Sweet and Sour Tofu Recipe (Vegan)
This Sweet and Sour Tofu is one of my favourite comfort foods ever of my favourite takeout! The tofu is crisp with a perfect texture and the sweet and sour sauce is unbelievably delicious! It comes together quickly and tastes amazing as meal prep too!
I’ve been making this sweet and sour sauce since the beginning of ‘Jessiker Bakes’. The first version of JITK, and where I started experimenting with savoury dishes. 10 years later (the sauce was always vegan) I’ve modified it a bit, made the entire dish vegan, and I am finally re-sharing it! I can’t count how many times I’ve made this but it is our #1 go to COMFORT meal.
None of my local Asian restaurants make sweet and sour tofu. Which is a bummer, but also motivation to make my own. Let me tell you – it is INCREDIBLE! The first time I made it for a blog recipe, Gav and I finished it all that night. I say that with pride. It embodies all the flavours you would expect from a sweet and sour sauce – sweet, tangy, umami filled and so rich in colour and flavour. It comes with my favourite usual add-ins of bell peppers, onions and pineapples, and of course, crispy tofu.
How to Make Tofu Crispy
After years of making tofu, I’m proud to say we know how to make it perfectly crispy. The short answer is: cornstarch. I go into full detail in my How to Cook Tofu 101 blog post, and I highly recommend that you read it. Cornstarch crisps up the tofu while wicking out any excess liquid. It’s also gluten free so works well for that.
My second tip is to always, always press your tofu. I also say it in my how to cook tofu 101 blog post, it’s not tofu’s job to have flavour. It’s up to us to season it, in fact, I’m glad it barely has a flavour. It takes on anything you want it to. Removing the liquid from tofu allows it space to absorb all the flavour you want it to have. Those two, plus a nice hot pan to crisp it up in will create perfect tofu for this dish and beyond!
Can’t have tofu?
If you’re allergic to soy, this recipe works perfectly on cauliflower too! Just bread it and crisp it up like in my orange cauliflower dish, then finish it like I do in this recipe in the pan. You could also do this on mushrooms or tempeh.
Related Recipes
- General Tso Tofu
- Sweet and Sticky Orange Cauliflower Bites
- Orange Air Fryer Tofu
- Easy Baked Tofu
- Tofu and Veggie Stir Fry
Sweet and Sour Tofu Recipe (Vegan)
Ingredients
Crispy Tofu
- 1 16 ounce block of firm or extra firm tofu, pressed, and torn into 1 to 2 inch pieces*
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, gluten free if needed, or liquid aminos or tamari
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup oil for frying
Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 1/2 cup sugar, I use cane sugar, you can use brown or any granulated
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup vinegar, preferably rice or white
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, gluten free if needed, or liquid aminos or tamari
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped/cubed pineapple
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds, for garnish
- chopped scallion, for garnish
Instructions
Crispy Tofu
- In a medium-sized bowl place the pressed and torn tofu pieces. Add the soy sauce and toss to coat. Add in the garlic powder, sea salt, ground black pepper and cornstarch and toss to thoroughly combine, ensuring all the tofu pieces are covered with the seasonings and the cornstarch.
- Heat a pan or wok over medium-high heat, and add the oil. When hot, add the tofu and toss to crisp up on all sides until the tofu is cooked and crisped on all sides, about 5 to 8 minutes. Feel free to do this in batches if desired. Remove tofu pieces and set aside.
Sweet and Sour Sauce + Putting it All Together
- In the same pan, lower the heat to over medium-high heat, and add in the onions, pineapples and bell peppers.
- Saute until the onions are translucent and the pineapples are slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, water, soy sauce, and garlic powder for the sweet and sour sauce and stir together until fully combined.
- Pour in the sauce over the veggies. Bring to a slight boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened up. Add back in the crisped up tofu, and stir to combine. Taste test and add more sugar or soy sauce if you desire. Remove from heat until needed.
- Remove from heat and top with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
This was so good!! Just made it for lunch. I halved the sugar and added jalapeños. Can’t wait to make again!
Even the meat eaters in the house were skipping their chicken stir fry to try tofu with this sauce! So delicious and the tofu coating was perfect. Will definitely be making this again. Thank you!
Oh my gosh haha this makes me so happy to hear Taylor!! Thank you so much!! <3
This dish is INCREDIBLE! I haven’t had a sweet & sour dish since I stopped eating meat nearly a decade ago. I really did miss the flavours and Jessica’s recipe tastes just like how I remembered it. I’m thankful I thought to make extra, so this is for dinner tomorrow, too!
Omg this is perfect! No joke, so easy to make, not to mention quick, made it for the first time in under an hour today even with 2 babies screaming for attention! This is as good as the Chinese takeaway, actually no probably better as I know exactly what when in it and the sense of achievement of making dinner (I’m not a natural cook!). My only question about this is does it freeze? Because I want a batch in my freezer for easy meal prep! 100% making this again.
This was DELICIOUS. I have a hard time with my pans and crispy tofu (it always gets stuck!) so I baked my tofu at 400 with a little olive oil and it turned out perfectly crispy. I followed the rest of the recipe as it and it was great! The pineapple was a great touch.
This recipe was absolutely delicious! The balance between the sweet and sour was great. Can’t wait to have it again 🙂
This was such a good recipe! It was super yummy and super easy! I never knew making sweet and sour sauce was so simple! My 19 month old also loved it! And he’s super picky, so you know it’s good.
I made mine with adding in some broccoli, extra pineapple and rice and it was super filling and now we have leftovers so I don’t have to cook!
Aww thank you so much Tess and I’m so happy to hear that!! Love the additions too!
This recipe was so good!! I love the coating on the tofu…so unique and so good!!
This recipe is fantastic! The sauce complimented the tofu so well. It was easy to make and incredibly delicious. I have never been a big tofu fan but this recipe changed my mind 100%. I can’t wait to make it again!
Such a quick and easy recipe, perfect for week nights. It turned out to be just as yummy as one of my favourite takeout – so much better actually. The sweet and sour sauce is heavenly! Can’t wait to try this recipe with different vegetables – will be doing this over and over, that’s for sure!
We’re so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Julia! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!