This Kung Pao tofu is made with chunks of gingery baked tofu tossed with stir fried veggies and peanuts in spicy sauce. An easy Chinese-inspired vegan dinner that's better than takeout and easy enough for a weeknight!
There was a time when I ate at Chinese vegetarian restaurants constantly. I loved those places! Most of them have a full menu that looks like a normal Chinese restaurant menu, but every item is totally meatless.
The kung pao tofu was my favorite! Unlike many of the dishes that were made with fried tofu, this own used baked tofu. It was awesome! Baked tofu is delicious, and perfect with the finely diced and stir-fried veggies and crispy peanuts you find in any Kung Pao dish.
So I when I went and decided to create my own version of Kung Pao tofu, I baked my tofu. That was a great decision!
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What You'll Need
- Shaoxing wine or dry sherry. Using either of these ingredients will add great flavor to your baked tofu and sauce, but feel free to substitute vegetable broth or water if you prefer.
- Soy sauce. Substitute gluten-free tamari if you'd like.
- Maple syrup. You can substitute another liquid sweetener, such as agave, if you'd like.
- Toasted sesame oil. Look for this in the international foods section of your supermarket.
- Ginger.
- Tofu. Extra-firm works best for this recipe. You'll need to press it before cooking.
- Rice vinegar. You can use another variety of vinegar, such as white vinegar, if that's what you've got on hand.
- Hoisin sauce. You can find this in the international foods sections of most supermarkets.
- Sambal oelek. This is a spicy sauce you can find in most supermarkets' international foods sections. Feel free to substitute sriracha or another hot sauce, or leave it out for a milder version of the dish.
- Cornstarch.
- Canola oil. Or substitute another high-heat oil, such as peanut oil.
- Garlic.
- Scallions.
- Dried chile peppers. Another item to look for in the international foods aisle. You can also find them in Asian markets, or leave them out to reduce the heat in this dish.
- Bell peppers. Use any color! I like red and orange.
- Baby corn.
- Peanuts. Buy ones that are roasted and salted.
- Cooked rice. Serve your kung pao tofu over this. Feel free to use your favorite variety — I'm a big fan of jasmine rice.
How to Make Kung Pao Tofu
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe.
Bake the Tofu
- Stir your marinade ingredients together in a small bowl: wine, soy sauce, maple syrup, sesame oil and ginger.
- Place diced tofu in a shallow dish and pour the sauce over it. Give everything a gentle stir.
- Let the tofu marinade for at least 30 minutes, or up to 12 hours. Be sure to cover and chill the tofu if you let it soak for more than 2 hours. Also try to give it a little stir from time to time, in order to redistribute the marinade.
- Arrange your tofu on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake it until the pieces shrink up and become very firm.
- Tip: To save time the day of serving, you can prepare the tofu a day or two in advance. Store it in a sealed container in the fridge, and warm it up a bit before adding it to your stir-fry.
Make the Stir-Fry
Once your tofu has baked, you can move on to this step.
As with any stir-fry, prep your veggies and mix up your sauce first. Things will move pretty quickly once you start cooking!
- Heat up some oil in a skillet and start cooking your aromatics: ginger, garlic, scallions (just the white parts) and dried chile peppers. Within less than a minute, the garlic and ginger should become very fragrant and your peppers should darken up a bit.
- Add diced bell pepper and baby corn. Tip: Feel free to use your favorite stir-fry veggies in place of these, keeping in mind that harder veggies may take a bit more time to cook, while softer veggies will cook faster. Stir-fry your veggies just until they become tender-crisp. This should only take a couple of minutes.
- Add your sauce, tofu, and peanuts.
- Continue to stir-fry everything for about a minute, until the sauce thickens up.
- Top your kung pao tofu with the green parts of your scallions and serve it with rice.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover stir-fry will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3 days, or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is if you use gluten-free tamari in place of soy sauce.
This dish is meant to be on the spicy side. If you prefer a milder version or just want more control over the heat level, try skipping the dried chili peppers, or just removing the seeds (where most of the heat is). You can also adjust the amount of sambal oelek, and if you're not sure how much to use, add it at the end, just a bit at a time.
Try broccoli, carrots, snow peas, or cabbage!
