Tofu Recipes For Tofu Haters Pt. 2

My blog post on Tofu Recipes for Tofu Haters got a lot of love so I wanted to make a part 2 with some more amazing recipes that I've recently discovered! Tofu is great because it's high in protein and comes with zero cholesterol and it's so versatile you can make it into almost anything. Plus, since it's spongey by nature it absorbs things very quickly meaning if you're pressed for time you only need to marinade it for a few minutes and it will still taste like it was marinated for hours.

Crispy Baked Tofu

Okay I got this recipe from Goodful when Rachel made Chicken Souvlaki into a vegan dish for her mom.  And while the recipe overall looked amazing I couldn't get the way she baked the tofu out of my head so I went to the store and bought skewers just to try making tofu this way and hoped for the best. Not going to lie it was phenomenal. The tofu crisped up perfectly all the way around and in the marinade tasted amazing. This is now our go-to tofu cooking method when we have the time for it and it tastes amazing in so many dishes!

Here is the recipe-- 
Marinade (you can easily change this to match any dish but this is a good place to start):
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (if you don't have this & aren't vegan powdered chicken broth works just as well)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Mix this all together in a bowl and after pressing the tofu for 30 min rip it apart in bite sized chunks and slowly stir into the marinade. The recipe I found this from said to marinade for 2 hours but I found 15-30 min works perfectly fine!

After the tofu is done marinating skewer the pieces and lay across a baking pan to catch any drip. Then put in the oven at 375F for 30-35 min. About halfway through cooking rotate the skewers to ensure they cook evenly. 

It seriously comes out delicious! We've now put it over a greek salad as our protein and over Avgolemono Soup and it was amazing every time! 

As a small hack/waste savings since tofu isn't raw meat I kept the marinade in my fridge and reused it for the next batch!

Tofu Wraps

This is a great lunch recipe with tofu! And fairly simple/customizable too. I just started out with my spinach wrap and topped on hummus, spinach, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. And then of course some pan fried tofu just quickly seasoned with a home-made salad dressing that Kyle made. This was a delicious and easy lunch for the week for me!

Tofu Tacos

These tacos might be my nw favorite at-home-taco I've made! Here's the recipe we used. 

For the Tacos: 
Mix together-
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne

Then crumble the tofu into the marinade and mix well making sure the tofu is evenly crumbled. Then place onto a baking pan and bake for 30-35 min at 350F. Be sure to stir the tofu every 10 min or so, and more frequently towards the end to ensure it doesn't burn. Once done and you take it out of the oven pour the salsa into the baking pan and mix to incorporate. 

While the tofu is baking make the avocado-cilantro dressing. 

For the Dressing:
In a blender or food processor mix together-
1 avocado
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp fresh cilantro
1 lime juiced

This makes a perfect creamy dressing that can be used in place of sour cream and can be made entirely zero waste! Not to mention we both loved it so much I had to make a second batch mid-week, now that's a 5-star rating if I've ever seen one!

Lastly we decided to pickle some onions to place on top which truly was the perfect thing to add! Kyle made these without a recipe so here's a Quick Pickled Onion recipe for anyone who's a little more like me and needs to go off a recipe!

Crispy Baked Tofu

This recipe took us a couple of tries to get right but after we did it tasted amazing! We found this in a cookbook Kyle's parents had called Mostly Plants. I'll give you our edited version here.

Peanut Sauce: 

• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 serrano chile pepper
• Juice of 1 lime
• 4 tbsp of maple syrup
• Soy Sauce (we added in no true measurement 1 tbsp to start)
• Sriracha (we added in no true measurement 1 tbsp to start)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Put this all together in a food processor and grin until it's at the desired consistency!

Tofu: 

• 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch
• Blend of spices (cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, etc). 
• Press the tofu for ~30 min
• Then on a large plate mix the flour, cornstarch and whatever other seasonings you love together. If you don't add any seasonings the tofu will taste bland (learned this the hard way) but make it to your preference
• After it's done pressing, cut the tofu into strips and one by one place into the flour mixture coating on all sides
• Line a large paper plate with paper towels, fill a large pan with 1 inch of oil and fry the tofu strips until golden 
• You could also bake the tofu or pan fry them in a little bit of oil for a healthier alternative. 

Put it all together over some rice and be sure to add some more chopped peppers and green onions to garnish!

These are just a few of the tofu recipes I'm currently loving, what tofu recipes should I try next? Comment them down below!