Smoky chipotle slathered tofu slices are baked up and piled onto crusty rolls with creamy pineapple guacamole to make these satisfying and spicy vegan sandwiches.
We’re a week and a half into 2017, and guess what? I feel like I’m finally getting control of my schedule! This is something I’m promised myself I’d do at the start of just about every new year since becoming an adult, and it never happened. It’s still pretty soon to tell, but I’m definitely off to a good start.
I have kitchen days now, where I develop, test and/or photograph a few recipes over the course of a day. This is as opposed to just cramming in recipes individually between other bits of work, which is what I’ve been doing since I started blogging. It’s much less stressful this way. I’m strategic about planning my kitchen days too — I try to schedule them on days I have an evening yoga class, because it forces me to get things wrapped up and clean up the kitchen in time to get out the door for class. And I always try to make at least one super satisfying dish on yoga days, because the yoga classes I go to are hard, and it’s eight hundred degrees in the room, so by the time I get home, I’m hungry as heck.
Usually a sandwich is my go-to after yoga dinner. If I plan everything right the sandwich is ready to go or can be quickly assembled when I get home. And a good vegan sandwich, done right, can be a seriously satisfying meal.
Take these sandwiches for example. Spicy tofu and creamy guac piled on a crusty roll is exactly what I need when I’m all post-yoga ravenous. The tofu is the only part of the meal that could use reheating, and really, that’s not even a requirement (but maybe in January it kind of is). When I do reheat it I just pop it in the microwave for a minute, and it’s as good as new. I happened to have a pineapple on hand when I made these, so I decided to whip up some pineapple guacamole as topping. The sweet little bits of fruit were the perfect contrast to the smoky, spicy chiptole baked tofu.
Chipotle Baked Tofu Sandwiches with Pineapple Guacamole
Ingredients
For the Chipotle Baked Tofu
- 1 14 ounce package extra firm tofu, drained and pressed
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons adobo sauce, from a can of chipotle peppers
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
For the Pineapple Guacamole
- 2 ripe avocados, pitted and peeled
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 cups finely chopped pineapple
- salt to taste
For the Sandwiches
- 4 6 inch sandwich rolls, sliced open
- lettuce and/or sprouts
Instructions
Make the Chipotle Baked Tofu:
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice the block of tofu in half, width-wise, then slice each half into 8 rectangular slabs. Stir the maple syrup, adobo sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, garlic, cumin and smoked paprika together in a small bowl.
- Brush both sides of each piece of tofu with the adobo mixture, and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes, then gently flip the pieces and brush with some additional sauce. (You should still have jut a bit of sauce left - hang on to it.) Bake 20 minutes more, until the sauce is dried and the tofu pieces have shrunk a bit and dried out.
Make the Pineapple Guacamole
- While the tofu bakes, place the avocado into a medium bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in the cilantro, lime juice, tomato, red onion, garlic and pineapple. Season with salt to taste.
Make the Sandwiches
- Stuff the rolls with the chipotle baked tofu slices, then top with any remaining sauce, pineapple guacamole and sprouts or lettuce. Serve.
Recipe Notes
For extra-spicy chipotle baked tofu, increase the amount of adobo sauce. Taste-test the sauce and use your judgement. The leftover adobo sauce and chipotle peppers can be frozen for later use.
This is SOOOOO GOOOOD!!! I was worried it was going to be to spicy for my kids, but they loved it, too! The texture of the tofu is nice and chewy. Will make again, for sure.
Yay! Glad you liked it! That’s why I used the sauce and not the peppers themselves – no seeds, so it’s less spicy. :)
The recipe looks delicious! I’ve been looking for chipotle peppers in adobo sauce but I’ve been unable to find it so far, do you know any other sauces that could work with the recipe?
You could try playing around with different types of hot sauce – maybe sriracha or cayenne pepper hot sauce, and if it’s too hot you could cut it with a bit of tomato sauce.
Amazing recipe, will be making it for the 3rd time now! The best tofu I’ve ever made, super crispy and a great texture. My boyfriend who does not love the taste or texture of tofu could not get enough of this dish. Not too spicy but if you’re worried about that the pineapple avocado guac really tames the spice.
Yay! I’m glad you both enjoyed it!