I am forever on a quest for the perfect vegan Sloppy Joe recipe. I grew up on these and I love experimenting with different protein options. For my Tofu Sloppy Joes Recipe, I take an approach I haven’t seen before with tofu and that is to first pan fry grated tofu. I promise you, this will be your new favorite method of cooking tofu.
This isn’t my first Sloppy Joe recipe on this site. Be sure to check out my Super Sloppy Joes made with jackfruit for a completely different experience. Let me show you how I make this one.
How to make my Tofu Sloppy Joes Recipe
The first step is pressing the tofu. If you have a tofu press, great! Use that 🙂 But I don’t, so I place paper towels on a plate followed by the tofu, more paper towels and another plate on top. Then for the “press”…I use a heavy can of tomatoes. Use whatever you have and let this sit for about an hour. It will yield a lot of liquid and we don’t want that in our recipe.
I used a half block of tofu for this recipe, but you can easily double it. Using a box grater, simply grate the tofu.
In a large pan with just a bit of oil, allow the tofu to cook a minute at a time, stirring in between. This dries out the tofu and gives it that golden color.
Add diced onion and green bell pepper.
Now for the base of our sauce, I add tomato paste.
Yellow mustard.
Vegan Worcestershire Sauce (I find mine on Amazon.com).
Finally, red wine vinegar. If you don’t have red wine vinegar, apple cider or white vinegar will do nicely.
Next, I use a vegan NO BEEF Bouillon Base from Better Than Bouillon. Again, found on Amazon. They make amazing vegan broths and bases!
Stir everything together allowing the flavors to meld.
This recipe makes two sandwiches. I use a standard hamburger bun because that is what I grew up with 🙂
Serve with chips and pickles on the side.
Did you make my Tofu Sloppy Joes Recipe? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought! I always love hearing how you make my recipes your own.
VEGAN TOFU SLOPPY JOES
Equipment
- Non Stick Skillet
Ingredients
- 1/2 block EXTRA FIRM TOFU Liquid drained, tofu pressed and grated
- 2 tbsp Green Bell Pepper diced
- 2 tbsp Onion diced
- 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar or sugar substitute
- 3/4 tsp Yellow Mustard
- 1/2 tsp Vinegar (red wine, apple cider or white)
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 c VEGAN "no beef" Broth or Vegetable Broth
- pinch Salt
- pinch Pepper
Instructions
- Prepare tofu by draining all of the liquid. Press the tofu (see post for detailed instructions) and grate on a box grater.
- Using a small amount of oil in a skillet over medium high heat, brown the tofu, stirring infrequently.
- When the tofu is browned, add the remaining ingredients and cook until thickened.
- Serve on a standard hamburger bun with a side of chips and pickles 🙂