This crispy oven-baked BBQ tofu is seriously addictive! It’s also a super easy recipe that can be served as an appetizer or side dish, and even makes a perfect main course.
This BBQ tofu is crispy and delicious and smothered in vegan BBQ sauce.
It makes a wonderful appetizer (perfect for game night), but you can also serve it as a main course alongside other vegan sides like vegan mashed potatoes or vegan fried rice.
And if you love this recipe you’ll also LOVE our BBQ Cauliflower Wings – made the same way, but with cauliflower. Our BBQ jackfruit pulled pork is also divine!
Ingredients You’ll Need For This Recipe:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan BBQ Sauce – you can use your favorite store-bought vegan BBQ sauce or make your own with our recipe for homemade vegan BBQ sauce.
- Soy milk – works great for this as it’s nice and creamy. You could replace this with a different non-dairy milk but make sure it’s a creamy option, cashew milk and oat milk should both work well.
- Firm tofu – or extra firm tofu are ideal for this recipe.
- Panko breadcrumbs – work best for crispiness. You can use different breadcrumbs but they don’t tend to crisp up quite as well as Panko in this recipe.
How To Make Crispy BBQ Tofu
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. It’s ideal if you use a tofu press, but if you don’t have a tofu press then place the tofu on a plate, with another plate on top of it and then put something heavy on top of that, like a heavy pot.
- When the tofu is pressed, cut it into triangles. You can also cut it into rectangles or cubes.
- In a large mixing bowl, add soy milk, all purpose flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and whisk into a batter.
- In a second bowl, add panko breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and mix together.
- Add the tofu triangles to the batter in the large bowl and toss the tofu in the batter so that every piece is coated.
- Transfer the tofu triangles in batches to the breadcrumbs bowl and gently toss them in the breadcrumbs so that they are coated on all sides.
- Place the tofu onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
- Remove the tofu from the oven and add to a bowl with vegan BBQ sauce. Toss the tofu gently in the sauce so that all the pieces are coated.
- Place the tofu back onto the parchment lined baking sheet and place it back into the oven to bake for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and brush with more BBQ sauce before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Serve your BBQ tofu with lots of extra vegan BBQ sauce on the side for dipping. This tofu is also divine dipped in vegan ranch dressing or vegan mayo.
Or serve it as a main course alongside vegan mashed potatoes or vegan scalloped potatoes or vegan cauliflower cheese.
Can You Make This Gluten-Free?
You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend instead of regular flour, and gluten-free breadcrumbs. It might not be quite as crispy though since Panko breadcrumbs seem to work best for crispiness in this recipe.
Storing Tips
This BBQ tofu is best when hot and crispy right out of the oven. However, leftover tofu can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Even after it sits in the fridge, this BBQ tofu is still delicious! It might not stay crispy like when you first make it but reheating makes all of its great flavors come alive. To reheat, simply pop any leftovers into a microwave or an oven preheated to 350°F and warm until heated through and ready to eat.
More Delicious Tofu Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
BBQ Tofu
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Firm Tofu (450g)
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml)
- ¾ cup All Purpose Flour (93g)
- 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 cup Vegan BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Press the tofu for 30 minutes. It's ideal if you use a tofu press, but if you don't have a tofu press then place the tofu on a plate, with another plate on top of it and then put something heavy on top of that, like a heavy pot.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
- When the tofu is pressed, cut it into triangles. You can also cut it into rectangles or cubes.
- In a large mixing bowl, add soy milk, all purpose flour, cornstarch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper and whisk into a batter.
- In a second bowl, add panko breadcrumbs, salt and pepper and mix together.
- Add the tofu triangles to the batter in the large bowl and toss the tofu in the batter so that every piece is coated.
- Transfer the tofu triangles in batches to the breadcrumbs bowl and gently toss them in the breadcrumbs so that they are coated on all sides.
- Place the tofu onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove it from the oven and add to a bowl with the BBQ sauce. Toss the tofu gently in the sauce so that all the pieces are coated.
- Place the tofu back onto the parchment lined baking sheet and place it back into the oven to bake for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and brush with more BBQ sauce before serving.
Notes
- Soy milk – works great for this as it’s nice and creamy. You could replace this with a different non-dairy milk but make sure it’s a creamy option, cashew milk and oat milk should both work well.
- Panko breadcrumbs – work best for crispiness. You can use different breadcrumbs but they don’t tend to crisp up quite as well as Panko in this recipe.
- Vegan BBQ Sauce – you can use your favorite store-bought vegan BBQ sauce or make your own with our recipe for homemade vegan BBQ sauce.
- Gluten-Free: You can use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend instead of regular flour and gluten-free breadcrumbs. It might not be quite as crispy though since Panko breadcrumbs seem to work best for crispiness in this recipe.
- Storing: This BBQ tofu is best when hot and crispy right out of the oven. However, leftover tofu can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Love this recipe, if you have a craving for BBQ this will definitely take care of it. The breadcrumbs stick to the tofu and gets nice and crispy. I have made this recipe twice and both times came out perfect. Thank you Alison I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Awesome Darlene! Thank you for your lovely review!
Yum!!!! Love the crunch and texture – will definitely make this again! Thanks!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Sandra! Thanks so much for your amazing review!
Omg these are amazing!!!! It definitely took me all night to do these though. I chopped them up tiny so I would have more surface area covered for flavour. Hot sauce used was 1/3 honey 1/3 coconut oil 1/3 sirracha. Amazing!
So happy you enjoyed it Charlene!
Hey can this work with extra firm tofu?
Yes definitely.
This is a definite hit! Not quite as crispy with gluten free bread crumbs,but excellent anyway
So glad it came out well Anna!