This quick and easy Sesame Soy Tofu Stir Fry is loaded with fresh and colorful vegetables and plant-based protein.
Tofu Stir Fry
This simple Tofu Veggie Stir Fry turned out so good! I love finding new ways to incorporate more tofu in my life, which is basically a blank sponge that soaks up anything you season it with. The stir fry sauce has just three ingredients: soy sauce, broth, and a little honey. Combine that with garlic and ginger, and you can’t go wrong! If you want more more tofu recipes try my Spicy Sriracha Tofu Rice Bowls and Kung Pao Tofu.
Do you have to press tofu?
Yes, you should definitely press the tofu for a stir fry. You want to get out all the liquid so that the tofu will get nice and crispy. Also, make sure to use extra firm tofu for the crispiest results.
How To Press Tofu
Drain tofu then lay on a tea towel or paper towels. Place another towel on top and lightly press to remove most of the water from the tofu.
How to Make a Tofu Stir Fry
This healthy tofu stir fry has all the makings for a fast and easy vegetarian dinner. You can make the sauce and prep the vegetables and tofu ahead of time so that when it’s dinner time, you can quickly get a meal on the table.
- Combine the soy sauce, vegetable broth, and honey to make the sauce.
- Cut the tofu into half-inch cubes and then put them in a large bowl. Season with soy sauce and then coat in cornstarch
- Cook the tofu for a few minutes without moving it in a nonstick skillet or wok and then repeat on the other sides.
- Remove the tofu from the skillet and then cook your veggies until they are soft.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Put the tofu and sauce in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
Variations:
- You can use any vegetables you like. I used broccolini and bell pepper, but broccoli, carrots, or snap peas would also work.
- Rather use meat? Swap the tofu for shrimp or diced chicken.
- Make the stir fry vegan by swapping the honey for maple or brown sugar.
- Make a spicy tofu stir fry by adding sriracha to the sauce.
- Serve the stir fry by itself or with rice or soba noodles, or if you want to keep it low-carb, use cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.
More Stir Fry Recipes You’ll Love:
- Hearts of Palm Noodle Peanut Stir Fry
- Beef Negimaki Stir Fry
- Soba Noodle Veggie Stir Fry
- Chicken Zucchini Stir Fry
- Chicken and Asparagus Lemon Stir Fry
Tofu Stir Fry
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce, or gluten-free soy sauce
- 1/4 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon honey, or brown sugar for vegan
Stir Fry
- 16 ounces super firm tofu, drained, pressed
- 1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce, or gluten-free soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- 1 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/2 inch
- 1 small bunch of broccolini, chopped 1-inch
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine soy sauce, vegetable broth and honey. Set aside.
- Once the tofu has drained, slice in half then into 1/2 inch cubes and place into a large bowl and season with 1 tablespoon soy sauce.
- Sprinkle cornstarch on top and gently toss with your hands to ensure all tofu pieces are covered.
- In a large nonstick skillet or wok, add 1 tablespoon oil and heat to medium-high.
- Add the tofu and let it get crispy without touching it or flipping for 3-4 minutes, then repeat on all sides.
- Remove tofu and set aside.
- To the skillet at medium heat, add sesame oil, red peppers, broccolini and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ginger and cook 30 to 60 seconds.
- Add the tofu and sauce, toss and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened and the tofu is heated through.
- Top with sesame seeds.
Last Step:
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Notes
Variations:
- You can use any vegetables you like. I used broccolini and bell pepper, but broccoli, carrots, or snap peas would also work.
- Make the stir fry vegan by swapping the honey for maple or brown sugar.
- Make a spicy tofu stir fry by adding sriracha to the sauce.
- Serve the stir fry by itself or with rice or soba noodles, or if you want to keep it low-carb, use cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.
First time making tofu ever. I didn’t have a tea cloth so must have used 1000 paper towels to dry it out. Time consuming (to me anyway) between drying out the tofu and crisping it on all sides. But it was goood and I will definitely make again.
This tofu stir fry is delicious and easy to make. The ginger and garlic flavors complement the honey and low sodium soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds complete the recipe.
This recipe is packed with flavor and I like that you can play with the recipe by adding what ever veggies you have. I used red and yellow peppers and green beans over Jasmine rice.
I subbed fresh mushrooms for the broccolini and added water chestnuts. I really liked it. My non-tofu fans ate it but it didn’t change their minds on tofu.
First time making a tofu dish. This was fabulous!
Loved! Loved! Loved this recipe!!! It was easy to prepare and was very tasty. Thank you
So glad I found this recipe. So yummy!!
Loved it! Served it over thin spaghetti with a touch of sesame oil
The BEST tofu recipe ever! And I’ve been eating tofu for over 50 years! Plus it was a big hit with my meat-eater husband! The cornstarch makes all the difference, so don’t omit that and the easy sauce is just the right amount. I’ve substituted lots of different vegetables, whatever I have, It’s all delicious!!!!
So happy to hear!!
Excellent recipe. I used Roasted Sesame oil for dressing added Lime juice ,honey, salt , pepper and red chilly flakes . No broth. Also for sauté veggies, I used Broccoli, Romaine lettuce, Red Capsicum. Added Ginger and Jalapenos on top and garnished with pumpkin seeds, sunflowers seeds and raisins.
For Tofu : I marinated them in Coconut Amino instead of Soy Sauce with the gentle sprinkle on the tofu, due to which the tofu were very crisp (Though I let my tofu hard pressed for 2 hours). Amazing taste overall and very healthy as Soy Sauce got lot of sodium. Much recommended!
