Sweet and Sticky Tofu

Name: Sweet and Sticky Tofu
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 400 g extra firm tofu (drained, pressed and chopped into cubes); 1 garlic clove (finely chopped); Thumb of ginger (grated); 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari); 2 tbsp maple syrup; 1 tbsp sriracha; 1 tbsp cornflour; 1 tbsp sesame seeds; 1 spring onion (chopped); 1/2 lime (juice of); Handful of coriander (chopped)

GF / NF / NS / VG

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Sweet and sticky tofu in a bowl topped with spring onions — Don’t like tofu? Try this sweet and sticky tofu recipe and come back to me. I absolutely adore this recipe. It makes the most delicious sweet and sticky tofu and it’s my go to meal if I’m cooking for friends who are tofu sceptics.

Tofu is great at absorbing flavour, and with a rich, sticky sauce, this dish strikes the right balance between sweet, savoury, and umami.

Because I’m using extra firm tofu it takes on a **delicious crispy** consistency when fried. The key here is making sure you squeeze out as much moisture as you can before you cook with it.

I promise, the end result is worth it as the texture is just dreamy when combined with my sticky tofu sauce.

It’s quick to prepare, making it perfect for a vegan weeknight meal, yet flavourful enough to impress friends and family. Serve it over rice or noodles with coriander, spring onions and lime for a well-rounded, satisfying dish that’s both simple and delicious.

What you’ll need for sweet and sticky tofu

Tofu
Garlic
Ginger
Toasted sesame oil
Soy sauce (or tamari)
Maple syrup
Sriracha
Cornflour
Oil

Ingredients & Substitution Notes

Tofu: The most common types of tofu are silken, soft, medium, firm and extra firm. Non-silken tofu is also known as regular tofu. I used extra firm tofu as it really holds it’s shape and creates the perfect textured sticky tofu. You can use firm tofu too. Soft and medium will likely break apart when cooked so try and avoid this kind if possible.

Garlic: You can substitute fresh garlic for powdered garlic, but it won’t pack the same flavour so try and get gold of the fresh stuff if you can.

Ginger: Zingy ginger adds a pop to the marinade. You can omit if you can’t get hold of any fresh ginger root.

Toasted sesame oil: I used toasted sesame oil for it’s nutty flavour but you can use any neutral oil.

Soy sauce: I used dark soy sauce but you can use any kind of soy sauce or reduced salt soy sauce. You can also substitute for tamari for soy free.

Maple syrup: When combined with soy sauce the sweetness of the maple syrup creates the most irisistable sweet and savoury marinade. You can substitute this for brown sugar if you can’t get hold of maple syrup (1-2 tbsp).

Sriracha: This adds a nice kick of spice to the tofu. If you’re making for children then you can reduce this down or omit completely depending on your preferences. Likewise feel free to up to levels of sriracha if you like yours extra spicy!

Cornflour: This creates a nice thick sweet and sticky marinade when added to the other ingredients. You can substitute this for potato starch too.

Garnish: Finish the sweet and sticky tofu with toasted sesame seeds and topped with coriander, spring onions and lime.

If you used sesame seeds either buy them ‘toasted’ or fry toast them in a dry frying pan for 2-3 minutes stirring regularly (and don’t forget to quickly take them out of the pan as they burn very easily!)

How to make sweet and sticky tofu:

Start making your sweet and sour tofu by pressing your tofu. I use a tofu press that I’ve had for years from Tofuture, and it gets all of the liquid out of the tofu to make it soak up the marinade and fry perfectly.

If you haven’t got a tofu press, then you can simply place your tofu in between two plates with a couple heavy cookbooks on top. Aim to press the tofu for at least 15 minutes so that the tofu goes nice and crispy when cooked.

While your tofu is being pressed, you can mix all of the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl.

Make sure to whisk in the cornflour thoroughly so that there are no lumps.

Your tofu should have a lot of liquid pressed out by now. Now you can chop it into bite-sized cubes (or whatever size or shape you fancy).

Add the tofu into the marinade and mix thoroughly together, making sure to coat each piece of tofu in the sweet and sticky marinade.

Now leave the tofu in the fridge for around 1 hour (or overnight) to marinade in the sweet and sticky sauce. This will help the flavours to really penetrate the tofu, making it extra tasty and flavourful.

Now that the tofu has marinaded, you can add this into a frying pan over medium to high heat with a drizzle of oil. Leave the sauce that is left in the bowl for later (don’t pour this in).

Fry your tofu for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. The sauce should thicken up and get all lovely and sticky around the cubes of tofu.

Once your tofu is golden brown and sticky, add back into the bowl with the last bit of sauce and coat. This will add that last bit of sweet and stickiness. Toss in some sesame seeds too!

I love serving this tofu recipe on top of a bed of rice, topped with spring onions, coriander and a squeeze of lime juice.

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Did you make this sweet and sticky tofu recipe? Take a photo and tag it with #MadeleineOlivia. I love seeing your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and Pinterest.

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