Crispy Tofu Nuggets

Crispy Tofu Nuggets

Crispy Tofu Nuggets is a fun dish to make for kids or for when you have company! They are tasty, crispy morsels to serve company over the holidays or for an amazing snack on movie night. These chewy, savoury bites are super delicious for sure.

The other cool thing about this recipe is you will learn a technique that you can use for other tofu recipes, where you want a chewy texture and great flavour. Change the spice profile and you will change the flavour.

We were heading out camping with our friends Mel and Fiel and I wanted to contribute a fun snack. Something I could make quickly and that I could get my non vegan friends to test. I love getting them to test my dishes and see what they think. I know they are always super kind and overall I think they enjoyed the crispy tofu nuggets quite a bit.

I made the nuggets ahead of time, froze them (again – you will understand soon) and then fried them in hot oil at the campsite. I made two simple sauces to dip the hot nuggets in, easy peasy. I love it when I can do most of the prep work beforehand; then the actual cooking is relatively easy to do.

The only thing I don’t like about this recipe, is cooking in oil. Its just not my thing. I plan to buy a hot air fryer soon; I bet they would be awesome and way more healthy this way.

I’m excited to make this again. I hope you love these little bites of pure plant-based snack heaven.

Please note. You will need a couple days to prep as you have to freeze the tofu and thaw a couple times.

So let’s get started right now….

Crispy Tofu Nuggets

The Crispy Tofu Nuggets take a few days to prepare, as you have to freeze and thaw the tofu a couple times before you start to create the dish. The technique that you will use to prepare the tofu, can be used with other recipes, where you want to create a chewy texture. This technique a good option, when you are cooking tofu for non tofu lovers; add in some awesome flavour and some great texture; you just might surprise them and yourself!

One block of tofu is more than enough for four people to share as an appetizer. I made two dips to go with the nuggets, a few fresh veggies (for the health element) and you are ready to go! If you prep your nuggets and freeze like I did, you will be able to put this savoury snack together pretty quickly; its perfect for those surprise opportunities to share.

What you’ll need to make your Crispy Tofu Nuggets

• 1 block medium firm tofu, organic if possible, leave in the package

  

• 1 -2 t of veggie bouillon, in one cup of warm water
• 2 c of flour
• 1 c non dairy milk, your choice, I used soy
• ½ t garlic powder
• ½ t onion powder
• 1 t paprika or smoked paprika
• ½ t sea salt and ground pepper

Tip* You could get really crazy with the spices and take this anywhere in the world you wanted to go; just change the spice profile. Next time I plan to take my nuggets to Ethiopia by using the Berbere Spice mix, I think that would be amazing.

How to make your Crispy Tofu Nuggets

When making your Crispy Tofu Nuggets, you start out by freezing and thawing the tofu (in its package) twice. This is why you need a couple days just for the initial preparation for this dish.  Ok, let’s get busy!

1. Place the package of tofu unopened into the freezer, freeze (6-8 hours)
2. When frozen, take out and thaw completely in the fridge. About ½ day to unthaw

   

   

3. Freeze again, yes you heard me right. This is how we are going to get that chewy texture in the nuggets
4. Thaw again, you can start on the counter to speed up the process, finish in the fridge for the last 3 hours (the package will be accumulating lots of liquid from the tofu from this process)
5. When thawed, press the tofu. I cover the tofu in a clean tea towel and then put a couple really heavy books/pots/pans on top. This will squeeze out any extra moisture in your tofu. Now your tofu is ready for the flavour you are going to add back in.
6. Cut the tofu into cubes about 1 x 1, just a nice one or two bite size
7. Put your veggie bouillon in the water, mix completely, add your tofu and marinate for 1 hour. The longer you marinate, the more flavour you can create. Try a different type of sauce to get interesting flavour profiles.
8. Get out three soup size bowls.

   

   

   

9. Fill one with one cup of the flour, fill the second with your non dairy milk and the third with the second cup of flour and your spices
10. Roll your tofu cubes in the plain flour and then dip into the non dairy milk and finally roll and cover with the spicy flour mixture. Shake off any excess. Try to use one hand to roll. The other hand can pick up the clean tofu and drop it in the first bowl. Place the nuggets on parchment paper.
11. This is where I froze my nuggets for later. When I was ready to cook, I thawed the nuggets and then proceeded as usual with the recipe. It worked perfectly.
12. Heat up your oil in a pan till very hot. If you drop in a bit of tofu, it should sizzle. (Or use your hot air fryer, if you have one. Follow the directions on your fryer)

    

    

    

13. Carefully drop the nuggets in the oil, turn to brown evenly. When brown, remove and place on some paper towel in a bowl to remove any extra oil.
14. At this point I made two dipping sauces. Each had a vegan mayo dip, one had Dijon mustard added and the second had sriracha sauce. Use your imagination with the dips.
15. Serve hot with dips and fresh veggies on the side. Enjoy!