This Vegan Thai Basil Tofu Stir Fry with Green Beans recipe is deliciously savoury, sweet, spicy, and aromatic from the fresh basil leaves. You’ll want to enjoy this with a bowl of steamed rice for a perfectly satisfying meal.
THE INSPIRATION: THAI BASIL STIR FRY (PAD KRAPOW) AND CHINESE GREEN BEANS WITH MINCED PORK
This recipe is a fusion of my love for Pad Krapow or Spicy Thai Basil Chicken and Chinese Szechuan Green Beans with Minced Pork. Instead of the usual meat used for these recipes, I use extra firm tofu that I crumbled and cooked down to mimic ground meat.
THIS THAI BASIL TOFU STIR-FRY IS:
- Super easy to make
- Packed with protein and all the delicious flavours of Pad Krapow
- Tasty and perfect for a really satisfying meal
- Great for batch cooking and meal preparation
- Ready in 35 minutes or less
THE PROTEIN: TOFU
Instead of the usual meat used for this Thai Basil Tofu Stir Fry recipe, I use extra firm tofu that I crumbled and cooked down to mimic ground meat.
You can also use other plant-based ground alternatives.
The tofu is cooked along with some sliced chiles, ginger, onion, garlic, and of course some fresh Thai basil leaves. For the green beans, I dry fried these on a very hot skillet to get these to lightly char and brown o the outside.
The tofu is seasoned with a mix of sugar, soy sauces, and vegetarian oyster sauce for a blend of sweet and savoury to go with the spice. The seasoning is also easily adjustable—feel free to add more or less of the sugar and soy sauces to adjust to your taste.
This dish is deliciously savoury and aromatic from the fresh basil leaves. You’ll want to enjoy this with a bowl of steamed rice for a perfectly satisfying meal. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS FOR THIS BASIL STIR-FRY
FRESH BASIL LEAVES
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THAI BASIL AND HOLY BASIL LEAVES?
The difference is in flavour where Thai Basil has has sweet notes while Holy Basil leaves have pepper, somewhat spicy flavours.
WHICH SHOULD I USE FOR THIS RECIPE?
You can use with Thai or Holy Basil leaves depending on what you have access to, or even use a mix of both!
You can also check out my other vegan tofu recipes here or down below:
Check out my tips on how to store tofu!
- Baked Peanut and Lime Tofu
- Pineapple Cashew Tofu Stir-Fry
- Crispy Salt and Pepper Tofu
- Black Pepper Tofu Steaks
- Tofu “Chicken” Teriyaki
- Korean Spicy Braised Tofu
PREPARING AND COOKING THE TOFU
- Press tofu for at least 10 minutes to drain excess liquid. I like to wrap my tofu in a towel and place a weighted surface on top.
- Afterwards, place the tofu in a bowl and crumble the tofu with your hands or a fork.
- Chop off the ends of the green beans. Slice into 1/2-inch pieces.
- Heat a large skillet or cast iron pan or wok to medium high heat. Once hot, add in the oil.
- Increase to high heat and then add in the green beans. Leave untouched for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned on one side.
- Move the beans around and repeat this step until the beans are slightly charred, around 8 minutes in total. Remove the beans from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan or wok over medium heat, add in the oil. Once hot, sauté the onion until translucent, 2 minutes. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilies, and bell pepper.
- Sauté for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until bell pepper is cooked through. Move the onions and bell peppers to the side of the pan then add in the mashed tofu.
- Add the sugar, soy sauces, vegetarian oyster sauce (if using), and white pepper.
- Mix the tofu to coat in the sauces.
- Turn up the heat to medium high and and leave to cook over medium high heat, mixing around every 2 minutes until the tofu dries up. Mix everything (the tofu and bell pepper/onion mix) and then leave the tofu to cook for a bit longer until it resembles minced meat and is lightly brown, around 10 minutes in total.
- Add in the Thai basil leaves into the tofu. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes over medium high heat until the basil leaves have wilted. Add back in the green beans.
- Season with a pinch of salt and more soy sauce, if needed.
What to serve your thai basil tofu stir-fry with?
