Crispy Miso Lime Tofu
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Quick to assemble and completely irresistible, this crispy miso lime tofu will forever change your relationship with tofu!
A couple of weeks ago, I returned home to find Caroline Chambers’ new book, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, at my door. Its arrival could not have been more timely: we had just returned from England, and in addition to feeling jet lagged or perhaps because of the jet lag, well, I didn’t really feel like cooking.
As I flipped through, I noticed the chapter organization — “15-ish Minutes,” “30 Minutes,” 45 Minutes,” etc. — and immediately felt inspired. Surely I could handle something in the 15-ish Minutes chapter, I told myself. Having eaten nearly every meal out for the past week, I was craving something fresh and healthy, and so I went with the Crispy Miso Lime Tofu, most of the ingredients for which I had on hand, and which looked and sounded so good.
Friends! I have never made tofu like this before, and I was astonished not only by how incredibly tasty it was but also by the process, which felt all wrong. Rather than press the tofu, you squeeze out the liquid with your hands; rather than neatly cube the tofu, you crumble it; and at the end, when your tofu is completely crisp and brown, you douse it with a miso-lime dressing, which it drinks up, taking on all the sweet-and-savory flavors.
The crumbles honestly tasted like meat — I could have eaten them straight from the skillet without any further adornments — but I pushed on, spooning them into lettuce cups and garnishing them with herbs and sesame seeds. We gobbled them right up.
I have made this recipe a number of times in the past few weeks, and every time I make it I wonder how the recipe could be adapted to other dressings and seasonings — could it be made into faux taco meat?— or how I could use the crumbles in other applications, perhaps spooned over this favorite brown rice with broiled broccoli by its side.
I will of course keep you posted.
PS: Warm Tofu with Spicy Garlic Sauce
What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking:
Miso-Lime Tofu Crumbles, Step by Step
First, gather your ingredients. For the sauce you’ll need: fresh lime juice, soy sauce, rice vinegar, miso, honey, crushed red pepper flakes, ground ginger, and garlic powder. (I love Burlap and Barrel purple stripe garlic powder, which I buy by the 24-oz container.)
Measure everything out.
Then transfer to a bowl or a liquid measure and…
… whisk until smooth. (This sauce is so tasty!)
You’ll also need extra-firm tofu, Boston or butter lettuce, and some garnishes such as sesame seeds and scallions. I also like using fresh mint here.
You do not have to press the tofu, but if time permits, do so — the tofu browns up a little bit easier.
Crumble the tofu into pieces:
Then heat a skillet over high heat, add some oil, and then the tofu. Let cook undisturbed for 3 minutes…
… then stir. Repeat this process — letting the tofu sit; then stirring — 3 to 4 times total until the tofu is nearly all brown.
Add the sauce and cook while stirring constantly until the tofu has absorbed nearly all of it.
You will want to stop here with a spoon and eat every last crumble, but do try to push on…
… and spoon them into lettuce leaves. Garnish as you wish, then squeeze some lime over the top and…
… serve.
I could eat this whole platter myself!
Crispy Miso Lime Tofu
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2 to 4 as an appetizer
- Diet: Vegan
Description
From Caroline Chambers’ What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
Note:
- Tofu: I have written the recipe as Caroline included it in her book, but having made this several times now, I find that the tofu browns up a little easier if you press it ahead of time. You absolutely do not have to press it ahead of time, so don’t let this deter you — again I have made it several times without pressing it — but if you have the time, press it: I like to wrap my block in a clean dish towel, set it on a cooling rack over a tray, and weigh it down with a 28-ounce can of tomatoes set in the container the tofu was packaged in.
- Honey: To make this vegan, replace the honey with maple syrup or brown sugar.
Ingredients
- 1 head butter lettuce
- 2 limes
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon white or yellow miso
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 (14- to 16-ounce) block extra firm tofu, pressed if time permits, see notes above
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil or extra-virgin olive oil
- Toppings (optional): sesame seeds, sliced scallions, fresh herbs (mint and cilantro are nice), chopped peanuts or cashews
Instructions
- Pull the leaves off the head of butter lettuce, then wash and dry them. Cut the limes in half. (Note: Depending on the size, you’ll need roughly 8 to 10 lettuce leaves.)
- In a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup, stir together the juice of 1 lime (about 3 tablespoons), the soy sauce, 2 tablespoons water, the miso, vinegar, honey, ginger, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Smash the miso against the side of the cup to be sure it incorporates to make a smooth sauce.
