25 Tofu Recipes to Treat Your Curd the Way It Deserves (2024)

Though tofu often gets a bad rap in this country, it's so much more than a bland substitute for meat. Its mild flavor makes it incredibly versatile, and, in many East Asian dishes, like mapo tofu, it's often combined with pork or beef for an intriguing interplay of flavors and textures. Nevertheless, it's true that tofu's nutritional profile and the sturdy consistency of some of the firmer varieties make it a natural choice for those eschewing animal products.

When prepared correctly, extra-firm tofu browns and crisps up beautifully into slabs for stuffing Vietnamese banh mi or adding substance and protein to a vegan stir-fry. It's also an essential building block in making more complex vegetarian meat replacements, like our vegan chorizo. Softer or silken tofu varieties, meanwhile, pair well with meat in Chinese-style dishes. Keep reading for 25 tofu recipes, both meaty and non-, that are bound to be a hit even among skeptics.

Vegan and Vegetarian

Creamy Vegan Saag Paneer (With Tofu)

Saag paneer is almost universally beloved for good reason: It's delicious! This recipe mimics the original almost flawlessly, allowing vegans and those looking to cut down their dairy intake to enjoy the dish as well. A variety of greens help bump up the flavor, and cauliflower that's been cooked in nut milk and puréed gives the sauce the creaminess you'd expect. The tofu makes a fine substitute for paneer as is, but to achieve that savory round flavor of a fresh cheese, we marinated it briefly in lemon juice and miso.

Cantonese-Style Tofu, Pine Nut, and Jicama Lettuce Cups (San Choi Bao)

This dish was inspired by a Cantonese minced squab dish, but the idea works just as well with vegetable-based ingredients. The key is to cut all the jicama, the shiitake, the tofu, and the celery to about the same size, which creates a nice range of textures and tastes in each lettuce-wrapped bite. Once you have chopping done, it all comes together quickly in a wok, flavored with garlic, ginger, dark soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, hoisin, sambal oelek chili sauce, and Shaoxing wine.

Vegan Migas (Mexican-Style Fried Tortillas With Tofu)

Migas! How can you live without them? Well, you can't. Which is why we had to address the fact that there might be some people out there who are getting by without migas because they can't or don't want to eat eggs. It's a simple fix since tofu mimics soft scrambled eggs very well, indeed.

Turkish-Style Vegan Tofu Scramble (Vegan Menemen)

Seeing as tofu subs for eggs so well in migas, it makes sense that it would work well in vegan version of menemen, the Turkish scrambled eggs spiked with chilies, onion, and tomato. The only real trick to this dish is to cook it all in one pot or pan, since you don't want to lose any of the flavor from the Urfa chilies, the oregano, and the healthy amount of black pepper you start off with.

Phat Phrik Khing With Tofu and Long Beans (Thai Dry-Curry Stir-Fry)

Phat phrik khing is a common dry curry dish served in Thailand, and the intensely flavored curry paste can be paired with a wide variety of ingredients. One of the best ways to use it is with tofu and long beans. While you can certainly make the dish with store-bought curry paste, if you have a mortar and pestle and access to ingredients like galangal, lemongrass, and makrut lime leaves, making up your own curry paste at home is well worth the effort.

Spicy Warm Silken Tofu With Celery and Cilantro Salad

Firm block tofu is quite useful, especially for those just getting comfortable with the idea of the stuff. But, with a little more tofu experience, you'll come to appreciate the soft, almost custardy texture of silken tofu for its own sake. In this super-simple recipe, we warm up the tofu in the microwave and dress it with a blend of tahini, soy sauce, Chinkiang vinegar (available in Asian groceries), and chili broad bean paste. A simple salad of celery, scallions, and cilantro adds brightness and crunch.

The Best Vegan Mapo Tofu

Mapo tofu is a Sichuan specialty, typically made with tofu, various aromatics, oil, broth, and beef. The last two ingredients are meaty, sure, but do they have to be? After some experimentation, we realized that we could make a vegan version that's just as satisfying. The key adaptations are replacing the meat-based broth with a soy-and-mushroom concoction and subbing a mix of fresh and dried mushrooms for the beef.

Mushrooms and Tofu With Chinese Mustard Greens

A vegan spin on a Lunar New Year favorite, this dish combines sharp, pungent Chinese mustard greens—bok choy is a good substitute if you can't find them—with firm tofu, mixed fresh mushrooms, and dried shiitakes. The tofu is first blanched, then pan-fried until crisp and golden, while the shiitakes (plus their soaking water) lend plenty of rich, deep flavor.

