We’ve been LOVING this Crispy BBQ Tofu Sandwich! Crispy tofu is slathered in BBQ sauce, topped with avocado & a cool cilantro cabbage slaw- a tasty vegan meal in under 30 minutes! Video. Plus 50+ Amazing Tofu Recipes!
Need a quick healthy meal? This is hands-down one of the tastiest Tofu sandwiches I’ve ever had! I keep thinking if we still had our restaurant this would for sure be on the menu this week! It’s a fast easy meal, and oh so satisfying!
I’m pretty sure even tofu skeptics will love this one too. If you are on a sandwich kick like we have been, you might also enjoy this Tempeh Reuben Sandwich ( which can be made vegan with vegan mozzarella) it is also yummy!
WHY this Works!
- It’s super fast!
- Simple, affordable ingredients.
- Over the top in the flavor dept- tangy, subtle heat, smoky, delicious!
- Great texture- warm crispy tofu, cool crunchy slaw- a perfect marriage.
- The slaw adds nutrients! I’d suggest making a double batch.
- It’s vegan!
- Will make anyone love tofu. Guaranteed.
Crispy BBQ TOFU SANDWICH VIDEO
Ingredients in BBQ TOFU Sandwich
- Tofu – firm or extra firm, organic, if possible
- olive oil or coconut oil
- BBQ Sauce- find a brand with no high-fructose corn syrup (or make your own)
- Sriracha or Red Chili Paste (optional)
- Cabbage- green or purple ( use pre-cut cabbage if pressed for time)
- Onion- red is nice
- Cilantro- fresh
- Vegan Mayo- or use regular mayo
- AC vinegar- or white vinegar
- Fresh cilantro
- Salt and Pepper
- Soft, toasted buns- store bought or make your own!
- Avocado- optional
How to make BBQ Tofu Sandwich
Step One:
Cut the tofu into two slabs, one-inch thick, perhaps trimming to fit the bun. Pat gently with paper towels.
Step Two
Season a skillet generously with oil, salt and fresh cracked pepper and heat it up.
Step Three
Sear the tofu on both sides, until deeply golden and crispy.
Step four
While the tofu is cooking, make the quick and easy slaw, using precut cabbage if pressed for time. Cilantro and onion add great flavor here.
Step five
Mix BBQ Sauce and red chili paste (or sriracha) in a bowl and brush it liberally on the tofu, getting the bottom too.
Let the sauce caramelize just slightly in the pan, before turning the heat off.
Step five
Toast the buns and assemble! Feel free to add avocado if you like- a bit messier, but oh so tasty!
And voila! You’ll have a delicious meal on the table in under 30 minutes! This recipe makes two hearty sandwiches.
MoRE DINNER WORTHY sandwiches!
- Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe ( vegan adaptable!)
- Caprese Sandwich
- Curry Chickpea Salad Wraps with Toasted Coconut
- Smashed Chickpea Avocado Sandwich
- Herby Chickpea Salad Sandwich
- Caprese Grilled Cheese Sandwich
My husband Brian totally devoured this and proclaimed he would happily eat this anytime I wanted to make it.
So with a tofu skeptic, I would just plop it down right in front of them, and not even say anything. I’m pretty confident, that if they like BBQ Sauce, one bite is all it will take. 😉
Enjoy the summer weekend!
xoxo
Sylvia
More Recipes you may like:
- 50+ Amazing Tofu Recipes
- Tofu Paprikash
- Black Garlic Tofu
- Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe
- Quick Sourdough Buns
- How to make Vegan Mayo!
- BBQ Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
- Grilled Corn with Chipotle-Lime Butter
Crispy BBQ Tofu Sandwich
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: sandwich, vegan
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Crispy BBQ Tofu Sandwich topped with cool, creamy cilantro cabbage slaw and avocado, that can be made in under 30 minutes. Vegan!
Ingredients
- 1 block tofu- organic, extra firm, drained
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or coconut oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup BBQ Sauce (aim for one without high fructose corn syrup, or make your own)
- 1 teaspoon chili paste or sriracha
- 2 soft buns, (like brioche buns) toasted
- Avocado- optional, messy but good. 😉
Creamy Cilantro Slaw:
- 4 ounces shredded cabbage- about 3 cups packed
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 3–4 tablespoons vegan mayo (or regular mayo) or make your own
- 1 tablespoon vinegar- Apple Cider or white, more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Drain the block of tofu, pat dry, and cut into one-inch-thick slabs. Trim if needed to fit the bun. You can get 2, maybe 3 out of one block. Pat dry again.
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil, and sprinkle the salt and pepper over the oil. Once the pepper is fragrant, carefully add the tofu. Sear until crispy and deeply golden- do not move it around in the pan, let it develop a crust, so it will release itself. Lower heat if splattering- this will take about 12 minutes.
- Mix the BBQ sauce and red chili paste in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the shredded cabbage in a medium bowl, add onions and cilantro, mayo, vinegar, and salt, and toss to combine well. Taste. It should be creamy, tangy and flavorful. Feel free to add more vinegar, salt or mayo to attain this. All mayos are different!
- Toast the buns and slice the avocado.
- Once the tofu is nice and crispy, lower the heat to low, and add the bbq sauce mixture, coating the tofu well. I use all the sauce. Let it caramelize just slightly in the pan, and turn the heat off.
