Vegan Crispy Korean Bbq Tofu Sandwiches
Hello & Happy Monday!!
If there is one thing I crave, it’s a fun vegan sandwich! The majority of my days are filled with green juice, salads and fruit. However, I love to mix it up and make a faux meat concept from scratch. While I know there are so many good ready made options, this crispy tofu sandwich is so cheap and easy to throw together and a million times better than any frozen patty.
Don’t believe me?
My husband does not have an affinity for anything tofu, and ate the whole thing! lol
When it comes to tofu, it’s either you love it or hate it. If you hate it, it’s typically due to your preparation method not being effective. I personally love tofu in all ways, but the method that proves to be such a game changer is, freezing! Freezing allows the tofu to take on a animal protein like texture and is just such a more memorable experience. If you have a lil extra time, simply slice and throw it in the freezer to keep for when a craving strikes.
When thinking of the next best tofu creation since I’m hooked on freezing, I knew we had to do a chicken sandwich! Since we covered your staple chicken sandwich, I knew we had to do the next best thing, a Korean Bbq Tofu Sandwich! There is so much going on in this sandwich and countless reasons why it’s just a win all around.
If you’re not keen on frying, I’m with you. I thought about air frying, but you won’t get the same texture that mirrors a traditional chicken sandwich. What you can do though, is post frying you can place it in the air fryer or even the following day and fry it with removing excess oils.
What’s fab about this tofu chicken sandwich? Honestly, absolutely everything. It’s so easy to throw together, features staple ingredients, you can even mix up the marinade ingredients, the sauce can be used with other dishes, has notes of garlic and ginger, you can easily make this in bulk, make sliders, you can throw it in the air fryer the following day and even cut down on the oil content using it, switch up the toppings, the cucumbers add a hint of sweet, more texture, the sauce a hint of heat and sweet, the outer texture is perfection, the inner texture is chewy, and the jalapeño slaw just ties it all together.
If you’re searching for the perfect homemade faux sandwich, this is it! You have to try this new vegan Crispy Korean Bbq Tofu Sandwich!
Why this recipe is great:
Perfect inner texture
Perfect exterior texture
Perfect for any season
Cheap
Easy
Hint of heat with a hint of sweet
The sauce can be used for countless other dishes!
Vegan Crispy Tofu Korean Bbq Sandwiches
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 sandwiches 1x
Ingredients
Crispy Tofu:
- 1 package extra firm tofu, drained
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp hot sauce (any kind)
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Few cracks of black pepper
- 3/4 tsp paprika
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Oil for frying
- buns
Korean Bbq Sauce:
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup soy sauce or liquid aminos
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsps fresh ginger
- pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- few cracks of black pepper
- 3 tsp cornstarch
- 3 tsp water
Pickled cucumber:
- 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt + Pepper
Cabbage slaw:
- 1/2 cup white cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 cup purple cabbage, shredded
- 1 jalapeno, seeds removed, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp vegan mayo
- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- salt + pepper
Instructions
- Tofu: Slice extra firm tofu into cutlets, (I got 2). Press with paper towels to remove some of the water. Place gently into a sealed container or bag and freeze overnight or for 8 hours. This creates a chewy animal protein like texture. If you want the best texture, do this process 2-3x.
- Sauce: To make the Korean bbq sauce place all the ingredients in a pan minus the corn starch and water and bring to a boil. Combine the corn starch and water and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until thickened.
- Allow the cutlets to thaw out in the fridge. Wrap them again in paper towels to remove the excess liquid. Place the slices onto a dish and drizzle with the 1/3 cup soy sauce. Let marinate for 10 minutes. Flip mid way and pour more on the other side.
- In a small bowl stir together the hot sauce and dijon mustard. Set aside.
- In a larger bowl add the flour, cornstarch and spices.
- Pour enough oil to have 1/2 inch in the pan. Remove tofu from marinating and place into the flour mixture. Be sure to coat all sides with the mixture. Let it sit there for a few minutes.
- Now brush the hot sauce mixture onto the tofu coating all sides. Now place it back into the flour mixture coating again. Shake off any excess then gently place into the oil.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes, flipping at the halfway mark. Sprinkle with salt and lace on a cooling rack for 5 minutes to remove any excess oil.
- Now brush the Korean bbq sauce onto the cooked tofu. You’ll have about 1/2 cup left.
- Cucumbers: throw everything in a dish and let marinate
- Cabbage slaw: throw everything in a bowl and let the flavors combine
- To assemble. Top the Korean bbq tofu with pickled cucumbers, cabbage slaw. Serve on buns!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
This look delicious, but, under both “crispy tofu’ and “korean bbq sauce” there are bullets saying 1/2 cup (1 person recipe), but not specifying the content. Please help 🙂
Hi Pia, I’m looking at the recipe and everything has the ingredient outlined. Shoot me an email if you’re still not seeing it reflected.
This recipe is fantastic. I plan to omit the soy sauce drizzle next time and just do plain tofu (or maybe mix soy sauce and vinegar?) because I did find it a bit salty. But other than that I thought this was near perfect! Thank you!