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OMG you guys. I am so excited to share this with you all (jumps around excitedly)!!
I love love LOVE crispy, fried food (err, who doesn’t?) and it can be hard to satisfy those cravings at home sometimes. Without reaching for a bag of chips.
Because that’s not real food. Lol.
I know…who am I to say potato chips are bad when I’m about to give you a recipe for unhealthy fried food. But hey, I’d like to think that my vegan tofu nuggets are more nutritious at least?
It doesn’t help that I’m too broke to buy those pre-made vegan chicken nuggets thingies off the shelves either. Can you believe it? I’ve never had those Gardein/Beyond Meat stuff before 🙁
Then again, I’m lazy as hell when it comes to cooking.
I need something that’s easy and quick. Bonus points if it doesn’t involve a lot of dish-washing action.
Sigh, I know. First world problems.
I thought I would never be able to create a super delicious vegan fried food thing (that is not fries lol) because of my own laziness.
But you know what? I told myself, I’m gonna try and make this happen. What, am I going to deny myself epic homemade fried food FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE?! DAMN IT. I’M GOING TO FIND A WAY TO DO IT.
And of course, I did 😉 (smug face)
Or else this post wouldn’t exist and I’ll hide somewhere in shame.
I rarely dare to use “the best” to describe anything, but damn, I’m so proud of this. It’s everything I wanted in a fried nugget and more.
It’s easy, quick and cheap. You only need a few ingredients, like seriously the main ingredients are just tofu, panko breadcrumbs and cornstarch. BAM. INSANELY GOOD VEGAN TOFU NUGGETS!
Plus it’s full of protein and you only need one pan. Ugh this is too perfect.
Ever since I had my first bite of this I’ve been constantly craving it. No kidding.
Not sure if this has saved me or ruined me, actually. Lol.
You must try it if you can!
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Vegan + GF Option + No Onion No Garlic
The Best Vegan Tofu Nuggets
Ingredients
- 1/2 block extra firm tofu
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons water
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon basil flakes optional
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
Instructions
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Mix 1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs with 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon basil flakes if you have it.
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Mix 2 teaspoons cornstarch (packed) with 2 teaspoons of water. You will get a relatively thick slurry.
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Pat dry with a paper towel 1/2 block of tofu and chop into bite-sized pieces. I go for rectangle blocks but you can do cubes as well. Heat up some vegetable oil in a frying pan as you're doing this.
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Dip the tofu chunks into the cornstarch slurry - no need to try and achieve a "thick" layer. As long as it's coated it is fine! After that dip it in the breadcrumbs mixture. After that, place the tofu into the pan/fryer. Repeat this for all the tofu chunks you have.
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I do a shallow fry and use approximately 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Do adjust the amount of oil if you need to! Deep frying would probably give the best or most even frying results but I don't like deep frying at home.
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Fry the tofu over medium heat until golden brown (you'll need to probably flip it around if you're shallow frying).
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When done, remove the tofu nuggets from the pan and let it rest on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil. Serve after a minute or two!
Recipe Notes
1/2 block of extra firm tofu can serve 1-2 people, depending on what other snacks/dishes you serve it with.
For a gluten-free version, you can use gluten-free panko breadcrumbs.
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33 comments
I had a bad tofu experience a long time ago, but this might convince me to give it another try! It looks crispy and delicious. Just wondering, what dipping sauce would you recommend??
Oh no, I love tofu but I get that it’s not for everyone. I think many sauces would work with this – I personally like ketchup lol but sweet chilli or tartar would be good too!
Sadly, I love everything deep fried and this fits the bill. Pretend healthy:-) I like the idea of a sweet chili sauce with this. That would put it right over the top!
Ahahaha, pretend healthy is a good way to describe it 😛 I love fried food too – I don’t believe anyone who says they don’t! Lol
These tofu nuggets look so yummy! Have to say I’ve never made anything like this, thanks for inspiring me! Pinning for later!