Sichuan-Style Asparagus and Tofu Salad

Asparagus may be nowhere near a Chinese ingredient, but it works wonderfully when treated with Sichuan flavorings in this salad. We blanch fresh, grassy asparagus spears until they're just tender, retaining plenty of snap. Then we toss them with tofu matchsticks and dress it all in a Sichuan-inspired vinaigrette made with homemade chili oil and Chinkiang vinegar. The result is not exactly authentic, but still totally delicious.

Grilled Tofu With Chipotle-Miso Sauce

For grilling, your best bet is firm, non-silken tofu that comes in block form. The keys to getting flavorful grilled tofu that's deeply browned and crisped: Cut it wide, dry it thoroughly, season it with a thick marinade that contains sugar (watery marinades tend to inhibit browning while sugar helps it along), and cook it slowly on a well-oiled grill. To add more flavors, play with the ingredients in the marinade—here, we combine salty, fermented miso, and smoky chipotles in adobo for a mixture that's both marinade and sauce.

Grilled Lemongrass- and Coriander-Marinated Tofu Vietnamese Sandwiches (Vegan Banh Mi)

Banh mi, or Vietnamese-style sandwiches built on baguette loaves, is one of those areas in which the vegan version can stand proudly alongside the meat-filled ones—a well-made vegan banh mi feels nothing like settling. Here, we marinate firm tofu in a Thai-flavored mixture heavy on garlic, cilantro, soy sauce, and bright lemongrass—be sure to apply the marinade both before and after grilling for maximum flavor penetration. Vegan mayonnaise keeps the sandwich totally egg-free. You can make your own or use store-bought (we're fans of Hampton Creek's Just Mayo).

Vegan Crispy Stir-Fried Tofu With Broccoli

Even the most dedicated haters tend to fall for tofu when it's deep-fried until crispy and golden brown all over, making this a great recipe for the tofu novice. We dredge ours in a batter containing vodka, cornstarch, flour, and baking powder for the right amount of lightness. Deep-fried tofu is perfectly good on its own, but combine it with some stir-fried broccoli and a garlicky black bean sauce and you've got dinner on the table.

Crispy Kung Pao Tofu

Want an even tastier (and more crowd-pleasing) way to use that crispy fried tofu? Prepare it kung pao–style. In this vegan version of the Sichuan dish turned Chinese-American standby, we infuse the oil with numbing-hot Sichuan peppercorns and dried red chilies, then use it to stir-fry leeks, celery, and long hot peppers. Add the fried tofu, peanuts, and a sauce made with Chinkiang vinegar and fermented broad bean paste, and you'll have all the hot, salty, savory, and pungent flavors of the original. Hold the chicken.

Vegan Chorizo for Omnivores

Our approach to vegan cooking at Serious Eats has generally not included much faux meat, since we tend to find store-bought meat substitutes sorely lacking in flavor and texture. Making our own faux meat at home, though, is a different story. A mixture of frozen tofu, tempeh, and dehydrated lentils gives this vegan mock sausage the textural contrast of real chorizo, and a boatload of spices and other aromatic ingredients give it deep, complex flavor. Best of all, vegetable shortening lends a rich fattiness and helps it cook up just like pork chorizo would. It's a time commitment, so make plenty and freeze it—it'll keep for a couple of months that way.

Easy Vegan Crispy Tofu Spring Rolls With Peanut-Tamarind Dipping Sauce

Low and slow is the way to go when cooking the tofu for these spring rolls. This helps give it an extra-crispy texture and allows it to absorb more flavor from the marinade. Once the tofu is cooked, you’ll want to prepare the fillings—julienned carrots, finely sliced chilies, chopped peanuts, tender pea shoots, and fresh herbs. After the tofu has been marinated, assembly is easy. Just dip the rice paper in a bowl of warm water, plop on your desired fillings, and roll. Don’t forget to dunk your spring rolls into the peanut-tamarind dipping sauce for an extra boost of flavor.

Korean-Inspired Crispy Tofu Tacos With Cabbage-Lime Slaw

Fusion cuisine can be tough to get just right, but these tacos hit the mark. Pressing slabs of tofu help remove excess moisture, which is key to a crispier texture. Once the tofu is browned, it gets tossed in a sweet-and-spicy sauce, and is then topped with quick-pickled cucumbers and crunchy cabbage slaw. Meatless Monday (and Taco Tuesday!) has never tasted better.

