Hearts of Palm Cakes are a simple and crunchy cake served with delicious garlic aioli. Perfect as an appetizer or vegetarian entrée, these vegetarian crab cakes will blow your mind!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Reese® Hearts of Palm.
Hearts of Palm Cakes are crunchy cakes made with hearts of palm, artichokes, garlic and panko served with a zesty garlic aioli.
Hearts of Palm Cakes
I live in the heart of crab cake country on the Chesapeake Bay. Folks around here are serious about their crab cakes; little filler and jumbo lump crab.
The Hearts of Palm Cake was developed as a solution for our vegetarian friends not having a similar option. Essentially, it is the vegetarian crab cake! My go-to brand is always Reese® Hearts of Palm.
Fresh palm hearts offer a similar texture to crab, smooth and buttery. Most, as I did, also add artichoke hearts and additional seasonings.
As with any good crab cake, hearts of palm cakes are not dense, in fact they are fairly loose and fragile.
Vegetarian Crab Cakes
Crispy panko, mayonnaise and lightly beaten egg are just enough to bind the ingredients.
A quick trip to the freezer helps solidify even more before being lightly pan fried in olive oil, spritzed with lemon and dipped in a zesty garlic aioli.
Hearts of Palm
What are hearts of palm?
Many seem to associate hearts of palm with artichokes, but they come from a completely different plants. They come from trees, palm trees in fact, hence hearts of palm. They are plentiful in Costa Rica, South American and Florida. The actual tree is sometimes referred to as a swamp cabbage, but more formally the sabal palm.
Known as a delicacy around the world since palm trees can’t be grown just any place, they are a vegetable harvested from the inner core and growing bud of certain palm trees.
Reese Hearts of Palm are low in cholesterol, and a good source of potassium, contain vitamin C and are non-GMO project verified, making them ideal for adding to your favorite family dishes.
Toss them into a leafy green salad, pasta salad, pasta dishes, on top of pizza, in omelets, dips and spreads, casseroles or even blend into homemade salad dressings to thicken.
They are shelf stable, so you can always keep a few cans in the pantry to use in a jiffy.
They may not be harvested from the same place, but hearts of palms best friend are the artichoke. Reese Artichoke Hearts add another unique flavor profile, texture and are just as versatile as Hearts of Palm.
Hearts of Palm Taste
What do hearts of palm taste like? Commonly misconstrued with artichoke hearts, some beleive they actually taste similar too. The texture is more delicate and smooth. Fresh has a more distinctive flavor than canned or jarred after being suspended in a water solution that can slightly mute the flavor. Even fresh, it still has a delicate flavor.
Pick up a few cans of both to give yourself options!
Here are some other easy vegetarian recipes:
Tools:
Heavy Bottom Frying Pan– this will be one of your most used kitchen tools. Having something that is heavy bottom will distribute heat better and prevent burning whether you are using an electric or gas range.
Wood cutting board – wood won’t dull your knives like plastic and if treated properly, has natural antimicrobial properties.
Good knife – Global is my favorite! They are worth the price, I promise. I am kind of obsessed with them and store them tucked away so no one else can use them. Including hubby. Hands off my good stuff!
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Hearts of Palm Cakes
Ingredients
For the cakes:
- 14 oz Reese Hearts of Palm drained, dried and chopped
- 14 oz Reese Artichoke Hearts drained, dried and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian parsley minced
- 2 tablespoon dried onions
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- light extra virgin olive oil for frying
For the Panko Crust:
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
For serving (optional):
- Garlic Aioli
- Lemon wedges
- Fresh bean sprouts
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for hearts of palm cakes, mixing well.
- In a shallow dish or pie plate, mix together ingredients for panko crust: panko bread crumbs, sea salt and ground black pepper.
- Divide hearts of palm cake mix into eighths, form into patties. Patties will be loose.
- Place in panko crust mix and pat on both sides. Transfer to a large plate or baking sheet. Repeat with all.
- Freeze cakes for 20-30 minutes.
- Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
- Working in two batches, fry cakes in olive oil for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned.
- Remove to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
- Serve immediately with garlic aioli and lemon wedges.
- If you’ve tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was!
Notes
Nutrition
Try Reese Hearts of Palm and Artichoke Hearts! Download the Ibotta app to earn rebates on Reese products. Visit bit.ly/ReeseIbotta now!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Reese® Hearts of Palm.
