Punchy and flavorful, these Korean Tofu Rice Bowls are made with crispy gochujang tofu, steamed rice, spicy cucumber salad, and fermented kimchi. Vegan and Gluten Free adaptable.
Nutrient-packed Korean Tofu Rice Bowls are an easy weeknight dinner and a delightful way to enjoy a vibrant mix of flavors and textures, as well as offering a healthy serving of protein, fiber, vitamins and probiotics.
The crispy tofu is crazy good! Firm or extra-firm tofu works best for maintaining structure and absorbing flavors. The tofu is pan-fried to a golden brown crust and mixed with a simple 3 ingredient sauce. The flavors pair perfectly with Korean cucumber salad, kimchi, and steamy rice. Add more veggies if you like. To finish, sprinkle your Korean Tofu Bowl with sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, and an extra sprinkle of gochugaru chili flakes for an extra punch of flavor. Yum!
Why You’ll Love This
- Easy weeknight dinner. This bowl comes together in 40 minutes with a simple 3-ingredient sauce for the tofu.
- Full of nutrients. Packed with protein, fiber, and vitamins, plus if served with kimchi—a boost of probiotics too!
- Bold, vibrant flavor. Crispy tofu is prepared in a subtly spicy, umami-rich gochujang sauce. Cucumber salad is sweet and tangy!
Korean Rice Bowl Ingredients
- Tofu: Use firm or extra firm tofu.
- Gochujang: Check the ingredients to ensure gluten-free if needed. Taste and adjust for spiciness. If needed, you can sub with chili garlic sauce or sriracha.
- Soy sauce: Or sub low-sodium, gluten-free tamari.
- Maple syrup
- Cornstarch: You can sub potato starch.
- Rice wine vinegar
- Sugar: Use honey or additional maple syrup.
- Toasted sesame oil
- Cucumber: English, Japanese, Armenian, or Persian. Thin-skinned and seedless is preferred.
- Scallion
- Gochugaru Korean chili pepper flakes: Spicy, but not super hot. Start small and add more as desired.
*See the recipe card below for the detailed ingredient list.
How to Make Korean Rice Bowls
If making Jasmine rice start that now.
Make the Crispy Korean Tofu: Using your hands, break tofu apart into roughly one-inch pieces. (The ragged edges help crisp up the tofu and soak up more sauce, if you prefer cubes go for it!) Place a clean dish towel or paper towel on a plate and spread tofu out in one layer on the towel to absorb excess moisture.
In a small bowl mix together gochujang paste, soy sauce, and maple syrup. Set aside.
Remove the towel from the tofu and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cornstarch (or potato starch) and toss to coat evenly.
Heat up a skillet to medium-high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons oil to coat the pan. Fry the tofu in one layer: put it in the pan and leave it for about 5 minutes (don’t try to move it!) over medium heat until it develops a crust and naturally releases. Use a spatula to flip the pieces over and cook another 4-5 minutes. Stir the pieces around to get the sides of the tofu. Stir in the gochujang sauce, you can do this in a separate bowl or directly in the pan. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Make the Korean Cucumber Salad: In a colander, toss cucumbers with 1 teaspoon of salt and set over a plate for 30 minutes. (See notes for skipping this step).
In a bowl whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, scallions and Gochogaru flakes.
Lightly rinse the cucumber slices and use a kitchen towel to blot and dry. With the cucumbers in a bowl, add 1/2 of the dressing to the bowl and mix. Reserve the remaining dressing to add to the bowls if they need extra sauce for the rice.
Assemble: Spoon the warm rice into bowls, top with crispy Korean Tofu and the Korean cucumber salad. Add kimchi, toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro. Serve with extra dressing.
Expert Tips
- Use firm tofu: Firm or extra firm tofu works best to maintain structure, absorb flavor, and achieve a crispy texture. Make a double batch!
- Load it up with veggies: Get creative here and add any vegetables or toppings you’d like! Shaved carrots, shredded cabbage, diced avocado, or steamed broccoli are all great options.
- Save time: If you need to make this a quicker meal, you can skip salting the cucumbers. This step makes the cucumbers less watery and more crisp, but it is delicious either way.
Serving Suggestions
Here are some ideas of vegetables and toppings you can serve in this Korean Tofu Bowl:
- Jasmine rice: provides a lovely base for the bowl. Use whatever rice is your preference.
- Kimchi: Full of gut-supporting probiotics, make your own kimchi, or use store-bought!
- Raw veggies: avocado slices, shaved carrot, shredded cabbage, sprouts
- Stir-fried veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, pea pods, green beans, bell peppers, spinach
- Garnishes: toasted sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, gochugaru chili flakes, lime wedges, pickled ginger
FAQs
Pressing the tofu firmly with a paper towel can help remove excess moisture, however, this step is not always necessary. Do it if your tofu seems really wet but just for a few minutes. The tofu can become too dry and crumbly when pressed too long. Here we skipped the pressing and just lay the tofu out on a clean towel to absorb excess moisture.
The secret here is not to move the tofu once you add it to the pan! Let it cook for 5 minutes, and then the tofu should have a crust and naturally release from the pan.
In addition to being a great source of protein, tofu has essential amino acids, minerals, and vitamins, including calcium, manganese, iron, and vitamin A.
Korean tofu is best when served immediately to retain crispiness. However, you can store leftovers in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat the tofu, simply warm in a sauté pan or in the air fryer.
Hope you enjoy this Korean Tofu Bowl! Let us know what you think!
