This gochujang tofu is cooked in an irresistibly spicy, savoury and sweet gochujang-based sauce with mushrooms and onions. This recipe is inspired by Korean spicy pork or Jeyuk Bokkeum that’s packed with an umami and spicy sauce that’s delicious with a bowl of steamed rice.
THE INSPIRATION: KOREAN SPICY PORK OR JEYUK BOKKEUM
Jeyuk (제육) means pork and Bokkeum (볶음) means stir-fry. It’s a marinated spicy pork dish, and I love the sauce that its coated and cooked in. The sauce is gochujang based, making it rich, umami, and of course spicy. I love having dishes like this with rice where you can scoop up the green onions and the extra sauce over for a super satisfying meal. Plus, did I mention that it’s super easy to put together?
Spicy Pork is one of those Korean dishes I REALLY LOVE. There are also different versions of spicy stir-fried dishes in Korean cuisine such as Ojingeo bokkeum or Stir-Fried Spicy Squid with a really additicing sauce.
I also have a vegan korean spicy pork stir-fry recipe here.
I’m really a big spice-lover so I’d go for spicy gochujang tofu dishes like this any day.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO MAKE THIS GOCHUJANG TOFU
TOFU
- 1 lb extra firm tofu, pan fry the tofu until golden brown and crisp
You can also use packaged fried bean curd or tofu like I did for this recipe.
GOCHUJANG SAUCE
- 1-1.5 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1/4 cup room temperature water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1-2 tbsp sugar , adjust to sweetness
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, or more taste
- 1 tsp corn starch
The full recipe is also in the recipe card below ◡̈
FOR STIR-FRYING
- Neutral oil for cooking
- 5.3 oz fresh mushrooms of choice I used shimeji muhsrooms
- 2 green onions chopped & white parts separated
- 1 small white onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
COOKING THE GOCHUJANG TOFU
- Prepare the tofu: press your tofu to drain out excess water. Pan-fry the tofu over medium heat in a pan with some oil until golden brown and crisp on all sides.
- If air-frying, you can also place the tofu on your air fryer basket and spray oil on each side. Leave to air-fry for 15-20 minutes at 350F or until golden brown and crisp, flip halfway through cooking. You can also use packaged fried bean curd or tofu like I did for this recipe.
- Prepare the rest of the ingredients. For the mushrooms, you can simply break these apart or slice them.
- Mix the sauce: In a separate bowl, mix all the gochujang sauce ingredients together. Feel free to adjust the sauce to your desired taste.
- Stir-Fry: Heat a large pan or wok over medium. Add some oil. Saute the onion, white parts of the green onions until translucent and aromatic. Add in the garlic.
- Saute the mushrooms and leave to cook over medium high eat until slight browned.
- Add in the pan-fried/fried extra firm tofu with the mushrooms.
- Give the sauce another mix (to be sure the starch doesn’t stick to the bottom) and then pour over the tofu.
- Leave to simmer at medium heat until the sauce starts to boil and thicken. Mix well and taste the sauce. Season more as needed. Leave to cook for 1-2 more minutes then turn off the heat. Finish with the green onions and sesame seeds, for topping.
- Serve and enjoy hot with some rice.
OTHER TOFU RECIPES YOU MIGHT LOVE:
Check out my tips on how to store tofu!
- Cold Silken Tofu with Sweet Chili Sauce
- Baked Peanut and Lime Tofu
- Kung Pao Tofu
- Pineapple Cashew Tofu Stir-Fry
- Crispy Salt and Pepper Tofu
- Black Pepper Tofu Steaks
- Tofu “Chicken” Teriyaki
- Korean Spicy Braised Tofu
- Fried ‘Chicken’ and Gravy
- Tofu Katsu
Gochujang Tofu
This gochujang tofu is cooked in an irresistibly spicy, savoury and sweet gochujang-based sauce with mushrooms and onions. This recipe is inspired by Korean spicy pork or Jeyuk Bokkeum that’s packed with an umami and spicy sauce that’s delicious with a bowl of steamed rice.
Ingredients
Tofu
- 1 lb extra firm tofu pan fry until golden brown and crisp
Gochujang Sauce
- 1-1.5 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 1/4 cup room temperature water
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1-2 tbsp sugar , adjust to sweetness
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce , or more taste
- 1 tsp corn starch
For Stir-Frying
- Neutral oil for cooking
- 5.3 oz fresh mushrooms of choice I used shimeji muhsrooms
- 2 green onions chopped & white parts separated
- 1 small white onion sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
To Serve
- Sesame seeds
- Steamed rice
Instructions
- Prepare the tofu: press your tofu to drain out excess water. Slice the tofu into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes or any shape of your choice. Pan-fry the tofu over medium heat in a pan with some oil until golden brown and crisp on all sides.
- If air-frying, you can also place the tofu on your air fryer basket and spray oil on each side. Leave to air-fry for 15-20 minutes at 350F or until golden brown and crisp, flip halfway through cooking. You can also use packaged fried bean curd or tofu like I did for this recipe.
- Prepare the rest of the ingredients. For the mushrooms, you can simply break these apart or slice them.
- Mix the sauce: In a separate bowl, mix all the gochujang sauce ingredients together. Feel free to adjust the sauce to your desired taste.
- Stir-Fry: Heat a large pan or wok over medium. Add some oil. Saute the onion, white parts of the green onions until translucent and aromatic. Add in the garlic.
