Easy Tofu Stir-Fry
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Published Jan 08, 2020, Updated Sep 16, 2021
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This tofu stir-fry is an easy, healthy weeknight dinner that’s loaded with veggies and comes together in less than 30 minutes.
This recipe is for those crazy weeknights when you aren’t feeling inspired to cook anything, but also don’t want to go out to eat. In under 30 minutes, you’ll be enjoying a quick and easy, satisfying dinner that’s packed with veggies and plant-based protein.
Tofu Stir-Fry Shortcuts
As written, the recipe is super quick, but if you’re super short on time, there are a few corners you can cut.
- One shortcut I always recommend is buying pre-prepped and cut vegetables. They’re just as nutritious as the whole, un-prepped versions.
- The second shortcut is to buy a pre-made teriyaki sauce. I love my homemade teriyaki, but if you’re in a pinch, don’t feel bad about purchasing store-bought. I’m a fan of the San-J gluten-free Teriyaki sauce as well as the Primal Kitchen no soy teriyaki sauce.
Ingredients in Tofu Stir-Fry
- extra firm tofu – be sure to get firm or extra firm tofu… soft or silken tofu can be mushy and won’t work as well for stir-frying.
- vegetables – garlic, red bell pepper, red onion, fresh broccoli florets and green onions are what I used but feel free to swap in your favorites or what you have on hand.
- teriyaki sauce – I like to make my homemade version from Fit With Five with some added chili garlic sauce, but store bought works as well. If you use store-bought sauce you’ll need about 1/3 cup.
- rice – white or brown rice works great with this stir-fry, but cauliflower rice is awesome if you want to keep the dish lower in carbs.
How to Make Tofu Stir-Fry
If you’re new to cooking with tofu, the one thing you need to know is how important it is to press your tofu before cooking. What the heck does this mean? It’s actually really easy. Just remove your tofu block from the packaging and discard the water it’s packed in. Place your tofu into a tofu press if you have one or simply wrap in paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Then literally press the excess liquid out of the tofu by setting heavy items on top of your tofu blocks. This allows the tofu to get nice and crispy and allows the tofu to take on the flavor of the dish (instead of tasting watery). After the tofu is pressed, cut the tofu into cubes.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add your oil and tofu and flip frequently. The tofu is done cooking when all of the sides of the tofu cube are golden brown. (See photo above.) Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add more oil to the same skillet and cook your garlic and onion. When you smell the onion and garlic, it’s time to add your broccoli and red bell pepper to cook. Lastly, add the tofu and sauce to the skillet and cook until broccoli is tender and the rest of the ingredients are heated through. Serve over rice and top with green onions for garnish.
More Tasty Tofu Recipes
- 16 Tofu Recipes That You’ll Crave
- Baked Tofu
- Asian Tofu Tacos
- Sofritas
- Tofu Zucchini Lasagna
- Tofu Cabbage Noodle Bowl
- Easy Orange Tofu
Tofu Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons avocado or olive oil, divided
- 1 lb extra-firm tofu, pressed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 medium red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 (12 ounce) bag fresh broccoli florets, about 5 cups
- rice of choice: white, brown or cauliflower
- green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish
Teriyaki Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon avocado or olive oil
- ¼ cup low-sodium tamari, or soy sauce
- ½ Tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated or minced
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Once hot (check to make sure tofu sizzles when you add it to the pan), add tofu and cook, flipping frequently, for about 10 minutes. It’s done when all sides of the tofu cubes are golden. Transfer to a bowl or plate. Â
- While tofu is cooking, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl.
- Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to the same skillet. Add garlic and onion and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add broccoli and red bell pepper to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes. Add sauce and tofu to the skillet as well and cook for about 5 minutes longer, or until broccoli is tender, but crisp and bright green in color. Serve tofu stir-fry over rice of choice with green onions and sesame seeds for garnish.
Notes
- If you want to use store-bought teriyaki sauce instead of the homemade sauce, you’ll need about 1/3 cup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is totally my kind of lunch!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Very tasty – the sauce was delicious! Tofu is definitely a texture adjustment for our family of omnivores. I would definitely make again for lunches for me, but tofu is not my preschoolers favorite. Do you think it would work with tempeh instead?
Hey Allie – Thanks for giving this recipe a try. I’m glad you enjoyed it! I haven’t tried it, but you could definitely use tempeh in this recipe. Let me know how it turns out if you end up making it. And you could always sub in chicken or another meat if you preferred. 🙂
The recipe was delicious! My whole family loved it. We had never tried tofu before and were very surprised by how delicious it tasted in this recipe!
Ahh that makes me so happy to hear, Carolyn!! So glad this recipe was a hit. Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. 🙂
This recipe looks great…. and then when I saw ‘sodium 1425mg per serving…. YIKES! Of course the sodium is in the teriyaki sauce & soy sauce. How can this be made lower sodium, without losing a lot of flavor?
You could use coconut aminos or low-sodium tamari sauce/soy sauce instead.
This was a total hit! There are three of us and the entire stir-fry was gone in one sitting. One person is a tofu skeptic, but she loved it (I did use Island Spring Organics cooked/seasoned tofu, which worked totally fine in the recipe – and I didn’t have to cook it). Definitely my favorite tofu recipe so far!
Ahh yay!! So glad this recipe was a hit!! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review, Madeline. I so appreciate it!
The best and i will do it again and again.😋😘
Thank you, this was beautiful although we wanted more sauce with the rice as the soy etc were sucked up by the other ingredients!
I’m so glad this recipe turned out for you, Imsen! Thanks for making it and for coming back to leave a review. It means the world to me.
Stir frys never seem to have enough sauce. It was too dry. But tasty.
Oh no, I’m sorry to her that, Francine. Did you change anything about the recipe?
Actually my husband made it. He always does the stir-frys. I always find them too dry. I love your maple balsamic tempeh bowls. I’m making it again for mother’s day family supper. Thank you for introducing me to tempeh.
Aw! Well, I’m glad you’re loving tempeh! Thanks so much! Sorry the stir-fry wasn’t a hit.
So easy to make and packed with protein 🙂 have been making this on repeat
Amazing! I am so glad you’re loving this recipe and it turns out amazing for you, Roshni! Thank you for our review & star rating, I really appreciate it!
Great easy meal to make! Loved it and can’t stop eating it!
Ah yay! This makes me SO happy, Stephanie. Glad you gave this recipe a try and it turned out great for you. Thanks so much for your review + star rating, I appreciate it!