This savory and extra spicy tofu jerky is made with oven dried tofu strips flavored with smoky seasonings and fiery sriracha sauce!
I generally have a backlog of a few weeks’ worth of recipes for this blog. Occasionally I make something and decide I need to post it the very next day, but most of the time my recipes work their way through the list and slow process of photographing, editing, writing and publishing. This particular recipe has been in my queue for a few weeks now, and my boyfriend has asked me numerous times when I’m going to post it. I usually take that as a sign that the recipe was pretty damn good.
I’m lucky to be with a guy whose food preferences are pretty close to my own. Interestingly, he he tells me that during his younger years, long before contemplating cutting out animal foods, he belonged to a band, in which he was the only meat-eating member. His vegetarian bandmates mockingly brought him several packages of veggie jerky, which he devoured and loved, much to their amusement. I suppose if jerky had ever been an obstacle to him going veg, he did away with it then and there. And why shouldn’t he have loved the veggie jerky? I’ve said before and I’ll say again, for myself at least, and apparently for my boyfriend as well, it’s not the animal component to meat that makes it in any way appetizing. It’s the seasoning, spices, and apparently in the case of jerky, the texture.
Any recollection I have of eating jerky made from animals is way foggy at this point. I’m sure the texture of tofu jerky isn’t exactly like it, but I definitely had something of an “Oh, yeah, I remember this kind of food” moment when I tasted it.
I do have a food dehydrator and anyone else that does can make this using theirs, if that’s what they prefer; I went for the oven simply because I realize that most people don’t.
Spicy Sriracha Tofu Jerky
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. extra firm tofu
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp. liquid smoke
- 2 tsp. sriracha
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Instructions
- Drain your tofu and pat dry.
- Cut into very thin slices - 1/4" to 1/8" works.
- Whisk remaining ingredients together and brush over both sides of slices. Arrange slices on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake at 200 degrees for 2-3 hours, or until slices become tough and dry.
- Remove from oven. The texture will become more jerkyesque as they cool.
This is a 5 star for me