The most delicious vegan tofu burger you’ve ever tasted. Baked and marinated to perfection, topped with the richest creamiest mushroom sauce that will make your taste buds sing!
Burger fan? Me too! Have you ever seen anything more yummy looking than this here tofu burger? Oh Em Gee!
It tastes as good as it looks.
This is a vegan burger that even carnivores can love. The tofu burgers are baked, marinated (in a glorious marinade sauce) and then fried before being served fully loaded in a hamburger bun topped with the most decadently creamy mushroom sauce your tastebuds have ever encountered.
Want heaven in a bun? This is it.
And if you love a good burger, then check out our vegan burgers, vegan black bean burgers, chickpea burgers and portobello burgers too.
Ingredients You’ll Need For The Tofu Burgers:
Ingredient Notes
- Peanut butter – is mixed with the soy sauce, maple syrup and garlic powder for the marinade sauce. You could use different nut butters for slightly different flavorings.
- Firm tofu – or extra firm tofu are both great for this recipe.
- Hamburger buns – are entirely optional, as is the lettuce, tomato and dill pickles, which are all optional, but recommended for loading up your burgers!
Ingredients For The (Optional) Mushroom Sauce:
Mushroom Sauce Ingredient Notes
- Cremini mushrooms – these are also known as baby bella or portobellini mushrooms. They are great for flavor, but white button mushrooms also work great in this sauce.
- Coconut cream – should be canned and unsweetened. You can also use canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk.
- Cornstarch – this is mixed with a little coconut cream (or water) to make a slurry and thicken the sauce. If you don’t want a thicker sauce you can omit this.
How To Make Tofu Burgers
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.
- First up, press the tofu. Put the tofu on to press for 20 minutes. Either use a tofu press or place the tofu on a plate with another plate on top of it and then place something heavy on top like a heavy pot.
Top Tip: We highly recommend a tofu press. It makes pressing your tofu SO easy.
- When the tofu is pressed, cut the tofu into 4 square burgers.
- Place the tofu evenly on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes, turning the burgers over at the halfway mark.
- Mix up the marinade sauce by adding soy sauce, maple syrup, peanut butter and garlic powder to a bowl and whisking together.
- When the burgers have finished baking, brush marinade sauce generously onto both sides of the burgers and leave them to marinate for 5 minutes.
- Heat up a pan with a little oil and when hot, add the tofu burgers to the pan and fry on each side until golden.
- Brush on more marinade sauce while the tofu is frying.
- The tofu burgers are ready to serve!
How To Make Creamy Mushroom Sauce
- Add sliced mushrooms and soy sauce to a skillet, cover with a lid and turn the heat to medium high.
- When the mushrooms have released their water and are bubbling away remove the lid and let the excess water cook off.
- When the water is mostly evaporated, pour in the coconut cream and bring to a simmer.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch with a little coconut cream or water until smooth.
- Pour it into the sauce and mix it in. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- The sauce is ready to serve!
Recipe Tips
- Bake, marinate and then fry the tofu. Doing it in this order creates a very chewy and almost ‘meaty’ texture to these burgers. It is very satisfying and super tasty.
- Mushroom sauce. The mushroom sauce is entirely optional but it’s just so good. It complements these tofu burgers perfectly. It’s also wonderful on a vegan steak.
- Want some fries with that? Our baked potato fries will go perfectly.
Recipe FAQ
You can prepare the tofu burgers up to the point of marinating them and then instead of frying them in the frying pan you can put them on the grill instead. Don’t forget to brush on some more marinade sauce.
You can store leftover tofu burgers (tofu only) for 3-4 days in the fridge. Store any leftover marinade sauce separately. When you’re ready you can reheat the tofu in the frying pan, brush on more marinade sauce and then assemble your burger. The mushroom sauce will also keep for 3-4 days in the fridge in a covered container.
Tofu freezes very well. So feel free to freeze leftovers too. Thaw in the fridge and reheat when you’re ready for it.
More Tofu Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Tofu Burger
Ingredients
For the Tofu:
- 16 ounces Firm Tofu (450g)
For the Marinade Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
For the Mushroom Sauce:
- 5 cups Cremini Mushrooms (480g)
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1 cup Canned Coconut Cream (240ml) Unsweetened
- 1 tsp Cornstarch
For Serving:
- 4 Hamburger Buns
- Lettuce
- Tomato
- Pickles
Instructions
- Put the tofu on to press for 20 minutes. Either use a tofu press or place the tofu on a plate with another plate on top of it and then place something heavy on top like a heavy pot.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- When pressed, cut the tofu into four square burgers.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the tofu burgers evenly on the parchment paper and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turning the tofu over after 15 minutes.
