My homemade Sweet and Sour Tofu will blow your hair back. It’s the crispiest tofu cubes and tender bell peppers, tossed in a thick American-Chinese sweet and sour sauce. All the flavors of my favorite childhood Chinese takeout meal – and ready in just 20 minutes!
I grew up eating sweet and sour chicken from the takeout spot. It was a weekend treat my mom splurged for alongside egg drop soup and egg rolls dipped in duck sauce. But since we’ve been laying off meat, I started experimenting with tofu. The key (in my opinion) was to get the tofu as crispy as those nuggets of chicken I loved all those years ago. And it worked!
My sweet and sour tofu is crispy tofu cubes and bell peppers, stir fried in a tangy, gooey American-Chinese sauce. The sauce itself is a balance of savory, sweet and tart flavors. This is one of those vegan recipes where I don’t even realize I’m are eating a plant based meal unless someone points it out. Seriously, even kids love it!
Table of Contents
Why I Love This
- It’s my vegan twist on on the iconic sweet and sour chicken.
- The sauce is sour, tangy and sweet. I love the balance between tender bell peppers and crispy tofu.
- Dusting and quickly pan frying the tofu cubes gives them a crunchy exterior, while leaving the interior moist and silky. Seriously, I even have have tofu skeptics tell me they LOVE it.
- Scratches my takeout itch – and is so easy to make at home.
Ingredients
Scroll all the way to the bottom of this page for the full recipe and measurements.
- Medium Firm Tofu: I use firm or medium-firm tofu. It’s more dense than silken and soft tofu, and will absorb the flavors of the sauce. It is also a great option to pan-fry until crispy! I’ll show you how in a sec.
- Red and Green Bell Pepper: I love the contrasting colors – and they give the dish another satisfying and tasty crunch.
- Vegetable oil: Use a neutral cooking oil with a high smoke point.
- Cornstarch or Potato Starch: Dusting tofu with starch is my secret to making the crisp-edged coating on the tofu. Trust me, this sweet and sour tofu is super crispy.
Sauce Ingredients
- Brown Sugar: Sweet, but not overpoweringly so.
- Salt: Adding a touch of salt helps balance the sweet with pure savory notes.
- Ketchup: I use regular tomato ketchup. Not only does it contribute to the sauce’s unique color, it imparts a thicker consistency.
- Soy Sauce: Soy sauce for big time umami.
- Rice Vinegar: I like that rice vinegar adds bright, fruity and sour notes. If you don’t have rice vinegar, use apple cider vinegar instead.
Expert Tip
Draining the tofu:
Tofu has a high water content. When stir frying tofu I try to remove as much of the excess water as possible to avoid a watery stir fry – and so it will properly crisp up in the pan.
Just wrap the tofu in paper towels and rest on a plate until fairly dry. This should take 10-15 minutes tops. If you set it on your cutting board and water is pooling around the bottom of the tofu block, it’s still too wet. Wrap again and press lightly to help absorption. Some people use a tofu press to drain tofu, but it isn’t really necessary. Paper towels are fine.
How to Make Sweet and Sour Tofu
- Make the sauce. Whisk all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce in a bowl. Mix until the brown sugar has fully dissolved. Set the bowl aside.
- Drain the tofu. Just wrap the tofu block in paper towels and rest for a few minutes. If the paper towels become saturated, re-wrap until the tofu is fairly dry. Then slice the tofu into one-inch cubes.
- Pan-fry the tofu. Dust the tofu cubes with cornstarch or potato starch until well coated on all sides. In a large pan over high heat, add the oil. Once hot, place your tofu cubes, evenly spaced, inside the pan. Pan fry and turn the pieces until they are golden brown on all sides. This takes about 7 minutes or so. Once crispy and browned, transfer the tofu to a plate and set aside.
- Make the stir fry. Put the bell peppers into the hot pan and stir fry until they start to soften a bit. Then return the tofu to the pan and add the sauce, tossing until everything is evenly coated. Transfer to a plate and serve immediately.
Expert Tips
- Add a little salt and pepper to the cornstarch before dusting the tofu cubes. When the tofu cubes are seasoned independently, it adds even more flavor to the dish as a whole.
- For the crispiest tofu, don’t overcrowd the pan so the temperature of the skillet stays really hot and yields crispy, golden cubes.
Storage
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight food storage container for up to 2 days. That said, this dish tastes best – and will only have the crispy texture – fresh out of the wok.
What to Serve With Sweet and Sour Tofu
I always serve this dish with a side of Japanese rice or fluffy jasmine rice. And when I’m going all out, here are a few other veggie forward Chinese recipes I whip up to make it a full on feast. No delivery required!
- Easy Vegetable Egg Rolls
- Homemade Vegetable Wonton Soup
- Chinese Broccoli With Garlic Sauce
- Bok Choy With Garlic and Oyster Sauce
- Vegetable Bao Buns
Frequently Asked Questions
For this recipe, yes. Excess moisture in medium to firm tofu will make it almost impossible to be pan fried until crisp. Furthermore, the excess water would stand in the way of your tofu cubes absorbing the flavors of the sweet and sour sauce.
For stir fries, you need bean curd that will hold up to both the high heat, and being tossed around in a pan. Three main options come to mind. 1. Medium-firm tofu like we’re using here in this recipe. 2. A fried tofu cutlet. Or… 3. Smoked tofu, which is dense tofu that has been smoked in tea leaves and almost has the texture of meat. All three of these options can withstand being tossed around in a pan with vegetables. Unfortunately, soft silken tofu, like you’d use in a dish like mapo tofu, is much too soft and would disintegrate.