I personally love this with steamed rice for a really hearty meal! But this is delicious with noodles, too.
Check out my other vegan tofu recipes here or down below:
Check out my tips on how to store tofu!
- Baked Peanut and Lime 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
If you try out this thai basil tofu with green beans recipe, I’d appreciate if you leave a rating or simply click on the stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on my recipe card!
Vegan Thai Basil Tofu with Green Beans (Pad Krapow-Inspired)
Ingredients
Tofu and Green Beans
- 14 oz extra firm tofu
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 5.2 oz green beans (see notes)
Stir-Fry
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 thin slice ginger minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 green chili sliced (add more for extra heat)
- 2-3 bird's eye chiles or Thai Chiles
- 1/2 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 small red bell pepper diced
- 1-2 tbsp brown sugar adjust to taste
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or to taste
- 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce or sub more soy sauce
- 1.5 tsp dark soy sauce
- Dash white pepper
- 1/2 cup packed Thai or Holy Basil leaves
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- You can watch the video below or see the step-by-step images above to see how to make this recipe.
- Press tofu for at least 10 minutes to drain excess liquid. I like to wrap my tofu in a towel and place a weighted surface on top. Afterwards, place the tofu in a bowl and crumble the tofu with your hands or a fork.
- Chop off the ends of the green beans. Slice into 1/2-inch pieces.
- Heat a large skillet or cast iron pan or wok to medium high heat. Once hot, add in the oil.
- Increase to high heat and then add in the green beans. Leave untouched for 2 to 3 minutes or until browned on one side. Move the beans around and repeat this step until the beans are slightly charred, around 8 minutes in total. Remove the beans from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan or wok over medium heat, add in the oil. Once hot, sauté the onion until translucent, 2 minutes. Add in the garlic, ginger, chilies, and bell pepper. Sauté for 3-4 minutes over medium heat until bell pepper is cooked through. Move the onions and bell peppers to the side of the pan.
- Add in the mashed tofu. Add the sugar, soy sauces, vegetarian oyster sauce (if using), and white pepper. Mix the tofu to coat in the sauces.
- Turn up the heat to medium high and and leave to cook over medium high heat, mixing around every 2 minutes until the tofu dries up. Mix everything (the tofu and bell pepper/onion mix) and then leave the tofu to cook for a bit longer until it resembles minced meat and is lightly brown, around 10 minutes in total.
- Add in the Thai basil leaves. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes over medium high heat until the basil leaves have wilted. Add back in the green beans.
- Season with a pinch of salt and more soy sauce, if needed. Turn off the heat and serve over steamed rice. Enjoy!
WATCH Video
Notes
GREEN BEANS
- You can also make this with just tofu and peppers, and skip the green beans. The green beans add a nice pop of colour and texture though!
NUTRITIONAL INFO
You can pin these images:
This Post Has 16 Comments
Cooked it tonight and my family loves it . So tasty and easy to make . Thanks for the recipe ???
Yay thanks as well veronica 🙂
Made this tonight, such a good recipe!
Thank you Morgan! Happy you liked it:)
Thanks for the recipe! I love it. Made this today for lunch. I used sitaw cos it’s the only one i had and I went easy on the sugar.
Thanks Clare!◡̈
Bell pepper not in ingredients list, but appears everywhere else. How much?
Oh apologies for that, let me edit it. I used 1 small red bell pepper. ◡̈
I made this today. It is super yum!!! 👌💯
Yay thank you Rina! ◡̈
Outstanding quick to make
Thank you Anil! ◡̈
Can I use regular basil? I cannot find Thai basil in my small town
Yup you can use other basil like sweet basil. Do note it slightly alters taste, but still good 😉
Made this today and everyone enjoyed it! Didn’t have tofu but I did have some left over tempeh that I crumbled and mixed with textured veggie protein (something I’ve never used before but wanted to try as it looked like it would be like ground meat). Turned out fantastic!! Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe!
Tempeh and veg crumble are both an amazing sub! I can imagine how much ‘meatier’ this dish turned out. An so happy you all enjoyed it ◡̈ thanks so much!