More Recipes You May Enjoy!
Korean Tofu Rice Bowl
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: bowl, dinner idea
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: korean
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Crispy Korean Tofu Bowls are made with crispy gochujang tofu, spicy cucumber salad and kimchi. Easy and full of flavor! Vegan and gluten-free.
Ingredients
2-3 cups cooked rice (we used jasmine rice) (½ cup -¾ cup per serving)
Crispy Korean Tofu
- 8 ounces of firm tofu (extra-firm tofu works too)
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch or potato starch
- 1–2 tablespoons gochujang – taste your gochujang for spiciness and adjust accordingly (see notes on replacements) **Check the ingredients to ensure gluten-free if needed.
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or low-sodium gf tamari
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce or low-sodium gf tamari
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar (honey or maple)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cups cucumber, sliced into thick rounds or 1/2 moons (English cucumber, Japanese, Armenian, or Persian- thin-skinned, seedless is preferred)
- 1 scallion, sliced thin
- 1/2– 1 teaspoon Gochugaru Korean chili pepper flakes (spicy but not super hot, start with less and add more to taste)
Optional serving suggestions
- Jasmine rice
- Kimchi
- Raw veggies: avocado slices, shaved carrot, shredded cabbage, sprouts
- Stir-fried veggies like: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, pea pods, green beans, bell peppers or spinach
- Garnishes: toasted sesame seeds, fresh cilantro, gochugaru chili flakes
Instructions
- If making rice start that now.
- Make the Crispy Korean Tofu Using your hands, break tofu apart into roughly one-inch pieces. (The ragged edges help crisp up the tofu and soak up more sauce, if you prefer cubes go for it!) Place a clean dish towel or paper towel on a plate and spread tofu out in one layer on the towel to absorb excess moisture.
- In a small bowl mix together gochujang paste, soy sauce, and maple syrup. Set aside.
- Remove the towel from the tofu and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cornstarch (or potato starch) and toss to coat evenly.
- Heat up a skillet to medium-high heat, add 1-2 tablespoons oil to coat the pan. Fry the tofu in one layer: put it in the pan and leave it for about 5 minutes (don’t try to move it!) over medium heat until it develops a crust and naturally releases. Flip the pieces over and cook another 4-5 minutes. Stir the pieces around to get the sides of the tofu. Stir in the gochujang sauce, you can do this in a separate bowl or directly in the pan. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Make the Korean Cucumber Salad In a colander, toss cucumbers with 1 teaspoon of salt and set over a plate for 30 minutes. (See notes for skipping this step).
- In a bowl whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, sesame oil, scallions and Gochogaru flakes.
- Lightly rinse the cucumber slices and use a kitchen towel to blot and dry. Add 1/2 of the to the dressing in the bowl and mix. Reserve the remaining dressing to add to the bowls if they need extra sauce for the rice.
Assemble
- Place rice in bowls, top with Korean tofu and Korean cucumber salad.
- Add kimchi, toasted sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.
- Serve with extra dressing.
Notes
Try to find gochujang paste, it really makes the tofu special, but if it is not available you can use garlic chili sauce or sriracha and adjust to your spice level preference!
The Korean tofu is at its best served immediately. But you can store leftovers in the fridge and reheat in a saute pan or bake in the air fryer.
If short on time, you can skip the salting the cucumbers step- it is delicious either way, salting releases water from the cucumbers making the salad less watery and giving the the cucumbers a crisp texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 310
- Sugar: 8.1 g
- Sodium: 424.2 mg
- Fat: 8.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 44.3 g
- Fiber: 1.9 g
- Protein: 12.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Absolutely delicious! Great combo of flavors and really quick and easy. Made it twice now, fast enough for a weeknight dinner. The cucumber marinade is delectable!
Yay, so happy you are enjoying!
Delicious and easy to make-thank you!
So glad you liked these!
Hi! Just wondering if the tofu can be baked instead of pan frying?
I haven’t tried but it should work! Let us know if you try it.
Delicious week night meal and now on regular rotation in our home – thank you!
Awesome, so glad you are enjoying Danielle!
We are obsessed with this tofu in my household. I first tried it in the peanut butter ramen (which is excellent) but we really like these bowls. Everyone can customize. It’s my 13yo son’s favorite meal. He asks for it at least twice a week and devours it. I have to double or triple the recipe if I want any!! Highly recommend!
So happy you all are enjoying Kristin!
Really good.
Super good. I followed recipe exactly. My partner said it’s some of the best tofu he’s ever had. I served with kimchi and stir-fried broccoli. I always like your recipes, thank you!
So glad you both enjoyed!
Delicious and so easy to make! I decided to make it twice in a row.
Awesome Cee, so happy you enjoyed!
This Korean tofu recipe never fails! Good with everything
Thanks Liz 🙂
Gochujang can contain wheat so be careful saying it’s gluten free. Signed Korean American mom of kid with celiac
Thanks Judy, I will make a note!
I’m not sure why you would use Jasmine rice. You can’t call it Korean and use that. This is basically a vegan bibimbap—kind of. The sauce you used on the tubu is basically bibimbap sauce. And no Korean dish would substitute gochujang with sriracha or any other “spicy” ingredient because gochujang is unique in its flavor. Substituting changes the entire taste of the dish! Idk why everyone thinks they have to call their recipes Korean because you use a few Korean ingredients.
Hi UmmaLee, I see your point. Our goal here is to make the recipes accessible and adaptable to everyone using what ingredients they may have on hand. 🙂