More Chinese-Inspired Vegan Dinners
- Vegetable Chow Mein
- Vegan Beef & Broccoli
- General Tso's Tofu
- Vegan Mongolian Beef
- Crispy Orange Ginger Tofu with Broccoli
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Kung Pao Tofu
This Kung Pao tofu is made with chunks of gingery baked tofu tossed with stir fried veggies and peanuts in spicy sauce. An easy vegan dinner that's better than takeout and easy enough for a weeknight!
Ingredients
For the Baked Tofu
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry (substitute water or vegetable broth for a non-alcoholic version)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) package extra firm tofu, drained, pressed for at least 15 minutes, and cut into ½ inch cubes
For the Kung Pao Sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine or sherry (omit for an alcohol-free version)
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek, or to taste, optional
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the Stir-Fry
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 3 scallions, chopped, white and green parts separated
- 5-10 dried chile peppers, sliced open and seeds removed
- 2 bell peppers, any color, diced (½ inch)
- 2 cups fresh baby corn, cut into 1 inch sections
- ½ cup roasted and salted peanuts
For Serving
- Cooked rice
Instructions
To Make the Baked Tofu
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Stir the wine, soy sauce or tamari, maple syrup, sesame oil and ginger together in a shallow dish. Add the tofu and toss to coat.
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If you have the time, allow the tofu to marinate for 30 minutes or up to 12 hours (Note 1). If you don't have time, don't worry about it!
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Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Arrange the tofu cubes in an even layer on the baking sheet.
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Bake the tofu for 30-35 minutes, until the pieces have darkened and shrunk a bit, flipping them halfway through.
Make the Stir-Fry
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Whisk all ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl.
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Coat the bottom of a large wok or skillet with the oil and place it over high heat.
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Give the oil a minute to heat up, and then add the garlic, ginger, white parts of scallions, and dried chili peppers to the pan.
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Stir-fry the ingredients until the garlic and ginger become fragrant and the chili peppers darken a bit, about 1 minute.
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Add the bell peppers and baby corn. Stir-fry the veggies until they're tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.
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Lower the heat a bit, then carefully add the sauce, tofu, and peanuts to the pan (Note 2). Continue to stir-fry just until all of the ingredients are hot and coated with sauce, about 1 minute.
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Remove the pan from heat and stir in the green parts of scallions.
Serve
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Divide onto plates and serve with rice.
Recipe Notes
- Cover and refrigerate the tofu if marinating it for more than 2 hours.
- Be super careful when adding sauce to a hot wok or skillet and keep in mind that alcohol is flammable. Watch out for sputtering.
- This is meant to be spicy! If you aren't into that, skip the dried chiles and the Asian chili paste. If you aren't sure of just how into that you are, just skip the chiles and add the chili paste at the end, a bit at a time.
- Nutrition information does not include rice.
Looks totally fab!!!! Would like some.
Thanks Tammie! I thought it was pretty fab. :)
Haha! I'm not a fan of names of veggie dishes like Kung Pow "Chicken", or Kung Pow Unchicken, Or Kung Pow Chiggun. I always prefer to call my food what it is and not what it isn't. “Soy bean protein in garlic sauce” on the other hand doesn't sound very delicious either! haha. I love how you named your version Kung Pao Tofu. Now THAT sounds (and looks) like a delicious veggie dish! Well done!
This is my familiy's favorite! Thank you for the recipe!
I'm so glad it's a hit! Thanks Abby!!
I always freeze my tofu. It keeps for months. Thaw it out and squeeze it easily with your hands...like a sponge! Sometimes I get crazy squeezing it and it crumbles a bit. No big deal.
I love freezing my tofu for recipes like tacos and chili where the tofu gets crumbled!
Thank you so much for this recipe! We made a few modifications for what we had on hand, namely veggie stock instead of the wine, different veggies and some miso and vegan worcestershire in place of hoisin sauce.
This was so much better than anything we could buy in West Texas. I am sure this will be a staple in our house when craving chinese food.
Thanks again for your time on this recipe!
Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks so much Samantha!
So good! I had to make a few substitutions for ingredients on hand, but it turned out awesome. I will definitely make it again (hopefully, as written!).
So glad you enjoyed it!
Like all the recipes of yours I’ve tried, this was delicious. Yours is the go to site for this vegan when I’m in search of a recipe I can rely on! Thanks!
Delicious, easy to make (definitely good with the tofu marinated for an hour), VERY spicy.
This was amazing. Spicy and flavorful wrapped around great texture.
Yummy!
Ended up adding the left over marinate from the tofu to the final cooking stage and we loved it.
Thank you for sharing.