Spicy Tofu

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Spicy Tofu will bring the heat to any dish or bowl! Spiced with sriracha and ginger, you'll get a ton of flavor with every bite. Serve with some rice, sesame seeds, and green onions, for an easy quick dinner for those crazy weeknights.

Hey Internet, we're coming at you today with another amazing tofu recipe. Tofu has so many uses; it helps that it comes in so many textures! 

From the almost-liquid and creamy silken tofu to chewy extra-firm tofu that's great for savory morsels, you can make a lot of great vegan recipes using it. There's vegan tofu cheese recipes, like our Vegan Brie, and vegan meat replacements, like our Vegan Schnitzel (Tofu). Sometimes, tofu acts as a great vehicle for sauces. Our Tofu Adobo is a great example of this.

If you are looking for new things to try with tofu, check out our big list of tofu recipes. And if you love playing around with meat replacements, try our big list of vegan meat recipes or high protein vegan meals.

For this dish, our sauce will be nice and spicy. The sauce for this spicy tofu uses Sriracha for an easy way turn up it's heat. If you are really into spicy food, you can also add some red pepper flakes or some gochujang. And if you're not a fan of spicy, you can easily add some more maple syrup to reduce the sauce's heat or reduce the amount of sriracha in the recipe.

We like to pair this recipe with our Crispy Tofu and some white or brown rice. In addition to having that nice crunch form the crispier tofu, our recipe has three sets of instructions to cook it. So if you have an air fryer, want to bake your blocks of tofu, or are looking to have some fried tofu, you'll find it on that recipe. We make it all the time for Paul's dinners; he thinks it's one of the best tofu recipes we have on our site!

Panko Tofu or Puffed Tofu would also work well in this easy spicy tofu recipe.

Why You'll Love This Spicy Tofu

• Super Easy Sauce: Our simple sauce comes together in about 10 minutes. And it's not hard at all to cook! Cook it while your tofu cooks for a really simple meal.
• Turn Up the Heat: The spiciness starts out moderately strong (depends on your individual spice tolerance of course) and it's easy to increase spice level (or decrease it)!
• Great with Sides: This spicy tofu recipe works as a good protein in a main dish. With fluffy jasmine rice and veggie like bok choy, broccoli, or green beans, you'll have a great meal. Or serve it with our Vegan Garlic Noodles!

Ingredients

Pick up these simple ingredients the next time you're at a grocery store. See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full ingredients, instructions, and accurate nutritional information (to the best of my ability; please consult your physician or healthcare professional if you have specific dietary needs). I give substitutions for the ingredients in the section below this one, so most people can still make this recipe!

• 4 Tablespoons Sriracha: This is your main ingredient for your spicy tofu dish. In addition to heat from the chili pepper paste, sriracha gets a lot of flavor in with the vinegar, garlic, and sugar that is in it.
• 0.25 Cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce:  We like using low sodium soy sauce because it adds a salty and umami flavor to our dishes, while not being as crazy salty as normal soy sauce.
• 1-2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup: Maple syrup will add sweetness to balance out the spice while adding a slight earthiness to our tofu.
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Ginger Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch + 3 Tablespoon Water: This will be used to make a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce to make it stick to our tofu.
• 1 Batch Crispy Tofu: We used our Crispy Tofu to get a crunchiness with each bite of our tofu. If you don't want to use that recipe, you can easily bake, pan fry, or air fry your tofu. The only thing is we recommend some sort of breading as it helps the sauce stick to it.

Substitutions

• Sriracha: Chili sauce is a good replacement and often have similar ingredients to Sriracha. You may need to add extra garlic powder to get the same taste. For more spice, try gochujang or sambal oelek.
• Tofu: If you have a different block of tofu, like firm tofu instead of super firm, you can use a tofu press to remove the excess liquid to make it super firm. If you don't have a press, you can use a kitchen towel and a heavy object to drain it. If you just don't want tofu, soy curls make for a great meatless ingredient. Or use store bought vegan chicken nuggets or similar.
• Maple Syrup: You can use brown sugar instead of maple syrup. Just make to add a little more liquid as brown sugar is drier. Agave is a great alternative because it's already a liquid sweetener.

How To Make Spicy Tofu

1. Start Cooking the Tofu: If using our Crispy Tofu, follow the directions there. If not, cube your tofu in to medium squares. Then either air fry them at 400 F for 10 minutes or bake them at 400 F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. You can also pan fry your tofu and set on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
2. Mix the Sauce: Add all the other sauce ingredients, EXCEPT the corn starch and it's water, to a measuring cup. Stir them together.
3. Boil: Add the mixture to a small pot and bring it to a medium boil.
4. Create the Slurry: Add the cornstarch to a small measuring cup and then add the water. Then mix quickly and add to the small pot.
5. Stir to Properly Thicken: You'll need to stir constantly for a few minutes to get the cornstarch slurry to properly mix into the sauce. It will become a sticky and goopy sauce when it's ready.
6. Add to Tofu: Put your finished tofu in a large bowl. Add the sauce to in an mix with a large spatula.
7. Serve and Enjoy!

Storage Instructions

Allow the spicy tofu to cool to room temperature before storing. Store the tofu separate from any sides that you might have made to preserve freshness. Place them in an airtight container and refrigerate. The leftovers should stay good for about 5 days.

Expert Tips

• Move Quickly With Cornstarch: Cornstarch has a habit of seizing if you don't add it quickly to your sauce. Avoid this by keeping the cornstarch and water separate until you need them for your recipes. Also, make sure your boil for the sauce isn't TOO strong as we find a hot pot can weaken a cornstarch slurry.
• Sweet, Not Spicy: If you want this sauce to be on the sweeter side, consider using a sweeter sauce base instead of Sriracha. Hoisin sauce is a good start if you don't want a spicy sriracha tofu.
• Boiled, not Pressed: If you don't want the mess of making pressed tofu, you can remove the water from tofu by boiling it in salty water. This process will take about 5 to 15 minutes depending how chewy you want your tofu cubes to be.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Vegan Tofu Recipes

• Tofu Adobo
• Panko Tofu
• Tofu Buddha Bowl
• Hoisin Tofu
• Vegan Cordon Bleu
• Tofu Poke Bowl
• Sheet Pan BBQ Tofu Meal
• Vegan Honey Garlic Tofu

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