- Warm your largest skillet over medium-high heat. If you did not press your tofu ahead of time: Working over the sink, remove the tofu from the container, pour out any liquid, and reserve the container. Use your hands to break the tofu into a few pieces and squeeze out as much liquid as you possibly can. This won’t be pretty! It’ll break apart into little bits. That’s perfect, you’re doing it right. When you feel like you’ve squeezed all the liquid you can out of the tofu, place it back in the container it came in. If you did press your tofu ahead of time: Crumble the tofu into a medium bowl.
- Add the oil to the super hot skillet. When it shimmers, add the squeezed, crumbled tofu in an even layer and let it sit, undisturbed, for 3 minutes. Give it a stir, then let it sit for 3 minutes more. It should start to look crispy and golden brown at this point. Keep going with this stir-and sit pattern once or twice more, adding more oil to the pan as needed, until the tofu is crispy all over (9 to 12 minutes total). Add the sauce and stir rapidly until it’s all absorbed into the tofu, not even a minute. Turn off the heat.
- To serve, fill the lettuce leaves with the crispy tofu and any of the suggested toppings. Squeeze the juice from the remaining lime over top just before eating.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
90 Comments on “Crispy Miso Lime Tofu”
This was very tasty — we all enjoyed the combination of flavors! The toppings are key. It would also be great tossed together in a bowl, perhaps with rice as well. (We had jasmine rice on the side and called it dinner.)
The only comment I’d make is that the crumbles, while delicious, weren’t really crispy — they were chewy, but not crispy. I enjoyed the technique, though!
Super tasty! Would agree with comment below, tofu isn’t really crispy, but still very flavourful and I liked the cooking method and process. This was a hit at dinner with easily accessible ingredients that I normally have on hand. Agree with you that this could be a nice plant based taco filling. Yum! I used mindful food plant based honey in this and it was perfect.
Thanks for sharing a great recipe.
Finally made this tonight. Been on my list since post. Husband was not so excited when he heard what was for dinner. He is eating in kitchen now (I already ate- it was yum). He just hollered how good it was. Yay me yay Ali.
Yesssss! No better sign of success than a holler for tofu 🤣🤣🤣
Yum! Made this recipe last night. Put it on top of udon noodles with some steamed broccoli to make it into a more substantial dinner. Managed to not eat half of the tofu before serving it! Hard to resist.
Great to hear, Polly! Thanks so much for writing … and I hear you: I could eat all of it straight from the skillet 🙂
This was delicious and so easy and quick to make. The only tweak I would make next time is to serve it on something a little sturdier, like romaine or endive – it was pretty messy to eat, especially as an appetizer.
Great to hear, Cathy! I think Romaine would be great. Some people have used iceberg with success, too 🙂
I made this today and it was incredible. I used Red Miso Paste (that’s what I had on hand) and it was perfect. I did find that I needed to cook it a bit longer to get it crispy and I could definitely have eaten the entire batch straight out of the pan. I have 3 more blocks of Tofu in the refrigerator and I’m already planning on making it again in the coming days. Thank you Ali.
Great to hear, Susan! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
Made this tonight and served it as a bowl with roasted broccoli and Brussels sprouts over rice. I doubled the tofu recipe cause I always want more protein. It is delicious, even with a bit of improvisation (only had half the rice vinegar so subbed apple cider for the rest). I also went with the lime measurement (TBS vs a lime) and wound up with slightly less than the number of TBS called for and it was almost too lime-y, so I’d recommend starting with less and adding to taste.
Great to hear Meg! Thanks for writing and sharing all of your notes 🙂
This was amazing!!! Made it for the family, including a 2 year old who started rolling his eyes and exclaimed with a mouth full of tofu how delicious it was.
Two weeks 🙂
This is one of my favorite ways to eat Tofu. There are different types of tofu so it is important to use a really good tofu. I tried the tofu in Whole Foods called Heiwa is in a package with a purple label. Pricier but delicious. I try to have this at least once a week. Going to try putting the tofu on rice noodles for a full meal.
Great to hear! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
Another great recipe. Really enjoyed for dinner, but would make a fun appetizer for a party too. Thanks.
Great to hear, Sassiuna!
I wanted to enjoy this, but even after the first 3 minutes we weren’t able to scrape up the tofu without shredding the crispy bit away from the raw bit. This resulted in clumps of raw tofu mixed with nearly burnt thin wafers that had stuck to the pan and been scrapped up. I’m using a gas stove and a stainless steel skillet, on high heat as instructed for the 3 minutes undisturbed. I didn’t see a pan type specified but no nonstick wouldn’t be safe at this heat. I had to add 2 tablespoons of oil at each flip, which makes this astronomically unhealthy for a tofu lettuce dinner. What would you advise to better cook the tofu?
Hi! