
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In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and garlic powder.
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Cover the bottom of a skillet with about ¼ inch of oil and put over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, take a handful of heart of palm rings (which should still be wet from draining). Dredge the rings in the flour mixture shaking off the excess, and carefully drop them into the hot oil. Repeat with the remaining heart of palm. You may need to do this in batches so your pan isn't too crowded. Fry turning the pieces until they are lightly golden all over. Drain on paper towel. Serve hot garnishing as desired.
Nutrition
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Bon appetegan!
Sam.
All I can find is canned heart of palm. Will that still work?
Yep! That's what I use 🙂
These were really good! Originally, I tried baking them and it didn't work out. The flour was too powdery and the texture was off. I then tried frying them and the texture was a lot better!!
It was very good, got eaten up real quick - even by the kiddos (:
I did add more salt to the flour mixture though, it seemed a tad bland.
Glad you enjoyed!!
I can’t find any hearts of palm cut like calamari with the center out!! What would you suggest?
Air fryer worked really well. Tried without any oil (yum) and with dipping in melted coconut oil prior to coating and air frying (double yum). Both great.
Hi there! What were the setting on your air fryer? Thanks 🙂
It was set to 450 and 25 minutes. My fryer is part of a Cuisinart oven, so the setting itself was "air fry."
I used a mix of almond flour and arrowroot flour, as I am gluten free. I added dried parsley, with garlic an onion powder. I tried it two different ways: the first was without any oil and the second batch was dipped in melted coconut oil before being coated. Both ways tasted fine and are Wahls Protocol compliant.
Awesome thank you! 🙂
Love this recipe. We made it with half flour, half cornmeal and it was amazing!
We just tried this recipe and it was soooo good!! and so easy!! Thank you <3
Yay!! So happy you loved it!
What do you suggest you use the innards for?
You can fry them up as well!
Is there a substitute for cornstarch?
You could use arrowroot powder 🙂
These were fun to make and my first time trying heart of palm! It had a fibrous texture instead of chewy, and they were delicious and light.
Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Can almond flour be used instead of all-purpose flour?
I believe that should work just fine. ENjoy!
HI, Its such great presentation, and what a good idea....
Do you have any "Alternate" to Hearts of Palm?
Palm Tree is very important to the Habitat of ORANGUTANGS which are going completely extinct because of "harvesting" of Palm.
Thank you! As noted above in my article if you’re concerned about the sustainability of heart of palms, rest assured that, unlike some palm oils, most canned varieties of this veggie comes from farmed peach palms, and do not affect the orangutangs. Just check with the brand you are purchasing to be sure. But otherwise, you could try mushrooms. Enjoy!
can you bake these ? Im trying to loose weight ?
Hi Amanda, these wouldn't work to bake them, but I do have lots of other recipes that are lower calorie in my recipe index. Hope that helps!
How about an air fryer?
I haven't tried them but I imagine they would be a little dry. Maybe try spraying with oil first?
I used my air fryer setting on a Cuisinart toaster oven. They were crisp and delicious.
These were a hit across the board!! All of the kids devoured them.
That's awesome! Thrilled they were enjoyed 🙂
Made these last night and they were AMAZING! Super easy (I just put the flour/corn starch mixture into a big Ziploc bag and shook to coat the rings). And even more importantly, my picky 4 1/2 year old daughter absolutely LOVED them. Definitely going to make these when no one is around to share with! Hahaha
Bahahaha! Love it!! Great idea about the bag. I'll do that next time too 🙂
Your recipes never fail. This one was awesome!
Where can I find hearts of palm? It is different than artichoke hearts?
Hi Jill, yes, it's a totally different plant. I can generally be found in any grocery store in the canned vegetable section. Enjoy!
This is a great idea! Love your creativity. Do you think panko bread crumbs would work? I like them extra crispy!
Thank you 🙂 Panko isn't traditional for calamari but you could definitely try it. You would likely need to make a chia or flax egg dip to get the panko to stick. Enjoy!
Oh my goodness!! I'm stopping to get heart of palm on my way home tonight! If we get snowed in tomorrow, THIS will be what's for lunch!
Woohoo! Enjoy 🙂