*This post may contain affiliate links. Read more »
If your Sunday bagel ritual's been feeling a little less Aleister Crowley flavored, and a little more boring AF, well, this carrot lox recipe is about to become the brunch bombshell your bagel has been crying out for in the cold, dark, cosmic wind-swept emptiness of the universe. Carrots are about to get turnt. Turnt into luscious, smoky ribbons that rival the stuff at your neighborhood deli, that is.
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
This recipe is a straight-up win for anyone craving salty, naturally smoky bagel heaven without any fishy business. No need to salt roast, cure for days, or stand around like a sad lox-less mensch-just a quick steam, a marinade that works overnight magic, and you're seriously in business.
Pile this up on a toasted bagel or on slabs of olive oil-grilled sourdough. For a hyper-impressive Sunday brunch spread, serve this alongside a vegan frittata, a sky-high stack of vegan pancakes, tofu bacon, and a warm pan of vegan scrambled eggs.
So roll up your sleeves, grab a mandoline (but pls watch your fingies!), and let's get your fridge stocked with the BOMB plant-based fish!
The carrot lox was super simple to make and tastes just like smoked salmon. I never would have guessed that I could still have lox on my bagel while eating a plant-based diet. This is a must try recipe! You won't be disappointed.
Jump to:
🥰Why you'll adore this vegan smoked salmon recipe
🥕 Carrots in Disguise: These humble roots transform into something shockingly close to smoked salmon. The texture? Remember how you doubted the supremacy of my carrot bacon? Well, this is an absolute mind-blower too, I say!
⏳ Make-Ahead Magic: Marinate it overnight, and you've got a fridge-stable treat ready to roll for several days.
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like all my vegan breakfast recipes, this uses only plants and never harms a lovable fish. If you're looking for more gluten-free vegan recipes to rock for your brunch posse, this will quickly climb your list of faveys.
🛠 Minimal Tools: No dehydrator, no smoker, no stovetop drama. Just a pot and a mandoline (or a thick veggie peeler).
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of my vegan recipes, this one was tested by a massive squad of literally hundreds of recipe testers, and it knocked their lox off.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
🥕Carrot lox Ingredients
Carrots
Choose thick, straight carrots to give you wide slices that resemble smoked salmon. Save pretty multi-colored bunches of carrots for projects like my harissa carrots or maple roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots. Come on-salmon isn't purple, after all.
Pickle Juice
Use dill pickle brine for a fermented kick. Make sure it's not sweet or artificially colored pickle juice. If you're out (why you would choose to lead a pickle-free lifestyle I will never understand), substitute with apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar, with a tiny bit of extra salt.
If you are rocking this out on a bagel with capers, you can use the caper brine instead of pickle juice, if you want to cut down on your grocery bill a little.
Smoked Tea
Lapsang souchong brings that essential smoky flavor without the need for a smoker. I've always thought the idea of straight up drinking the stuff seemed like a crazy idea, but boy-oh-boyyyyy does it ever make an easy way to make things more naturally smoky and yummy.
If you can't find any, you can swap the tea and water in this recipe out for ¾ teaspoon of liquid smoke mixed with ¼ cup of warm water. A few drops of hickory or mesquite go a long way, so start small and taste as you go to avoid overpowering the marinade. It's one of the core ingredients I use in nearly all my vegan meats, from vegan Italian sausage to vegan pepperoni.
Aonori or Ground Nori Sheets
To capture that ocean-y vibe, add aonori (a fine Japanese seaweed powder) or thoroughly grind up plain nori sheets in a spice grinder (it's a lot easier to do that if before grinding, you lightly toast the nori for a couple of seconds over an open flame).
Aonori is actually the traditional seaweed used in shichimi togarashi and gives classic flavor to vegan yakisoba too.
Smoked Paprika
Smoked paprika helps get the carrots closer to the color of traditional lox and deepens the overall smoky flavor. I lean on this spice constantly when building the smokiness in bacon recipes like seitan bacon, rice paper bacon, and tempeh bacon.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
📖 How to make vegan lox
Look, we've all been hangry enough to skip the fine print-but if you want it to come out smoked-salmon-smooth, don't miss these step-by-step photos and insider tips.
Step One
Can You Peel The Love Tonight?
Peel or scrub the carrots and trim off the stems.
Step Two
Thinner Takes All
Use a mandoline to slice the carrots lengthwise into 2 mm ribbons. They should resemble silky strips of lox.
Step Three
It Was All A Steam (I used to read Wordup Magazine):
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the carrot strips, turn off the heat, cover, and let them steam for exactly 6 minutes.
Step Four
Tea-nacious D:
Meanwhile, pour almost-boiling water (203 °F/ 95 °C is ideal) over the lapsang souchong tea leaves in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a plate and allow the tea to steep for 4 minutes.
✅ Steeping the tea too long will release more tannins, making your vegan smoked salmon darker and slightly bitter.
Step Five
Drip You a New One:
Drain the carrots and rinse under cold water. Let them drip dry in a colander or fine mesh strainer until no longer wet.
