Delicious Black Pepper Tofu with Bok Choy – a simple vegan tofu stir-fry that can be made in 20 minutes flat! Serve this over noodles or rice for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. 
Laugh because that is the purest sound. – Hafez
This Black Pepper Tofu with Bok Choy is a quick and easy weeknight dinner that can be made in under 30 minutes. It’s loaded up with healthy bok choy and can be served on its own, jasmine rice, black rice or rice noodles.
And even though this tofu stir fry is easiest made in a wok, don’t let this stop you if you don’t happen to have one.
Half the time I make this in my cast iron skillet. Either way, it’s a super tasty way to serve up tofu and the vibrant baby bok choy!
Black Pepper Tofu | 30-second video
TIP: As with most stir-fry recipes, my best advice is to make sure to prep all the ingredients beforehand and place them close to the stove, ready to go. The cooking part goes very quickly and it’s all too easy to burn things when you are not constantly stirring.
So always chop and prep before you turn on the pan.
This recipe for Black Pepper Tofu is perfect for two.
Brian and I normally eat this without rice or noodles, for a lower carb dinner, but feel free to add if you like.
Although it has a fair amount of crushed black peppercorns, the Black Pepper Sauce is not overwhelming. It perfectly accentuates the tofu and the bok choy, and the dish feels balanced.
And keep in mind, I’ve simplified this recipe quite a bit to prevent you from having to make an extra trip to the Asian Market for specialty items.
The baby bok choy turns a vibrant green in the wok and gets just slightly wilty.
And even though the dish tastes flavorful and saucy, it also tastes very clean. Which I love…
I’m not sure if it is just my imagination, but the natural water element of the bok choy feels very healing and restorative to the body.
A simple easy recipe to whip up when days are full and time is short. Give this Black Pepper Tofu with Bok Choy, a try this coming week and let me know what you think!
Have a great holiday weekend.
xo
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Black Pepper Tofu with Bok Choy
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2
- Category: Vegan, Gluten Free, Main
- Method: Stir fry
- Cuisine: Chinese
Description
A simple delicious recipe for Black Pepper Tofu with Bok Choy – a tasty vegan meal that can be made in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 8–12 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes ( do not use silken tofu – or sub chickenor shrimp, see notes)
- corn starch for dredging ( optional)
- 2 tablespoons wok oil ( high heat oil like peanut, coconut or vegetable)
- 5 finger pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked peppercorns
- —–
- 1 fat shallot, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 6 ounces baby bok choy ( about 4) quartered lengthwise ( or if very thick, in half again)
Black Pepper Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce ( or Gluten-free Liquid Aminos)
- 2 tablespoons Chinese Cooking Wine ( Shaoxing Rice Wine) or sub dry white wine, pale sherry, or rice wine.
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar ( or sub palm sugar, coconut sugar or agave)
- ½ teaspoon fresh cracked peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon chili paste (optional)
Instructions
- Cut tofu into cubes and blot dry with paper towels, pressing down gently.
- Make the wok sauce, stirring ingredients together in a small until most of the sugar dissolves. Place it by the stove.
- Prep the shallots, garlic and bok choy.
- Dredge the tofu in a light coating of cornstarch (cornstarch is optional, but provides a crispier texture).
- Heat oil in a wok or large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and add the salt and crushed peppercorns to the oil, swirling it around until fragrant, about one minute.
- Add the tofu to the seasoned oil, and sear on all sides until golden and crispy, turning the heat down if need be. Be patient and take your time, it will take about 5-6 minutes.
- Set the crispy tofu aside on a paper towel-lined plate, and wipe the pan out.
- Heat another teaspoon or two of oil over medium heat, and add shallots, garlic and bok choy. Stir continuously until bok choy begins to wilt and shallots become golden, about 3-4 minutes. It will smell amazing. Add the wok sauce to the pan, careful to get all the sugar that may have settled in the bowl.
- Simmer for a couple of minutes, or until bok choy is just tender.
