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.
Omg this is the best recipe! I loved it and my boyfriend couldn’t stop eating it! Love how all the flavors come together.
We’re so happy that you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe Melissa! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
I have seen people raving about this on Instagram for weeks and let me tell you – it lives up to the hype!
My non-vegan partner loved it too.
I only had apple cider vinegar (rather than rice or white) and that seemed to work well.
Thank you Jessica!!
So glad that it lived up to the hype! We’re happy that you and your partner enjoyed this recipe Alex! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment.
This was so delicious I already bought more ingredients to make it for the second time in less than a week. Crisping up the tofu was really easy and super effective, I will never go back to messy breading! Wouldn’t change anything about this recipe, it’s perfect as is.
I loved this recipe! I made it the other day and it was delicious (and pretty easy). I’m always looking for interesting things to do with tofu, and the texture of the tofu was perfect in this one! Will definitely make again. Thank you, Jessica!
We’re so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Eryn! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
This recipe is perfect! Seriously, cannot fault it! Just the right amount of sweet and sour and the tofu is beautifully crispy. It’s easy and quick to make and had ingredients that I had in anyway! Definitely going to be making it regularly and will be making many more recipes from this site. I’m obsessed, want to try them all! 😍
I recently committed to a vegetarian lifestyle and have been looking for fun delicious recipes to try. I made this for my non-vegetarian family the other night and they loved it! The flavor was immaculate and after reading all the tips on the best ways to cook tofu it turned out incredible. Highly recommend everyone try this – you will not be disappointed!
Jessica has not led me wrong yet… I made this for my boyfriend and I and we raved about it for weeks… I never knew tofu was so delicious!
We’re so happy that you and your boyfriend enjoyed this recipe Angel! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
Delicious and easy! My BF and I are meat eaters but trying to incorporate less meat and this recipe was so so good!! First time cooking tofu and jessica’s tips are great!
We’re so happy that you and your BF enjoyed this recipe Olivia! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
This is the real deal. We’re a family of 2 vegetarians and a pescatarian and it’s hard to find something that everyone likes. This dish is everything and they don’t even know that it’s vegan.
So good I’d give it 10 stars if I could.
This was so delicious! My husband is still kind of iffy on tofu, but he said this was the best way he’d ever had it! He has requested it again! The sauce is really well-balanced, and we really liked the chopped pineapple mixed in. Thanks for a family favorite!