Step Six
Be Careful What You Whisk For:
Drain the tea through a strainer into a small bowl, discarding the tea leaves. Whisk the pickle juice, liquid smoke, seaweed, paprika, and olive oil into the tea in the bowl.
Step Seven
Netflix & Chill:
Add the carrots to the marinade and toss gently to coat. Transfer the carrots and marinade to an airtight container. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours, preferably overnight.
Step Eight
The Bagel Assembly:
Spread vegan cream cheese on your toasted bagels. Top with the chilled carrot lox, then layer on your onion, capers, chives, dill, and cracked pepper.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
💡Serving Ideas
Carrot lox with some soft scrambled Just Egg is kinda unbeatable.
You can pop a few strips into a vegan omelette or layer them into a vegan quiche.
Serve it all with a tall stack of ube pancakes, vegan blueberry pancakes, or vegan banana pancakes, ya majestic wild pony, you.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
👉Top tips
- Use Wide Carrots: Skinny ones won't give you normal-looking ribbons. Bigger is better in this case.
- Mandoline Safety: PLEASE, for the love of your precious fingies that I would love for you to continue a long-term relationship with, either use a hand guard or cut-resistant glove. You need your fingers more than you need a fake fish made out of a vegetable!
- Don't Oversteep: The best temperature for brewing lapsang souchong is 200-212°F (93-100°C). Make sure you steep it for 3-5 minutes, so as not to release bitter tannins into your marinade.
- Steam, Don't Boil: Turning off the heat allows the carrot slices to become tender without falling apart or getting mushy.
- Marinate Overnight: 12 hours minimum is non-negotiable. It's when the nori and pickle juice really penetrate the carrots and make them taste like something amazing.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Technically, yes, but it won't be nearly as flavorful. I did some tests, actually, and it takes a minimum of 5 hours for the marinade to penetrate further than 1mm into the surface of the carrot.
Yes! Dill or tarragon is straight up awesome in this. Just keep the amount kinda moderate so the herbs don't overpower the smoke.
Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days. Don't leave food out at room temperature for more than 2 hours at a time for food safety reasons.
✌️You'll love these vegan breakfast recipes too:
Get a massive discount on all of my popular vegan brunch classes and become a plant-based breakfast champion!
Carrot Lox
Equipment
- Colander or mesh strainer
Ingredients
- 3 large carrots
- 2 tablespoons lapsang souchong loose smoked tea leaves
- ⅓ cup boiling water
- 3 tablespoons pickle juice
- 4 teaspoons tamari
- 2 teaspoons aonori or finely ground nori sheets
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
For Serving:
- Bagels
- Vegan cream cheese
- Capers
- Chives thinly sliced
- Fresh Dill
- Red onion thinly sliced
- Nonpareil capers in brine drained
- Coarsely crushed black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel or scrub the carrots and use a mandoline to shave the carrots lengthwise into 2 mm thin strips resembling smoked salmon.
- Bring a pot of water up to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling add the carrots, turn the heat off and cover the pot to let the carrots steam for exactly 6 minutes until just fork tender. If you used a vegetable peeler to make your carrot strips instead of a mandoline, steam only for a couple of minutes so they don't fall apart on you.
- Meanwhile, in a bowl or cup, pour boiling water over the lapsang souchong tea. Cover the bowl with a plate and allow the tea to steep for 4 minutes.
- Carefully drain the carrots and cool them by rinsing them under cold running water. Allow the carrots to drip dry in a colander or wire mesh strainer.
- Drain the tea through a strainer into a mixing bowl, and add the pickle juice, liquid smoke, aonori, smoked paprika, and olive oil.
- Add the carrot strips and toss gently to coat. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 12 hours to marinate.
- To serve, spread vegan cream cheese on toasted bagels. Top with the marinated lox, red onion, capers, chives, fresh dill, and crushed black pepper. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Notes
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
Debbie Hoover says
The carrot lox was super simple to make and tastes just like smoked salmon. I never would have guessed that I could still have lox on my bagel while eating a plant-based diet. This is a must try recipe! You won’t be disappointed.
Tee Hansen says
Amazed at how this turned out! The fact that my hubby tried it eyes closed and was completely fooled?? This is peak "wait, that's NOT salmon?!" energy, and I'm here for it!! 💯
Dotty says
We always have carrot lox for fancy celebrations or when I'm just feeling we deserve a lovely treat, and this recipe is an upgrade to my old one. The lapsang Souchong is key! I can only get the teabags where I live but still was great! All the family loved it, wouldn't change a thing. It's a keeper for us xxx
Peg Nemoff says
I tested this recipe with the original posting. I tried it twice. Note that it is important to use quality carrots, as my first try was with a less than adequate product.
Next it is important to slice these carrots as thin as possible. Then, when you are grinding up the toasted nori, use a coffee bean grinder to make the bits very small.
Note about the Lapsang souchong that I tried 3 tea sellers before I was able to lay my hands on that wonderful smoky Chinese tea. It is a must.
Adam has the lox flavor down to remarkable. I shared the final product with octogenarian friends whose eyes lit up in amazement. They said it was like crunchy and less oily lox.
I would give it a 5-star rating for taste, but I am scoring it a 4-star as that flavor was overcome by the cream cheese on my bagel.