Sweet and sour tofu recipe is crispy, sweet, and tossed in a delicious and easy homemade sauce! Serve with vegetables and jasmine rice. Made with a few simple pantry staple ingredients, and ready in 10 minutes.
Serve this Sweet & Sour Tofu recipe over vegetables and freshly steamed jasmine rice. And it’s always a great idea to spoon a little extra sauce over the top for the most flavorful dinner ever.
I love an easy weeknight meal, especially when it involves a healthy high protein dinner option. I absolutely love tofu, and this crispy tofu is so perfect tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce.
This sweet and sour tofu recipe is ready in about 30 minutes, and will be your new go-to for dinner. Skip the takeout order, and make a restaurant-quality sweet and sour dish at home any night of the week!
This Sweet and Sour Tofu Recipe Is:
- Bright
- Fresh
- Tangy
- Flavorful
- Loaded with Pantry Ingredients
- Vegan, Vegetarian, and Gluten Free
One of The Best Tofu Recipes You’ll Make Again & Again
Whether you’re new to cooking tofu or are a seasoned pro, this sweet and sour tofu is a fantastic recipe to add to your monthly menu. Tofu is made from pressed soybeans, and is high in protein and is anti-inflammatory. Tofu also has a long list of health benefits, so it’s great to add to lots of meals. I have dozens of tofu recipes here on The Herbeevore, it’s one of my favorite ingredients to cook with! I love enjoying crispy baked tofu in the oven, blending it into a flavorful sauce for vegetables, or scrambling it up for breakfast.
What’s In Tofu with Sweet and Sour Sauce?
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- Tofu – I like to use an extra firm variety for this recipe.
- Pineapple Juice, I used the juice from a can of pineapple that I drained.
- Brown Sugar: I like to use a dark brown sugar for this sauce because I find it has a really nice flavor.
- Unseasoned Rice Vinegar – I like to get unseasoned vinegar to control the amount of sugar and salt in this dish.
- Paprika – for a hint of color and great flavor!
- Red Chili Flakes: for a little heat!
- Ginger: I love adding fresh or ground ginger
- Liquid Aminos – Liquid aminos have a fraction of the sodium, but still a ton of the great flavor of soy sauce. We always keep a few bottles of this in our pantry! It gives a great umami flavor to this dish
- Corn Starch: the secret to thicken the sauce at the end, it really makes a difference adding it to cold water!
How Do I Make Sweet & Sour Tofu?
- In a large bowl, add the cubed tofu, corn starch, onion powder, sesame oil, and salt. Toss well until tofu is coated in the mixture. Heat a non-stick skillet, and cook tofu 7 to 8 minutes on each side until brown.
- In a separate sauce pan, add the pineapple juice and brown sugar, and whisk together over low heat.
- Add the rice vinegar, paprika, chili flakes, ground ginger, and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and cold water until corn starch dissolves. Pour the corn starch into the pineapple juice mixture and mix well to combine.
- Allow sauce to cook over low heat for 5 minutes until thickened. Toss the sauce with the crispy tofu, and serve over rice and vegetables.
Inexpensive and Affordable Vegetarian Dinner Recipes For Everyone
I love how inexpensive this sweet and sour tofu to make! The sauce uses a lot of ingredients you would have in your dry pantry or cupboards – most of which you probably have on hand. Keeping a well-stocked pantry makes it easy to come up with delicious and healthy meals using a few staples you can rotate. I made a list of my Top 125 Plant-Based Pantry Staples that always keep stocked. And you can check out all my favorite pantry staple ingredients in my Amazon shop here. By stocking up on healthy whole ingredients you can cook delicious recipes without a trip to the store!
Meal Prep Tofu Recipes For the Win!
This sweet sour tofu is the perfect recipe for healthy homemade meal prep. I am a huge fan of meal prepping, batch cooking, and making recipes ahead. I love the convenience of cooking once and being able to enjoy healthy homemade meals during the week when I don’t have time. There’s a whole section of TheHerbeevore.com dedicated to my favorite tried & true meal prep recipes. With just a little planning and prep, you can have a week’s worth of recipes ready in the time it would take to make one portion. Just batch cook, divide into individual containers over rice and veggies! I also made a list of my favorite meal prep products on Amazon that I use weekly.
More Simple & Yummy Tofu Recipes You’ll Love!
Vegan Egg Salad Recipe (High Protein, Dairy Free)
Bang Bang Tofu Recipe (Vegan, Gluten Free, High Protein)
Creamy Vegan Lemon Pasta Recipe (Dairy Free, Plant-Based)
Vegan Tzatziki Sauce Recipe (Dairy Free, Gluten Free)
Baked Honey Garlic Tofu Recipe (Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Low Sodium)
Get the Same Ingredients for Sweet and Sour Sauce Tofu
As always, if you make this vegan and gluten free sweet and sour tofu recipe be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe, and tag me @theherbeevore on Instagram so I can feature you. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
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Sweet and Sour Tofu
Ingredients
For the Tofu
- 1 14-ounce package extra firm tofu drained and pressed
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 1 cup pineapple juice I used the juice from a 16-ounce can of pineapple
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup rice vinegar unseasoned
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon liquid aminos or tamari/gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons of cold water must be cold for the corn starch to dissolve
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the cubed tofu, corn starch, onion powder, sesame oil, and salt. Toss well until tofu is coated in the mixture. Heat a non-stick skillet, and cook tofu 7 to 8 minutes on each side until brown.
- In a separate sauce pan, add the pineapple juice and brown sugar, and whisk together over low heat.
- Add the rice vinegar, paprika, chili flakes, ground ginger, and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a low. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and cold water until corn starch dissolves. Pour the corn starch into the pineapple juice mixture and mix well to combine.
- Allow sauce to cook over low heat for 5 minutes until thickened. Toss the sauce with the crispy tofu, and serve over rice and vegetables.
Video
Nutrition
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Great meatless option for dinner