- Assemble the Sandwich. Spread more mayo on the bottom bun if you like, add the hot tofu, and top with cool slaw and a few slices of avocado.
- EAT immediately. 🙂
Nutrition
- Serving Size: one sandwich
- Calories: 527
- Sugar: 19 g
- Sodium: 1128.4 mg
- Fat: 30.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 43.2 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 21.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Insanely delicious! Our friend, known as “Mr. Beef”, was blown away by the flavor and texture. He’s a convert! Cows all over the planet are celebrating! The BBQ sauce itself is magic and lends itself to sprucing up grilled veggies once you’re done with the burgers. Great recipe!
Oh my goodness, love hearing this!
This was a big success. It’s like having fast food but healthier and way tastier. The barbecue sauce is well worth the effort, and there are heaps left for other meals. Once again thank you Sylvia.
Thanks Anne- so happy you enjoyed this!
Exceeded my expectations! Delicious. Used my cast iron pan for a nice crust!
Perfect, glad you enjoyed!
Loved this! Great sandwich.
Wonderful, thanks for letting us know!
I absolutely love this tofu Sandwich. I think it will be on the menu for tonight’s dinner.
Scrumptious especially with the creamy slaw.
Yay! 🙌
Absolutely amazing! The only thing I changed was using whole wheat pita and they worked great. Really nice flavors. Thank you also for explaining the technique behind cooking crispy tofu. I had no idea before following your recipes and you’ve completely flipped my tofu game!
So great to hear Kerry! Glad you enjoyed!
Super tasty!
Great to hear John!
Sylvia!
This was so fast and delicious!!! Thank you for another great recipe. I didn’t have Sriracha so I added a bit of chile crisp to the bbq sauce. Yummy. Definitely going into our menu rotation. Xoxo
Great to hear! Yum to the chili oil.
Wow!! We made these and we LOVED it. Ate them down so fast. Thank you!
Awsome to hear Troy!
So good! What an easy meal to make during the work week with some air-fried sweet potato wedges. Thank you.
Sounds like a perfect combo! Glad you enjoyed.
One of our favorite dinners! I love how the tofu takes its time getting crispy while I prep everything else; I have tried it in both cast iron and stainless steel and the cast iron pan is a must. Delicious!!
I agree Lesli- cast iron is idea here!
Coleslaw is amazing. The only problem was the tofu wasn’t crispy nor was it crisping up while I cooked it.
It does help some if you use a cast iron skillet. It can take a while to get it crispy.
These phenomenal sandwiches are a go-to now for our family. We have them with Beyond Meat sausages which makes it super quick for a weeknight meal! Love them. Thank you!
That is a great idea Megan, happy you are all enjoying!
The crispy bbq tofu sandwiches were excellent! What a great recipe full of flavor and texture. The family loved them. Thank you, thank you!
So thrilled you enjoyed!
All I could taste was apple cider vinegar. It overpowered the bbq sauce and the slaw. Such a waste to throw everything away these days when everything is so expensive. After spending all afternoon prepping everything and then cooking, I ended up making myself a pbj sandwich for dinner 🙁 sigh…..
That is so strange Wilhelmina, I am sorry it was a waste. Is it possible you accidentally added more?
Yum, just made this and it was delicious!! Thanks for the great recipe, will do this in the future too for sure! The slaw especially was excellent with red cabbage!
thanks Oona! Glad you tried it!
Yum! Loved this. I seared about 7 min per side- I was afraid it would burn, but didn’t. I cut my block into thirds. Might add extra bbbq sauce to each side of the bun next time. This is a keeper!
Great to hear Amy!
Outstanding!! Made this for my husbands birthday dinner and it was a huge hit. Followed the recipe exactly. Didn’t change a thing and it was perfect.
So glad you enjoyed this Laura!
Absolutely delicious!
I’m happy I found this recipe..
Thank you 🙂
So happy you enjoyed Kim!
Thanks Kim!
I forgot to rate it! For sure five stars!!
Awww- thanks for coming back for this! Very appreciated. ❤️
I’ve made this twice, now. Both times we’ve absolutely loved it! I like my tofu baked, so I brush it with oil, season with salt and pepper, and then bake it at 400 for around 25 minutes, flipping halfway through. Then I brush it with the bbq sauce mixture and bake for another 5 minutes. I serve it with the slaw on Pretzilla pretzel buns, which are vegan. With some fries on the side, it’s a perfect vegan meal! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Awesome to hear Alene! Happy you enjoyed this!
Made this for dinner at my husband’s request and boy did he LOVE it! We do a little trick with the tofu and freeze it before cooking it. It makes a huge difference in the texture it has the texture of chicken and tastes very close to chicken when you fry it such as this recipe. We will definitely make this again.
Great to hear Diana! Awww, yes the freezer trick. Give a different texture for sure!
This was sooooo good! Such a tasty combination of BBQ tofu, tangy slaw, and creamy avocados! Thank you for sharing! I keep coming back to your recipes because they always turn out and they are so well written. I just started perusing some recipes for baked goods and can’t wait to try them. I love that your recipes are delicious and nutritious.
Hey Cindy! I’m so glad you liked this one! It’s a favorite around here too.
This burger was DELICIOUS and so quick to whip up! I kept thinking what a great crowd-pleaser this would be at a party. Thank you for all the amazing recipes and keeping my partner and I fed!
Great to hear Emilia!
Delicious
Thanks Vanessa!