- Saute the mushrooms and leave to cook over medium high eat until slight browned.
- Add in the pan-fried/fried extra firm tofu with the mushrooms.
- Give the sauce another mix (to be sure the starch doesn’t stick to the bottom) and then pour over the tofu.
- Leave to simmer at medium heat until the sauce starts to boil and thicken. Mix well and taste the sauce. Season more as needed. Leave to cook for 1-2 more minutes then turn off the heat. Finish with the green onions and sesame seeds, for topping.
- Serve and enjoy hot with some rice.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 191kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 158mg | Potassium: 517mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 117IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 77mg | Iron: 2mg
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This Post Has 27 Comments
Hi,
Did you cut the tofu before frying or fry the whole block?
How much soy sauce? 1/2 of what… 🙂
It’s 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, or more to taste. Thanks so much for pointing that out! I overlooked it. As for the tofu, you can slice these into any shape of your choice before pan-frying so you get them crisp on all sides. Hope this helps! ◡̈
Thank you, Jeeca, for the kind update.
Will be making this for sure!
BTW, love your book so much. Have made a lot of the dishes and each has been a success.
So happy to hear this! 🥺
This is one of my favorite recipes. I make it for me and my husband a LOT. I usually make it with rice noodles but tonight I used fried rice instead and it was great. Sometimes I make it along with the scallion oil noodles. If I don’t have all of the ingredients I just tweak it a bit. If I don’t have mushrooms, I’ll use a vegetable instead like broccoli or string beans. I am obsessed with this and other gochujang recipes from your blog.
Really made me so happy reading this! Thank you so much Lisa, and really happy you like them ◡̈
We just had this dish for dinner and it was so delicious! The flavours were really well balanced and it was a pleasure to it. Thank you for the lovely recipe!
Thank you Jantje! ◡̈
First off, thank you for all your kind assistance with my questions. 🙂
This dish is amazingly good!
Since it appears I can’t read recipes… ended up marinating the tofu in the sauce… Not a bad thing as it turns out since we ended up baking instead of frying.
Towards the end there was still enough sauce that in went some par cooked broccoli.
Truly outstanding.
Marinating the tofu is actually a great idea! So it’s like a great accidental discovery haha. It gets more flavours in since tofu are like sponges. And glad you liked it! ◡̈
I’m too shy to post what I made on instagram and tag you hehe but tried the recipe and it was sooo good. Been really into tofu dishes lately. I will try making your other dishes soon. 😋
Aww thank you Grace for coming on here to leave this comment! Super appreciate it 🥺
So yummy! I love all of your recipes I’ve tried to far 😋
Thank you Marla! ◡̈
Will be making this later! Super excited about this recipe since I’ve cooked every tofu recipe you have. My partner and I are on the verge of eating tofu everyday for the rest of our lives, LOL. Please continue producing more recipes! Love it!
I love tofu too so I’m definitely going to continue sharing more recipes, especially with tofu! Hehe thanks so much Ice!
I made this with puffed tofu (cause that’s what i like hehe esp for a sauce-y recipe like this!) and brought it to work as bento! So so good. But i replaced gochujang with ssamjang cause that’s what i had opened (and am reluctant to open a new gochujang container when google told me ssamjang works too!) and it does! Sorry for the rambling but its so gooood!
Ssamjang works great too but has a deeper flavour so might be a bit too salty if used in big quantities. Glad you liked it and thanks so much! ◡̈
I messed up a little and this dish was still so ridiculously delicious!
I forgot to get sesame seed oil, I only had Vadalia onion, I had to use
Flour instead of cornstarch and the biggest mess-up, I didn’t even
Use Gochujang – it was $10 and I was too cheap to get it. Instead I
Subbed with 2T. Sambal Oelek and 1T. Chili garlic sauce.
It was so good that I’m making it again in a few days. However, this time
I’ll use the proper ingredients – even the Gochujang – my daughter said
That stuff is sooo good.
Thank you, Jeeca – this is the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time. Can’t
Wait to try your other recipes. I think I’ll go with the ‘Silken Tofu with Black
Bean Mushroom Sauce’. BTW, no one in my family is vegan or vegetarian and
They gobbled it up!!! 😋💕
Thank you for the recipe; this looks interesting! But I’m wondering if you saute the mushrooms separately (in a separate pan) and then add them to the already-sauteed onions, or do you saute the mushrooms in the same pan as the onions? I think your instructions can be read both ways (but maybe it’s just me…).
Hi Oliver! I sautéed everything in one pan. So the mushrooms went in after the onions. ◡̈
Hey, Jeeca! Planning to try out this recipe soon. I am thinking of using some dried white shitake mushrooms. What do you think about replacing the water in the sauce recipe with some quantity of mushroom stock?
That should be great too! Will be even more flavourful w the mushroom stock instead of water! You can just lessen soy sauce first (half of the amount maybe) in case your stock is seasoned. Just so it won’t be too salty. then you can adjust from there. ◡̈ hope this helps!
I have made this a bunch of times and it’s been a total hit with my family! I usually use hydrated shitake mushrooms and use its stock to add even more umami.
Thanks Kara, that’s a great idea using mushroom stock to the sauce 😋
Pretty solid recipe. A little sweet for my particular tastes, but I would make again. Followed the recipe, except I used 1 full T of soy sauce and pinch of MSG.
Thanks for giving it a try RS! You can lessen the sweetener next time and adjust to your taste! ◡̈