- At the very very end, toss the tofu back into the pan with the bok choy and sauce ( just long enough to coat, only 5-10 seconds!) Cooking any longer will remove the amazing crispiness! Taste for salt and heat, adjusting to your preference.
- Serve immediately, diving between two bowls.
Notes
- Feel free to substitute chicken breast for the tofu, cut into cubes, and prepared the same way.
- Feel free to crisp the tofu in the wok, without using cornstarch. Just make sure to pat dry the tofu with paper towels and season the oil in the pan with salt and pepper. Don’t move the tofu around too much in the pan. The tofu will naturally release from the pan when it develops a “crust”. So just turn and flop every so often, letting it get crispy.
Keywords: tofu stir fry, tofu stir fry recipe, vegan stir fry, black pepper tofu, black pepper tofu recipe, black pepper beef, seared tofu with bok choy, tofu in black pepper sauce
A neighbor off-handedly mentioned making a dish that sounded good, so she sent me this recipe. It’s THE THING I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL MY LIFE. Is that an exaggeration? No! It’s that good. Moreover, the technique of seasoning the oil with salt & pepper, dredging the tofu in cornstarch has made this life-long veggie/tofu “stir-fry” maker ashamed she didn’t know these techniques before. Thanks so much! I make this with bok-choi or broccoli – whatever is on hand. Flawless!
★★★★★
Awesome Diane, glad you enjoyed this!
Simple and delicious! I cut the bok choi crosswise and separated the white from green parts, adding the white parts first, and the green parts after a few minutes to even out cooking times. Thanks for a flavorful and healthy supper!
★★★★★
We used Bok choy from our garden. The pepper sauce was delicious. Very easy recipe. Served over Udon noodles. YUM!.
★★★★★
This is a great, easy to follow recipe. The tofu looks so pretty with the black pepper specks–it makes the finished dish look like a lot more work than it is. Tonight I didn’t have bok choy so I baked some asparagus in the oven and added it to the tofu and ate it over rice with scallions. My tofu-averse dad even likes this recipe. Thanks!
Perfect Hannah! Love it!
Ok, I am a carnivore LIKE TRUE CARNIVORE, looking to reduce my meat and poultry consumption. I love my veggies, so I wasn’t scared, but tofu was never my thing. But this recipe did it for me! Although it was super simple (I was a little skeptical because I’m Caribbean and we season EVERYTHING up and down). But I needed a quick meal-prep lunch that was plant based (for my new journey), and this did the job and then some.
I may experiment with adding more veggies/more color, but overall, this was GREAT!!! Thank you for this recipe <3
Yay!!! I’m so happy! I think tofu can be very tasty! Feel free to add more veggies. 🙂
This one blew my husband away, he is finally a tofu fan! This is the best tofu dish I have made to date, its become a staple favourite – thank you!
★★★★★
YAY!!! Great to hear!
Once again absolutely delicious! Even my meat-eating husband, who had a furrowed brow while I was preparing it 🙂 just loved it. Another keeper for my meatless dinner collection. Thanks Sylvia.
★★★★★
Ahaha, love it!
This was awesome ! Such a quick and flavorful dish! I served with cauliflower rice! Sooo good!!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this Nikki!
Omg Delicious!! The tofu tasted exactly like salt and pepper chicken wings. Such a simple meal, but so wonderful! Your recipes never disappoint!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this Milly!
Absolutely delicious! Full of flavor and easy to make.
★★★★★
Super easy to make and so flavourful! Loved it!
★★★★★
I’m brand new to WFPB and I’ve been searching for some inspiration. Well…This was out of this world! I couldn’t find baby Bok Choy, so I just used fresh green beans and carrots that I got from the farmer’s market. Simply divine! Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Your recipes are delicious. This from a life long carnivore that just watched Forks Over Knives and am changing my ways!
Unknowingly, I brought home Silken Tofu.
Why can’t I use it?
Silken Tofu will not hold together well in this application. It is quite crumbly and fragile and would break down in a wok. I use it mostly in vegan sauces and desserts.