Yes! Tofu is gluten free. However, some farmers will grow both soy and wheat and use the same equipment to harvest both. That can cause cross contamination. Therefore, if you’re steering clear of all wheat, it’s always a good idea to check for the Certified Gluten Free label when buying tofu. My two favorite gluten free brands are House Foods and Morinaga.
Once opened, tofu will keep refrigerated for 3-5 days if left in a regular Tupperware container. Tofu that has not been opened can be kept in the fridge in the original sealed packaging for about a week past the expiration date written on the label.
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Sweet and Sour Tofu
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Vegan
- Method: Stir frying
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Diet: Vegan
Description
My sweet and sour tofu will blow your hair back! It’s better than takeout – and is ready in just 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- 14 ounces medium firm tofu
- 1 red bell pepper, cored and chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and chopped into bite size pieces
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- cornstarch for dusting
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Whisk all the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce (until sugar has dissolved) in a bowl and set aside.
- Drain the tofu, then cube it. Wrap the entire tofu block in paper towels or a tea towel to remove excess water. Repeat 3 to 4 times until the tofu is drier (should not be pooling water on your cutting board). Slice tofu into 1 inch cubes.
- Dredge, then pan fry the tofu. Dust tofu with potato starch until all sides are well coated. In a large pan over high heat, add oil and tofu and fry until all sides are slightly golden (about 7 minutes). Transfer tofu to a plate and set aside.
- Make the stir fry. Add red and green bell pepper to the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes, until peppers have softened but still yield a crunch. Return tofu to the pan, add sauce and stir until tofu and bell peppers are coated. Turn the heat off and transfer to a plate.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Tastes best hot, fresh out of the pan. Store leftovers in the fridge (covered) for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 187
- Sugar: 11g
- Sodium: 452mg
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 18.6g
- Fiber: 2.4g
- Protein: 9.9g
- Cholesterol: 3.5mg
Questions and Reviews
Is it possible I never reviewed this recipe? I make this all the time! It is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” meal ever! In fact, I’m making it tonight! I do add some red pepper flakes, but that’s it for adaptations. It is SO good!!
Thank you so much Ann!
Tasty! I added two cloves of chopped garlic and some sriracha to the sauce, and some cilantro and green onions as garnish. If anyone’s looking to get a thick, sticky sauce, mix one tablespoon of cornstarch into three tablespoons of cold water and toss it into the pan when the sauce starts to boil. 🙂
This recipe was perfect for lunch today. Not too much prep work or whacky ingredients. I ended up adding in onions and garlic because I love them so much and if anything it rounded up this recipe perfectly. Also I had no bell peppers so I used Caribbean flavor peppers…perf!
Thanks so much
Thank you, Ro! 🙂
Pretty tasty but would have been better if I had thickened the sauce to the consistency of sweet and sour pork sauce. Added more bell peppers, as well as carrots and onions.
Easy, fast and tasty.
WOW!
Yummy Fer Me Tummy !
It’s on our “Try Soon” list.
Thanks for posting.
Very simple and oh so good. I airfried the tofu. Definitely making again.
Sounds super delicious, can’t wait to try this! Can this be frozen for meal prepping?
Hi Jackie! I’m not sure if this can be frozen as the texture of the tofu will lose its crispiness (and that’s the best part about this dish ).
Tasty and super easy to make with few ingredients around the house.
I made this today, it was so good! Thank you for sharing!
Even my husband who says he doesn’t like tofu, really loved it!
I feel bad for not reviewing this sooner – this is one of my weekly vegan recipes and I have been making it for 2 years! Absolutely the BEST!
Thank you Corey! 🙂
Indgeenious recipe which im sure all my family and friends will love to
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it twice now, it’s so simple to make and so delicious. The only thing I didn’t add to it is the vinegar and I still love it.
Thank you Rachael! 🙂
I think it’s the easiest tofu recipe! Thank you!
We both enjoyed this recipe! It was better the next night, so next time, I will air fry the tofu, and keep half separate for the next night. The veggies stayed nice and crunchy even as leftovers. Thank you for a nice departure from chicken!
Super good! It was my first time frying tofu (I usually just cook it up with mapo sauce) and I loved it. I added some fresh ginger in with the peppers while they were cooking. Used apple cider vinegar and it turned out great! Sauce was a little runny so I think I’ll add less water next time. DELICIOUS!
Thank you Pearl for the wonderful review! 🙂
Hi! Do you use regular rice vinegar for this recipe or seasoned rice vinegar? Not sure which one to use. Thank you!
Hi Makenna, I used regular rice vinegar for this recipe but you can use seasoned rice vinegar as long as it’s not citrus flavored 🙂
Loved this, made a slurry to thicken the sauce. Will the tofu stay crispy for leftovers? Maybe next time I’ll split the sauce and tofu and make it fresh the next day. My daughter thought the crispy tofu was great
I’m making this again tonight. Loved it the first tome! Super easy and delicious. Thanks!
This was a great recipe! Loved it. Can tempeh be substituted for tofu.
Yes Leslie, I love tempeh and I’m sure it would be delicious too! 🙂
I made this recipe for dinner tonight! I did substitute mushrooms and carrots for the veggies because that’s what I had on hand. I accidentally left the water out of the sauce and it still turned out awesome! Love the tofu cooked this way it gave it more of a meat like texture. The whole family loved it!! 🙂
Flavour is amazing but I couldn’t get it to thicken up so i will try adding a bit of cornflour next time and cooking the sauce first to thicken before adding tofu!
Hi Ruth, if this happens again, try mixing a little more cornstarch with water (just a teeny bit since it can get super goopy) and adding it to the sauce. Works every time for me 🙂
Super duper fantastic off the hook recipe.. I did add onion. Terrific.