Thanks Erica! Everything tastes better when fried :p
YUM!! Seriously, just yum. Words can’t even describe how excited I am to try this! Like I just… this recipe is happening in my kitchen TONIGHT! Yum x infinity x a billion.
Yay! Sounds like a great plan :p
I’m a big fan of tofu, but I’ve never had panko-crusted fried tofu before! Sound so delicious! I need to give it a try! Thanks for sharing!
I’m a huge fan of tofu too! Yes, it is as good as it sounds 😀
I think chips is food! 😛 haha it my dinner from time to time! haha! but man these look DELISH! I have a deep fryer setup so I will need to try these! I may finally convince Terry that tofu is good! 🙂
Hahahaha I loveee chips but I’m trying my best to stay away :p Man, I wish I could deep fry stuff at home 🙁 I’d deep fry it if I could – lucky you!
And yes, the first thing I’d do to convince anyone anything is good is to deep fry it :p
These look so good!!
Thanks Bethany! Do try it if you have the ingredients!
Nuggets are my ultimate guilty pleasure! I love gardein nuggets but I think this will be a great substitute for when I don’t feel like spending a fortune on a bag of ten nuggets. More nuggets for me!
Hehe nuggets are my guilty pleasure too! And yes those things are expensive :'(
Oh man, these look amazing! I am a huge tofu fan-seriously, sometimes I think I am a closet vegan.:) I’ve never made it this way before though… I’ve got to try it!
Where’s the recipe?
Eek! Sorry Lindsey! I made some changes to my site and it messed up the recipe – it should be showing fine now! Sorry for any inconvenience and thanks for pointing it out 🙂
Is there an alternative to vegetable oil?? Would EVOO work as a sub??
Hi Anushka! I think EVOO might not be a good substitute since we are using it for frying and it has a low smoke point. Any cooking/frying/etc oil would do – I like to use grapeseed, but sunflower, safflower, canola, peanut, soybean oil and the likes would work as well. EVOO would be such a waste in this case 😮
Would you recommend grapeseed as the healthiest option?? I’m so excited to try these out!!
Yay I’m excited for YOU to try them out ? Yes I would recommend grapeseed, it’s what I’ve been using for a long time 🙂 it has a high smoke point and neutral flavour which makes it versatile!
Before I stopped eating meat I used to love baked Katsu Curry. Do you think I could get away with baking these or is only the best to fry it?
Hi Amanda! I think baking it might be a bit tricky, because I’m afraid the breadcrumbs might not stick to the tofu if you bake them/it might not turn out that crispy. Maybe I’ll try messing around with a baked version and I’ll let you know if I come up with something 🙂
This was delicious! I used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and Arrowroot instead of cornstarch(I ran out), but everything was great! I used more of a searing method instead of deep frying. My husband loved it! This recipe is for the books!
Hi Tessa, that’s great to know! I see you went for a healthier option than I did :p I’m glad you enjoyed it and thanks for leaving a review 🙂
[…] Vegan Tofu Nuggets the Lazy […]
I’ve tried this about 5 times now, they always taste better than store bought vegan nuggets.
I usually don’t do cornstarch, just milk, soy sauce, and some seasonings, because for some reason when I try the corn starch and water it turns difficult to mix and dip in.
I also don’t do store bought bread crumbs, just crushed Ritz crackers.
It turns out super good, even my dad who isn’t vegan likes these!
I made this recipe tonight and it was delish. I was craving buffalo wings, so I tossed the nuggets in buffalo sauce. They were SO good. It topped my bowl of quinoa, sautéed mushrooms, diced yams , and avocado with them. Thanks for sharing.
I’m SO happy this worked out well for you! Thanks for taking the time to let me know 🙂 I will try tossing in buffalo sauce next time heh
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for the recipe. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve featured it on my savory snacks roundup, which you can find here: https://happyhappyvegan.com/vegan-snacks/ I hope you don’t mind?
Super tasty and delicious! I’m so glad you shared this recipe. I ended up using a barbecue sauce but I’m positive any sweet, nutty, and spicy sauce could work. Yum!! Thank you!