Kung Pao Tofu

5 from 14 votes

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!

Prep Time20

Cook Time40

Marinating + Tofu Pressing45

Total Time1 45

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings:

Calories: 468kcal

Author: Alissa

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

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To Make the Baked Tofu

Stir the wine, soy sauce or tamari, maple syrup, sesame oil and ginger together in a shallow dish. Add the tofu and gently stir the tofu to coat it with sauce.
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!
Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the tofu cubes in an even layer on the baking sheet.
Bake the tofu for 30-35 minutes, until the pieces have darkened and shrunken a bit, flipping them halfway through.

Make the Stir-Fry

Whisk all ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl.
Coat the bottom of a large wok or skillet with the oil and place it over high heat.
Give the oil a minute to heat up, then add the garlic, ginger, white parts of scallions, and dried chile peppers to the pan.
Stir-fry the ingredients until the garlic and ginger become fragrant and the chile peppers darken a bit, about 1 minute.
Add the bell peppers and baby corn. Stir-fry the veggies until they're tender-crisp, about 3 minutes.
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.
Remove the pan from heat and stir in the green parts of scallions.

Serve

Divide onto plates and serve with rice.

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.

Nutrition