Vegan Carbonara Pasta

We took one of our favorite pasta recipes and made it vegan, thanks to the power of tofu. The sauce comes together by blending the tofu with miso and nutritional yeast, which help add a rich, egg-like texture. To mimic the lactic tang of Pecorino Romano, we throw in sauerkraut brine. As for those meaty chunks, we opt for king oyster mushrooms, which are mild enough to avoid an overpowering mushroom flavor. The result is a silky and rich near-replica for carbonara pasta.

Vegan Tofu and Herb Salad

If you’re looking to add some meaty oomph to your lunch salad, you’ll want to add strips of chewy aburaage (fried tofu). We like to marinate it in a warm dressing made up of Thai green chili, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, lime juice, kala namak or salt, and palm sugar. After letting the tofu absorb the flavors of the marinade for about 10 minutes, we toss it with onion, carrot, cucumber, radishes, herbs, and lettuce, along with the rest of the warm dressing. This flavor-packed salad can be served on its own or next to a bowl of sticky rice—the perfect vehicle for sopping up every bit of the tart and spicy dressing.

Tofu and Kale Salad With Avocado, Grapefruit, and Miso-Tahini Dressing

With star ingredients like crispy tofu, avocado, and grapefruit, this salad is anything but boring. It’s topped with za’atar and a miso-tahini dressing for optimal flavor. Best of all, it’s easily customizable. Add whatever greens you like, and play around with the ingredient ratios. Whether you decide to add chickpeas, toasted pine nuts, or even roasted beets, the combination of the star ingredients makes for a salad with great flavor and texture contrast.

Sheet-Pan Spiced Cauliflower and Tofu With Ginger Yogurt

Tofu makes this vegetarian sheet-pan meal so much more than just a tray of roasted vegetables. In order to remove excess water from the tofu, we use a technique that involves scalding it with boiling water and then pressing it between layers of paper towels. While the tofu and cauliflower brown in the oven, we like to prep the rest of the ingredients in order to save time. We mix thick and creamy Greek yogurt with a generous amount of grated ginger and freshly ground black pepper, and then create a refreshing salad of salt-rubbed red onion, cilantro, and mint. It all comes together as a light and flavorful dish that makes for a filling vegetarian meal.

Meaty

Real-Deal Mapo Dofu

Not ready to give up on your meat just yet? You can still wade into the soy waters with this classic mapo tofu (or "dofu," as it's sometimes styled), featuring both tofu and beef—a surprisingly simple dish that takes just 15 minutes to put together. We cook the meat in a chili-infused oil, along with other aromatics and flavor enhancers like garlic, ginger, chili broad bean paste, and Shaoxing wine. The result is a bowlful of simmered silken tofu and beef coated in the fiery-hot oil, and it's dangerously enjoyable. Serve with plenty of white rice for a cooling counterpoint.

Silken Tofu With Spicy Sausage

Steamed silken tofu topped with meat and gravy is a homey Chinese comfort-food staple. While traditional preparations use minced pork that's been marinated for hours, we keep the prep time to a minimum (and add some Western flair besides) by starting instead with spicy Italian sausage, cooked in a thick, glossy sauce of shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and cornstarch.

Banh Mi Panzanella

This mashup salad creatively blends the Italian bread-based salad panzanella with the flavors of Vietnamese banh mi. Oven-dried baguette cubes and seared tofu form the base; homemade pickles and fresh vegetables add crunch and acidic tang; a sweet-and-savory honey-hoisin sauce dresses it; and a final drizzle of chili mayo adds heat. Note that the marinade for the tofu here contains fish sauce, but you could easily veganize your tofu by using the marinade from our grilled tofu banh mi recipe, and swap out the mayo for a vegan alternative like Just Mayo.

Khao Tom Thai Rice Soup

Flavored with lemongrass, shallots, and garlic, the broth used in this recipe doubles as cooking liquid for the rice—just dump the grains directly in the pot with the broth ingredients. Ground pork and tofu bulk up the soup, but it's the toppings—cilantro, scallions, chilies, and fried shallots—that really make it come alive.

Soba Noodle Soup With Chicken, Tofu, and Bok Choy

This soup is hefty with add-ins: shredded chicken thighs, ribbons of bok choy, diced tofu, and hearty buckwheat noodles. The broth itself, though, is simple and bright, flavored with ginger, garlic, lemongrass, and star anise. Soy sauce and vinegar give the soup some depth, and a garnish of cilantro and scallions perk it up.