Wow! These exceeded my expectations! Really wonderful & mine held together well. I followed your recipe exactly & was pleased with the taste. I might add a bit of “the family recipe” spices next time, but a real winner. Does anyone have thoughts about amping the protein?
Thank you! Are you looking to amp the protein with a meat or with additional things like beans? You’d need more binder for beans, but if you are looking for seafood options, our Crab Cakes and Salmon Croquettes are equally as good.
Just made these & they look great! They are in the freezer stage, I wonder if some can be frozen & cooked later? Would it be better to cook them all & freeze left overs? Maybe there won’t be any! Thanks for a easy great recipe!
Hi Julie- you can freeze them, but cook them first and then cook them from frozen to reheat.
Enjoyed
Thank you, Tonya.
These crunchy little fritters look amazing and great as an easy crispy starter! I’ve never used hearts of palm like this, so I’m super excited to try this recipe!
I love crab cakes, so this is a great vegetarian adaptation!
These look divine!
The cakes look so appetizing! I’ve got to try making them soonest.
I know it was suppose to be vegetarian, but I’m not a vegetarian so I added bacon bits, (and Parmesan cheese). It was very tasty. Ive been obsessed with artichokes my whole life but have only recently discovered hearts of palm.
Nice~ What would you have done to make it a 5 star recipe?
In these crazy days of Coronavirus containment, I am experimenting with many an ingredient and I just happened to have both of these key ingredients on my shelf. I never fry my crab cakes so I prepared these accordingly and baked them! Delish and they did not fall apart at all, even though I did not include an egg in preparation. I also put garlic cloves, a Tablespoon of butter and the Panko in a sauté pan and cook about 6 minutes until golden (discard garlic), then used those crumbs to coat the cakes, placed them on non-stick foil lined baking sheet and baked at 400* for 15 minutes. Perfect!
Awesome! So glad to hear that!
This was all new for me but they came out SO good and my husband was a fan so it was a double win in my book! Will definitely be making these again!
This was pretty to make! Love the way they turned out too, the video was very helpful. Thank you!
These were delicious!!! Served with a garlic aioli and a remoulade, my family couldn’t get enough and said I must make them again! My grandma was surprised there was no crab. Major hit!! However I did cook them in grape seed oil because the olive oil smoked and burned too much; grape seed oil has a much higher smoke point.
Thanks for coming back to let us know! We love to hear feedback!
Can these be baked instead of fried?
Sure thing! I would do 350 for about 12-15 minutes. 🙂
Keto diet here what can I use instead of panko, please no pork rinds
Hi Christy, I am not keto expert, I only have casual knowledge of keto. The only subs I am aware of are pork rinds, almond flour (almond meal) and cheese. I would say that in this case, pork rinds or Parmesan cheese would be your best bets. Let me know how they turn out!
I made the recipe exactly as stated and paired with Caesar salad. Delicious!
Thanks for swinging by to let us know, Donna! We love it too 🙂
Ok so I too love hearts of palm and artichoke and couldn’t wait to try this recipe that being said I didn’t have everything I needed to make it but where there is a will…I started with just a few artichoke hearts and they were marinated, just shy of enough hearts of palm so I substituted mushrooms just a can of stems and pieces. Everything else the same except I added 3 tablespoons of ground flax to help bind it I think the mushrooms made it a little better. They smell so good I could hardly wait till they were frozen so that I could fry them. I am curious if I could bake them but will try that next batch. Thanks for the recipe!
Glad they turned out well for you! You can surely bake them- I’d do 350 for about 15-20 minutes.
Suggestion if you feel the mixture is too loose- substitute mashed avocado for the mayo, and chill in freezer for 1/2 hour
These look absolutely amazing. I’m allergic to seafood so this would be a great alternative to crab cakes.
Yes! So many folks here eat them if they are vegetarian.
These flavors are outstanding! What a creative idea.
This looks delicious. Going to the store to buy the ingredients and going to make it tomorrow !! Thank You 🙂
These are amazing! I saw the title and was immediately intrigued!
You’d love them!
These look so delicious! I can’t wait to try them!
Let us know how you like them!
I adore hearts of palm and this recipe sounds fantastic
Thank you!