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Vegan tartar sauce is super easy; just mix vegan mayo, lemon juice, pickle relish and minced onions in proportions that are pleasing to you. But what if you don’t want to spend $7 for a jar of store-bought vegan mayonnaise? And what if you’re on an oil-free diet? And what if you want something low calorie, low-fat, and low-cost?
Well, friends, you’re in luck! While standing in the kitchen today, I was pondering these very questions. I was trying to decide how to serve my Gardein Fishless Filets* (delicious, vegan, and highly recommended!). At that moment, I dreamed up this low-fat, oil-free tartar sauce recipe. It was absolutely amazing on a green salad topped with these delicious mock-fish filets.
Fuss-Free and Fabulous
This vegan tartar sauce recipe is relatively fuss-free. The only fussy ingredient would be the roasted garlic cloves. But if you would rather not fuss with roasting garlic, a half-teaspoon of garlic powder is also a fantastic substitute! There is an easy technique for making oil-free roasted garlic from Mary’s Test Kitchen. I usually roast a few whole bulbs at a time and keep the extra cloves in the fridge. They really add an amazing garlicky-sweet depth of flavor to the tartar sauce.
No Time to Soak… No Worries!
As with many cashew cream recipes, I recommend soaking the cashews ahead of time, if possible. You can also flash-soaking them by submerging them in boiling water for 10 minutes before blending. But when I made this sauce, I did not pre-soak them. I put wet ingredients and the cashews in a jar and liquified them with my Cuisinart handheld immersion blender. Then I stirred in the mix-ins by hand. It turned out very smooth and creamy. Tofu makes the sauce extra smooth when it might otherwise be gritty from the cashew particles.
• Side-Note: While my tartar sauce recipe is oil-free, Gardein Fish-less Filets are not!
Vegan Tartar Sauce
Ingredients
Blended Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cashews soaked, if possible
- 1/2 of a 15-oz block of firm or extra-firm tofu
- 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast
- 3 large cloves of oil-free roasted garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 2 tsp brown or dijon mustard
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp of water as needed to help blender
Mix-ins
- 1/2 tsp dried dill weed
- 2 tablespoon of dill pickle relish to taste (or chopped gherkins or pickles)
- 1/4 medium sweet vedalia onion
Instructions
- Add cashews to a quart-sized jar, along with the tofu, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, mustard, cayenne, lemon juice, and vinegar. Blend with an immersion blender until very smooth. You may add up to a tablespoon of water if needed to help the blender.
- Add the dill weed, pickle relish, and minced onion. Stir to combine, and serve.