Silken Tofu is “silky,” meaning it is soft and won’t hold up as well when breading/coating/frying it. You usually find silken tofu in miso soups at restaurants, or you can use it in smoothies/sauces as a protein boost. Look for firm tofu for most recipes, and make sure to remember to press it between paper towels and under a weight of some sort to drain excess liquid before using. Keep trying new recipes and practice working with it. Choosing tofu and cooking with it will become second-nature before you know it!
This is delicious!!! I will be sure to make this again and will double the sauce this time and mix with noodles as I had this as a side dish but it’s so good I want to eat it as a main.
★★★★★
Thank you so much, a very simple but tasty dish. My non vegan friend and I ate the entire batch. All of your recipes have been well received by my meat eating friends and family.
Natalie
★★★★★
thanks Natalie!
Just delicious and easy to make – thank you!!
★★★★★
thanks Dee!
This was soooo yummy! I added maybe 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger and chopped the bok choy into bite-size pieces. I served it over black forbidden rice. I doubled the sauce, but there was no need and I didn’t use the extra. This was outstanding. I didn’t have Chinese chili sauce, but I used the same amount of Korean Gochujang, which is a Korean chili paste. This was sooooo good. I didn’t use corn starch, I just sautéed the tofu in sunflower oil in the wok.
★★★★★
Truly loved this recipe. I added prepared noodles at the end with the tofu and sauce.
★★★★★
Love that! great Idea!
Don’t normally leave comments but this recipe was lush. I tend to get stuck in a tofu rut as there are so many bad recipes out there. This definitely isn’t one of them. Quick and delicious much easier than my go to Tofu recipe
★★★★★
Thanks!
Turned out great! The sauce is a great flavor and the tofu had a nice consistency to it. But the Bok Choy was the star because it soaked up the sauce so well. Nice to have this as a delicious non-meat option. Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
THanks so much- glad you liked it!
Hello, great flavors and healthy greens. However when I fried my tofu with the corn starch it turned into a gelatinous mess – was my tofu still to moist or?
Possibly. Sometimes that happens if the oil is not hot when you put them in the pan. Or too much cornstarch.
I’ve tried making tofu so many ways with so many methods… my 13 yr old son, 55 yr old carnivore SO, and I all like it this way (plus super easy and simple)
Put tofu in strainer over sink.
Press (lightly) with anything …even a saucer… and let sit 10 min.
Cut it up.
Heat any appropriate oil (according to its burning temp) over med to med/hi
When oil is hot, add tofu and season as desired. I have tried corn starch a couple of times/methods, but I didn’t think it added anything special.
As per Sylvia’s perfect direction, the tofu will not give any resistance when its ready to be turned. I turn mine on at least 2 sides to a nice golden brown.
Usually takes a total of 10 min.
Done!
I have not tried this recipe yet. It sound wonderful but my family has to watch sodium and over 1100g per serving is way too much! Any thoughts?
I’ll double-check the recipe calculator. You could use low-sodium soy sauce.
Has anyone tried baking with this recipe instead of frying? I really try to avoid oil as much as possible.
I bake my tofu frequently on parchment paper. usually at about 400 and I turn it at about 18 minutes and then let it back another 15 minutes or so. Broth is a good alternative to using oil.
Great recipe! I read the other comments and took everyone’s suggestions. I doubled the sauce with grated ginger, added more vegetables and tossed the whole thing over brown rice. So good!!! Thank you!
★★★★★
Sounds perfect!
During this Covid-19 turmoil, to eat a home cooked meal is so comforting. This recipe is the absolute B-O-M-B! My roommate requested this recipe again immediately after eating it for the first time! So here we are, eating it for the second time in three nights. I did add 1/2 tsp. ginger, marinated the tofu for about 15 minutes in the sauce before cooking to a nice golden crisp, and added a stalk of celery for some nice crunch. However, even before I did these things the recipe was sooo delicious!
★★★★★
Loved this recipe among many others. Liked the balance of protein, carbs, and fats. We added noodles but thought possibly a little more broth would have made it perfect!
Great to hear Debi!
Its so good!
★★★★★
Thanks so much Jane!