Don’t have planned for your Valentine’s dinner yet? Check out these 3 easy and delicious tofu recipes! Watch the video below and don’t forget to scroll down for the written recipes!
You guys know I love tofu, and if you haven’t seen my previous video on how to cook tofu like a boss, I would highly recommend you do because it’s kinda like a beginner’s guide to tofu and the different ways to cook it.
In today’s recipe video, I wanted to show you guys three more recipes using tofu. I made (1) Lemon Butter Tofu, (2) Easy BBQ Tofu Steaks, and (3) Lime Tofu Fish Steaks.
Fun fact! In all three of these recipes, I am actually using a tofu hack (also shared in the previous video I mentioned earlier) that involves freezing tofu and thawing it out before cooking. Basically, what this does is that it helps enhance the flavour and change the texture of the tofu a little bit.
What I do is cut up the tofu into flat, rectangular pieces and throw it into the freezer. I like freezing it overnight and thawing it out the next day by either leaving it out or microwaving it for 30-second to 1-minute increments. Once the tofu has thawed out, I squeeze out the water before using it for cooking.
Now for each recipe, I took note of little things that I kind of want to tweak the next time I make them. I’ve included these little notes in the recipes below, but feel free to add in more tweaks that will work for you.
Don’t forget to watch the video and to scroll down below for the written recipes!
3 Easy Tofu Recipes For Your Valentine (or for you!)
Lemon Butter Tofu
The first thing I made before making the lemon butter tofu was to create roux. If you don’t know what roux is, it is a sauce with a creamy-like consistency that’s made by cooking flour and fat together (in this case, the fat I used is vegan butter, but you can also use oil).
The first thing I would like to do differently is the roux—I would probably use only 1 tbsp of flour to make a thinner sauce. Second, I would also add vegetable stock to the marinade, as well as more spices and seasonings to give even more depth to the flavour. I would also marinate the tofu a little bit more and then the cream sauce could be used as a nice topping.
Ingredients:
- 4 pieces of medium-firm tofu cut into flat, rectangular shapes (frozen, thawed & water squeezed out)
- 2 tbsp vegan butter (use oil if you don’t have this)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp vegetable stock powder or paste (use salt and other seasonings if you don’t have)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon (or 1 lemon)
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp black pepper
- OPTIONAL: Kale or other green vegetables of your choice
Instructions (see notes or watch video above to see what I might try differently next time):
For the roux:
- Melt vegan butter onto a frying pan over medium heat. An optional step is to add in minced garlic.
- Add in the flour and mix well together until the texture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in non-dairy milk and whisk until the consistency becomes creamy. (NOTE: Add in water or vegetable stock if you notice your sauce is too thick)
- Add in the vegetable stock powder or paste. Whisk well until smooth. Turn off heat and set aside.
For the tofu marinade:
- Put lemon juice, basil, and black pepper onto a small bowl. Add more spices or seasonings if desired!
- Mix well and set aside.
For putting it all together:
- Melt vegan butter onto a frying pan.
- Place tofu pieces on the frying pan and pour the marinade on each piece.
- Cook tofu for 3 minutes over medium-high heat on each side.
- Optional: you can cut up the tofu into smaller pieces before adding in the sauce (next step).
- Turn the heat down to low and add in the creamy sauce. Mix well before covering and allowing everything to cook. (OPTIONAL & recommended: You can add in kale or other vegetables of your choice)
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Easy BBQ Tofu Steaks
For this recipe, I really didn’t wait long enough for the tofu steaks to marinate. Next time, I would probably wait around 15-20 minutes longer because I feel like it’ll make a really big difference with the flavour.
Another thing is I poured in the marinade a little too early when I was frying the tofu steaks. Because there was so much marinade, it took awhile to cook up the tofu. Next time, I would pan-fry the tofu first before adding in the extra marinade. It would shorten the time it takes to brown the tofu and it MAY flavour the tofu better.
Lastly, I might also try using firm or extra-firm tofu for this particular recipe because I just feel like a firmer texture might go even better with the BBQ sauce.
Ingredients:
- 4 pieces of medium-firm tofu cut into flat rectangular shapes (frozen, thawed & water squeezed out)
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock (mix warm water and vegetable base/paste)
- 2 tbsp vegan-friendly BBQ sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Instructions:
- In a small bowl, start making vegetable broth by mixing warm water and vegetable base or paste.
- Add in soy sauce or tamari, BBQ sauce, and garlic powder. Mix well.
- Pour mixture onto the tofu pieces and allow to marinate for about 15-20 minutes.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan and add in your tofu steaks.
- Cook tofu for 4-6 minutes until it browns on each side. (NOTE: If you have some more marinade left, you can pour them in to add more flavour to the cooked tofu)
- Plate your cooked BBQ tofu steaks and sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste and top with more BBQ sauce.Serve with your favourite veggies on the side!
- Enjoy!
Lime Tofu Fish Steaks
This final recipe is possibly my most favourite one and it’s actually similar to the tofu fish steaks recipe I showed you in my previous meal prep video. I made a few tweaks to make this a little bit different, and even though this was my favourite recipe, it was the recipe that I screwed up the most.
Initially, I had this great big plan to bake the tofu fish steaks, but it just didn’t work out. Apparently, there was too much water content and that resulted in the tofu fish steaks not browning enough in the oven. I eventually switched to pan-fry them instead with a little bit of oil.
Also, as you can see in the video, I would definitely not add the cilantro in with the marinade and instead use it as topping for when the fish steaks are done cooking.
If I still want to bake it next time, I would pan-fry the tofu first, then add it onto a baking tray before pouring in the marinade with fresh cilantro on top. I would cover it up (probably with foil) before baking, and maybe that would help soak up the marinade even more (I’m not sure if this’ll just be a waste of time, but I’m willing to try it to find out).
Ingredients:
- 1 block medium-firm tofu, cut into rectangular pieces, frozen & thawed
- Juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dry basil
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp kelp powder
- 1 small handful of chopped cilantro (optional)
Instructions:
- To make the marinade, mix together lime juice, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, dry basil, pepper, and kelp powder in a small bowl.
- Pour the marinade on top of each tofu steaks and let it soak for around 15 minutes.
- Heat 1 tsp oil on a frying pan over medium-high heat and add in the tofu pieces. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.
- Top with fresh cilantro before serving.
- Enjoy!
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