- Mix up the marinade sauce by adding soy sauce, maple syrup, peanut butter and garlic powder to a bowl and whisking together.
- When the burgers have finished baking, brush marinade sauce generously onto both sides of the burgers and leave them to marinate for 5 minutes.
- Heat up a pan with a little oil and when hot, add the tofu burgers to the pan and fry on each side until golden.
- Brush on more marinade sauce while the tofu is frying. The tofu burgers are ready to serve.
- Mushroom sauce: Add sliced mushrooms and soy sauce to a skillet, cover with a lid and turn the heat to medium high.
- When the mushrooms have released their water and are bubbling away remove the lid and let the excess water cook off.
- When the water is mostly evaporated, pour in the coconut cream and bring to a simmer.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch with a little coconut cream or water until smooth.
- Pour it into the sauce and mix it in. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
- Prepare your hamburger buns, adding lettuce, sliced tomato and pickles.
- Add the tofu burger, top it with mushroom sauce and serve.
Notes
- Tofu – we used two 8 ounce blocks of tofu and cut each block in half. It must be firm or extra firm tofu.
- Cremini mushrooms – these are also known as baby bella or portobellini mushrooms. They are great for flavor, but white button mushrooms also work great in this sauce.
- Coconut cream – should be canned and unsweetened. You can also use canned, full fat, unsweetened coconut milk.
- Cornstarch – if you don’t want to thicken your sauce you can omit this.
- For the grill: You can prepare the tofu burgers up to the point of marinating them and then instead of frying them in the frying pan you can put them on the grill instead. Don’t forget to brush on some more marinade sauce.
- Storing: You can store leftover tofu burgers (tofu only) for 3-4 days in the fridge. Store any leftover marinade sauce separately. When you’re ready you can reheat the tofu in the frying pan and brush on more marinade sauce and then assemble your burger. The mushroom sauce will also keep for 3-4 days in the fridge in a covered container.
- Freezing: Tofu freezes very well. So feel free to freeze leftovers too. Thaw in the fridge and reheat when you’re ready for it.
- This recipe was first published in November 2015. We have updated it with new photos and a slightly updated recipe.
Love the way you did the tofu in this recipe Alison. Thanks a lot for the ideas!!
So anxious to make this. Could they be baked instead of fried ?
If so, how long, And what temp ?
Love your recipes . Thank you
Hi Sue, these burgers are already baked first and then fried. The frying doesn’t even need to use oil if you prefer not to, the baking is the main cooking method here. The frying just crisps them up and browns them with the marinade sauce which is really delicious.
All I can say is absolutely delicious.
Thanks Kieran!
Hello, is there something I could use other than the peanut butter in the marinade? Sunbutter, maybe? Thanks!
Hi Jennifer, I’m sure sunbutter would be great! 🙂
These burgers are sooo good! The sauce is so amazing, I’m definitely going to be using it for all kinds of things from now on!
I know right? I love this sauce, I just used it again for a recipe posting soon! It’s very versatile. Thanks for posting! 🙂
Looks amazing!
Thanks Kim, it’s super delicious! 🙂
This looks great! I’ll definitely give it a go. Sorry to ask a silly question, but when it says about ‘browning’ the tofu on both sides – what does this mean? Back in the oven? Under the grill? In a saucepan?
Hi Rosie, I mean frying it in the pan, in the marinade sauce. 🙂 So basically it sits in the marinade sauce and then when you’re ready you put it into a frying pan, with the marinade sauce on it, and just fry it so that it browns like you see in the pics. Hope this clarifies! I’ll update the recipe as well for the sake of clarity. All the best! 🙂
Great idea, using whole tofu as a burger patty, as I always find other patties made from beans and veggies too mushy. And that mushroom sauce is delish, I almost ate all of it before putting it on the burger! This is my favourite vegan burger (so far…)
So good to hear Marida. Same here with the mushroom sauce, it’s like major willpower to put it on the burgers and not just eat it all straight out the pan! It’s SOOO good.