Crispy Sweet and Sour Tofu

Learn how to make tofu taste delicious with this crispy sweet and sour tofu recipe thats healthy and better than take out! The perfect easy high protein vegan meal ready in just 20 minutes.

Sweet n' sour chicken used to be my fav dish to order at Chinese restaurants. The balance of flavours and textures over some steamed rice.... mmm so good!! Funny enough my favourite part of the dish were the onions (yes, seriously)... something about crispy yet still cooked onions covered in sticky sweet n' sour sauce was so satisfying to eat.

If you've never had a sweet n' sour dish before, prepare to blow your taste buds away!

How to Make Sweet and Sour Tofu

This recipe is one of the easiest ways to make tofu taste bomb.com! All you need is 6 simple ingredients: a block of tofu, bell peppers, an onion and sweet and sour sauce.

Healthy Sweet and Sour Sauce

I used to buy store bought sweet and sour sauce but I've been enjoying making my own homemade sauces cause I know exactly what goes in and I can ensure there aren't any weird chemicals, food colouring or unnecessary added sugar. My sweet and sour sauce recipe is made sweetened with pineapple juice and dates but I promise, you won't be able to tell just by tasting it. For convenience, you can of course use store bought sweet and sour sauce for this recipe.

Tofu Prep + Making Tofu Extra Crispy

If you've ever had sweet and sour chicken at a Chinese restaurant before, it's CRISPY. Most places deep fry their tofu or chicken so I figured I could air fry the tofu to achieve that same level of crispiness because lets be honest, crispy tofu is ideal in all situations (maybe except in desserts and mapo tofu??).

Start with a frozen and thawed block of extra firm tofu. Freezing the tofu is the easiest way to "press" the liquid out but also it makes the best texture! In a pinch, you can also press the tofu using a tofu press or placing it between two heavy objects.

Then, we coat it in some corn starch. The corn starch makes the tofu extra crispy and keeps it crispy even when adding the sauce.

Once the tofu is fryin' up, it's time to prep the veggies. If air frying, you can start prepping and cooking the veggies as soon as the tofu is in there.

Baking the tofu does take more time so I'd wait until the tofu has 10 minutes left before cooking the onions.

The onions cook for about 3 minutes over high heat first. And then goes in the bell peppers for another 3-4 minutes. By now the tofu should be out of the air fryer and ready to go into the pan. Add in the sauce, toss until everything is well coated and then it's ready to be served! The onions and bell peppers should be cooked but still have a nice crunch to them.

Mmmm. Perfectly crispy tofu covered in the yummiest sticky sauce-- SO GOOD. You'll typically see bell peppers and onions in this classic dish but you can also throw in some chunks of pineapple or other veggies! So good served with rice but you can pair it with any grain of your choice and even noodles! Orrr straight off the frying pan on it's own. Yeeep, it's that good.

More delicious tofu recipes to try!

• Sweet Chili Coconut Crusted Tofu Bowls
• Kung Pao Tofu
• The BEST Tofu Scramble
• Asian Tofu Beef Bowls
• Tofu Poke Bowls
• Crispy Air Fryer Tofu
• Vegan Mapo Tofu
• Sticky Lemon Tofu

SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓

If you recreate this Crispy Sweet and Sour Tofu let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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