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Really fragrant and aromatic, this Vegan Ginger Sesame Tofu recipe with green beans is perfect over some steamed rice. You can also opt to use other veggies of your choice to mix with the tofu!
I love tofu and this is one of my favourite ways to cook them.
I pan-fry them to a crisp first before mixing them in a thick sauce. They’re really satisfying and I love having them for a quick and easy meal.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR EXTRA FIRM TOFU
You can simply wrap your block/s of tofu in a towel and place a weighted surface on top.
You can also use a tofu press if you have one. This is to help drain out some of the moisture. You can leave the tofu to press for 5-10 minutes.
THE SAUCE
For this sauce, I simply mixed the following:
- oom temp water
- soy sauce
- sugar
- maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
- sesame oil
- sesame seeds
- corn starch
- Pinch white pepper
- Shaoxing wine or other rice wine, optional
You can of course adjust the measurements to your liking and desired sweetness.
You can check out my recipe video below including 3 saucy tofu recipes below (including this ginger sesame tofu) for more saucy tofu goodness!
Check out the recipe for this ginger sesame tofu below!
LOOKING FOR MORE TOFU RECIPES?
Check out my other vegan tofu recipes here or down below:
Check out my tips on how to store tofu!
- Black Pepper Tofu Steaks
- Tofu “Chicken” Teriyaki
- Korean Spicy Braised Tofu
- Fried ‘Chicken’ and Gravy
- Tofu Katsu
- Nori-Wrapped Tofu in Spicy Sauce
- Maple Hoisin Tofu
- Orange Tofu
- Pan-Fried Tofu Cakes
- Tofu ‘McNuggets’
Ginger Sesame Tofu with Green Beans
Ingredients
Tofu
- 1 lb extra firm tofu
For tofu coating
- 2-3 tbsp corn starch , add more if needed to coat
- 1/2 tsp salt
Stir-Fry
- Sesame oil or other oil, for cooking
- 1 small onion sliced
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1/2 red bell pepper feel free to use other veggies of choice
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- Water to cook down beans
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chili sauce optional for spice
Sauce
- 1/2 cup room temp water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup or other liquid sweetener
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine or other rice wine, optional
- Pinch white pepper
To Serve
- Chopped scallions for topping
- Steamed rice
Instructions
- You can watch the video below for a complete step-by-step.
- Dry the tofu and cut into cubes. I wrap the tofu in towels and place a plate on top of it until excess liquid is absorbed by the towels. You can also opt to use a tofu press.
- In a shallow plate or bowl, mix the cornstarch and salt. Coat the tofu well in the mix.
- In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the sauce. Feel free to adjust depending on your desited taste. Set aside.
- In a pan, heat around 2 tbsp of oil and then fry the tofu cubes until crisp and golden. You will need to turn around the tofu cubes to evenly crisp them.
- Take out the tofu and set aside.
- In the same pan add more sesame oil, sauté the onion, ginger, and bell peppers over medium high heat until tender and aromatic.
- Afterwards, add in green beans and cook over medium high heat. Add some water to cook down the beans. Cook for a few minutes until tender and cooked to your liking,
- Mix the sauce again to make sure the cornstarch hasn’t stuck to the bottom. Add in the sauce. Leave to simmer over medium heat while mixing. The sauce will slowly thicken from the corn starch.
- Add in the tofu and coat in the sauce. Leave to cook for 2-3 minutes until the tofu is well coated.
- Taste the tofu and feel free to season with more salt and pepper, to taste. You can also add in some chili sauce, if you'd like.
- Serve the tofu with a bowl of rice and garnish with some scallions, if desired. enjoy while hot!
This Post Has 21 Comments
This was super yummy! Made great leftovers too. My boyfriend said it was killer!
Glad you liked it!! ❤️thank you Madison!
I watched your video and you put the ginger in after the vegetables got cooked. Maybe the ginger got too cooked and turned bitter? Also, I used yellow onion…should I use red onion like your video? I also put rice vinegar in the sauce…should I not do that. The food was bitter or sour. Please let me know. Thanks.
Hi Tina! The sourness may be coming from the vinegar. My recipe doesn’t state rice vinegar so this will of course make the sauce sour. I’d recommend not adding any vinegar or just adding a very small amount if you want a bit of acidity. As for the bitterness, I’m not sure where this is coming from. Possibly if you burnt some f the vegetables?
And the onion shouldn’t matter. Any type of onion, whether red or yellow is okay.
Hope this helps!
I watched your video and you put the ginger in after the vegetables got cooked. Maybe the ginger got too cooked and turned bitter? Also, I used yellow onion…should I use red onion like your video? I also put rice vinegar in the sauce…should I not do that. The food was bitter or sour. Please let me know. Thanks.
I wanted to take a picture of the finished product but by the time I took off my apron to join the rest of the family, the dish was almost completely gone. My three children and husband kept saying how good it was. Instead of all the other veggies, I just broke down two stalks of broccoli, steamed the florets, and followed the rest of the recipe by doubling the sauce and tofu amount.
So so happy to hear this! Thanks so much Amy ◡̈
I tried this recipe. It turned out really good. So yum and a great way to include tofu in the diet.
Thanks mandy, hope you enjoyed it ◡̈
Do you know the calorie intake for 1 serving?
Hi! Unfortunately I don’t have caloric info for my recipes. Using some apps might help since all my recipes have measurements listed for them. 🙂
I’ve been looking for tofu recipes, since i want to lessen my calorie intake. I’m so so glad i came across your videos on instagram and facebook reels. I tried this out and it’s really good 🙂 I’m excited to try the other tofu recipes. Thank you for this!
Thank you so much Ja! Hope you enjoy my other tofu recipes ◡̈
Enjoyed the recipe and made only one sub, using asparagus ISO green beans. I also used two Tbsp of maple syrup and skipped the sugar. My wife loved it so will make it again.
Thanks ~ Keith
Thanks so much Keith! Hope your wife enjoyed it too ◡̈
This was amazing! My entire family loved it! I added some chilli sauce that really gave it a good kick.
Thanks Ayush! Glad you all enjoyed it ◡̈
Hiya! Do you know if the sauces for this and the orange tofu and sweet/sour tofu are freezer friendly? It would be so useful to make big batches of them to grab and go on busy work nights! Thanks for the recipes 🙂
Hi Elijah! I haven’t tried freezing the sauces but I’ve tried refrigerating them. It’s best to do so before cooking down the starch cause it does thicken upon cooking. So you can refrigerate (or possibly freeze) the uncooked sauces and just reheat these in a pan when ready to enjoy, allow to thicken, then add in the tofu. Hope this helps and let me know if you try it out! ◡̈
A bit too sweet for me. I would definitely cut down the sugar but otherwise nice flavour. Thanks
Thanks for the feedback Donna! ◡̈