Fantastic. The tofu is so crispy and crunchy in this recipe. The recipe lends itself to a person’s favorite combination of vegetables. How can we miss when something is low calorie yet tasty?
This was so satisfying! I added water chestnuts for a little extra texture, but otherwise followed the recipe to a tee. Worked great for meal prep and will definitely be making again.
Really good and came together quickly. I like all the textures. I served it with rice ramen noodles.
Easy to make and delicious! Reduced oil by using a spray when cooking the tofu and used a few tablespoons of water instead of the neutral oil. Kept the sesame oil for flavor though. Turned out great!
This is delicious.
Hello, we’ve made this recipe several times and we love it. I often use bok chop or mushrooms instead or in addition to red pepper or broccoli.
We’re not sure how to literally cook the tofu on all six sides of each tofu square, and maybe you didn’t mean that when you wrote to cook the tofu on all sides. We just do our best without overcooking the tofu.
Thanks for the recipe.
Very flavorful. The tofu is fabulous. We used defrosted frozen oriental vegetables, dried and then stir fried. We’ll make this again
The tofu frying part was was a complete disaster for me. I used chili/onion/garlic oil instead of neutral. The flavor was SO good, but all the crispy sides of the firm tofu I used stuck to the bottom and ended up burning. I added udon noodles. The end result is really good!
Try using an air fryer if you have one. It cooks tofu perfectly!
I love this recipe! I’ve made it a few times. already. So healthy and yummy. I added Siracha to the sauce for a bit more spice and my husband thinks some fresh basil and chopped peanuts would add a nice bit of flavor so I will try that next time.
Made it last night and it was delish! We used Mike’s Hot Honey and it was just right! Topped with some chili crunch and will definitely be making again. The tofu was so crispy and a great weeknight no meat meal!
This was a great meal with some variations including chopped garlic and ginger. I used bok choy, mushrooms, green onion and red pepper as the vegetable base. For some reason, I needed more vegetable oil for the tofu to fry up properly. Oh, I used Wondra as the starch. Thanks!
I wish you specified whether to use toasted or regular sesame oil.. Which is it?
It doesn’t matter, it’s a question of taste
Waaay good.
I meal prepped this for lunches this week and it was so tasty! I love finding ways to change up the use of tofu! Another easy and great recipe!
Sauce never thickened. Maybe it’s because I used a non stick pan instead of a wok?
This is so delicious and easy!!!
This looks absolutely delicious! Do you think it’s possible to use frozen vegetables for this? My store’s produce selection is always such a letdown and nothing is ever quite fresh.
I can’t open up the ww points can anyone tell me what these are?
Thanks
3 WW points per serving.
Easy, delish abd perfect! I have a soy issue so I used coconut aminos and added snap peas and thid maybe a new weekly meal for me!
This was sooo good!! Thanks for an easy and tasty recipe!
A lot of the recipes here have been major wins and the Kung Pao Tofu recipe, in particular, is out of this world. This one, sadly, was rather dull and lacked much flavor. Mostly just a one-hit soy note without any complexity. Unfortunately won’t be keeping this recipe but am hopeful for more tofu recipes in the future.
This was my first attempt at cooking and eating Tofu. I have to say, it was delicious! The vegetables were a perfect combination. Having to drain the tofu took awhile, and having to turn each piece of tofu was a bit time consuming, but I will keep this recipe, and do some prep ahead next time!
This was a very easy and tasty recipe! Only change I made was adding a little lime juice. We ate it with soba noodles. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
This was great! I’ve been wanting to eat more tofu and this recipe looked easy enough. I drained/pressed the tofu while chopping up my vegetables. Really tasty. I paired it with some brown rice.
I made the tofu in the air fryer for 15 min on 400 and it came out perfect. I didn’t use any oil for the tofu, just sprayed with cooking spray. So good!!!!!!! I served it with Trader Joe’s brown rice. Amazing. Thanks Gina! These tofu recipes are to die for!
Thanks Emily! Glad you enjoyed them!
I wish I’d read this first! Mine got super stuck to my pan! Still delicious but air fryer would have been easier!
Does tofu have to be fried? Could I just cook it in the sauce without the cornstarch?
Another grand slam, I loved this meal. I’ve never bought tofu and was nervous about the outcome but it was so delicious.
I am so glad you tried it!!
This dinner was a hit with my family! I did substitute the tofu with chicken breast as we are not fans of tofu. I also added almonds to give it a crunch which was delicious. Yum!
Easy and delicious! Your recipes never fail.
Thank you!
If you’re using a block of frozen (& then thawed) tofu, do you still have to press it?
yes
Also, tofu has a much better consistency if you freeze and then thaw it.
Excellent. I fried my tofu in the airfryer (375 for 15 min) while I made the veggies. I used green beans and carrots, steamed them a bit in the sauce. Super quick, super crispy and super delicious. Gina, you’re my hero.
Awesome!
Thank you for creating some new alternative protein recipes!
I think THIS is the recipe that will finally get me to try, love?, tofu.
I think I’ll go out to the store tomorrow to get the ingredients.
This recipe looks delicious!
I’m a tofu novice — I’ve eaten it, but never cooked with it. Can you provide instructions for how to press tofu?
Drain tofu then lay on a tea towel or paper towels. Place another towel on top and lightly press to remove most of the water from the tofu.
Thank you! How long should this process take?
Just a few minutes
So wonderful!
What kind of wok are you using?