Tofu cubes are pan-fried in sesame oil to a crisp, and then drenched in creamy maple-tahini-sriracha sauce to make this scrumptious vegan meal that comes together in minutes.
I totally stole this one from Wegmans. That’s me, the supermarket recipe stealing blogger.
Well no, not really. It’s not that bad. I didn’t steal the recipe. Reverse engineered is a better way to put it, because they didn’t bother to list the ingredients in this particular buffet item on the little tag over it. Just gave a couple of lines about it being crispy tofu in sriracha-sesame sauce. Well duh. Thanks Wegmans. But no, really, thanks for the idea. You guys rock.
So, about this tofu. Normally when I read a recipe title like this I’d assume it was tofu in a light stir-fry-ish sauce, maybe with some sesame oil, hence the sesame. But the Wegman’s buffet version was in creamy sauce, so I think the sesame component was tahini. For my version I cooked the tofu in sesame oil, drenched it in tahini sauce, then sprinkled it all with toasted sesame seeds. Triple sesame. I really love sesame.
The dish turned out incredibly delicious and took all of about ten minutes to throw together. Can’t beat that. It’s spicy, but not super spicy. If you came here looking for super spicy, just keep tipping the sriracha bottle into the sauce until you’re happy.
This would be great with some steamed or stir-fried veggies. We had an abundance of salad greens stashed away in the fridge, so we skipped the cooked veggies in lieu of salads. If you do go the cooked veggie route, be sure to make some extra sauce. You’re going to want it.
Sesame Sriracha Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 14 ounce package extra firm tofu, drained, pressed at least 15 minutes, and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 2 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons sriracha sauce, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves. minced
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 3-4 tablespoons water
For serving:
- Cooked rice
- Chopped scallions
- Toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
-
Coat the bottom of a large skillet with sesame oil and place over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the tofu in an even layer. Cook for about 10 minutes, flipping once or twice, until the tofu cubes are browned and crisp on multiple sides.
-
Make the sauce while the tofu cooks. Whisk the tahini, maple syrup, sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and ginger together in a small bowl. Thin with 3 to 4 tablespoons of water.
-
Once the tofu has finished cooking, lower the heat to low and pour the sauce over the tofu, flipping a few times to coat the tofu in the sauce. Cook just until the sauce is hot and begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Careful here — cooking it too long will dry out the sauce. Remove from heat.
-
Divide onto plates with rice, and top with sesame seeds and scallions. Serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition information includes 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds and does not include rice.
I happen to have reverse engineered several Wegmans buffet items and love them all! I will definitely be trying this soon.
Wegmans is always great for recipe inspiration. :) I hope you enjoy this one!
Its 30 minutes to make the recipe. 15 minutes to press the tofu. 15 minutes for the rest. Which makes me sad because it looks delish!
it takes you longer than 30 minutes to drive to fast food, order, wait, drive home.
Why assume she’d go for fast food?? Most likely, she’d just make something quicker…
Delicious! Added a head of broccoli and noodles and increased the sauce. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome! Glad you like it, and I love the idea of serving it with noodles. :)
Got my hands on a jar of Chinese sesame paste (made from raw sesame seeds instead of toasted). Can’t wait to try this recipe.
I’ve never tried Chinese sesame paste, but I’m intrigued! I’ll have to get my hands on a jar. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
I stand corrected. Chinese tahini is made of roasted sesames as well. But somehow it’s thicker than its American counterpart.
YUMMMMMMMM! Made this two nights ago. Could only find pressed tofu, which worked fine. Used double the tofu, but only 1.5 times the sauce, which was perfect. I also halved the maple syrup, because we eat very little sweet stuff, and that was plenty sweet enough for us. Love your recipes!!
Thanks so much Karen! I’m glad you liked it!
I had to comment on this recipe, I have made this three times and am making it tonight. It really is great, spicy, creamy chewy.. Thank you so much for all your great recipes I really appreciate them.!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I’m glad you’re enjoying this!!
Made this tonight and thought it was really good! Will make again.
Glad to hear it!
I’ve always wanted to like tofu, but didn’t. After making this, I realizw that my tofu needs to be nice and crispy for me to enjoy it. Now, can you get me to like eggplant? ;o)
Great recipe, thanks much!
It took me forever to like tofu too, and I had the same issue! It took me forever to like it and even though I eat it different ways now, crispy and pan-fried is still my favorite. I’m glad you enjoyed this. :)
This is amazing! This is the first recipe where I mastered tofu.
And this sauce <3. I realized I didn't have any sriracha on hand as I was making this, so I subbed some
TJs Traditional Tunisian Harissa Hot Chili Pepper Paste. SUPER YUMMY! Not spicy at all.
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that!! Thanks so much Amanda!
This is GREAT! I made 2 batches, one with sriracha and one without, as my husband doesn’t like anything that is spicy/hot. I didn’t have tahini, so I used almond butter. I can’t wait to try again with tahini, but it was delicious the way it was.
One comment about prep time – it might take 20 minutes if everything was pre-prepped (ie, rice cooked, sesame seeds toasted, ginger and garlic grated and minced, tofu pressed and cut into cubes). Otherwise, starting from scratch, at least an hour. But worth it.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I bet this would be delicious with almond butter and I might just give that a shot. :)
Made this last week, thought I had all the ingredients. Moments later, I’m at the fridge – where’s my ginger? Where’s my sesame seeds? Never mind, I made it anyway and it was delicious! Tofu was perfect – so tonight I will do again with ginger and sesame seeds!
Thank you so much for this recipe, I love it!
This recipe is definitely forgiving! I’m glad you enjoyed it, even without the ginger and sesame seeds! Thanks Caroline!
Very good, quick and easy to put together. I will be making this again. Thank you for sharing :)
Glad you enjoyed it!!
My husband and I love this recipe and bake is probably once a week! We usually double the sauce and add zucchini or some other green, and we usually serve it on top of rice noodles. The first time we made it, we felt like we were eating at a restaurant! Thank you for sharing it!
Yay!! I’m so glad you both like it! And that sounds great – I’ve never tried this one over rice noodles. :)
I made this last night and – hehe – although the recipe says serves 4, between the 2 of us, we scarfed it all down with NO leftovers! This recipe ROCKS!!!!! Just shared the with some colleagues at work. Thank you!!!
Haha! Well that usually means it’s a hit! I’m glad to hear it! Thanks Julie!
2nd time making this. I’m hooked!
I’m so happy to hear that!
This looks incredible! Think I’m going to make for my next “date night” with the partner, but since he’s a health nut might serve it over a daikon and carrot “doodle” salad. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this tonight with high hopes but it had an awful aftertaste. I had to throw it all out. Any reason why this could have happened?
Sorry you didn’t enjoy it! Have you cooked with tahini before? Some people just don’t like the taste. Otherwise, it’s possible you got a bad batch. Maybe try a different brand or subbing peanut butter if you’re up for giving it another try.
Seriously one of the best tasting, easiest recipes I’ve found! Love it!
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Thanks Brittany!
I must confess: I just made this and had every intention of making some healthy veggies and maybe some rice, but I ended up standing in the kitchen dipping the tofu pieces in the sauce and ended up eating HALF of the tofu! Just standing there!
It’s really good, and I look forward to finding some other things to use the large amount of leftover sauce (I doubled the sauce recipe, because of the veggies that didn’t happen).
Yay new recipe!
Yay! I’m glad you like it! The sauce should be great over veggies. Thanks so much Kate!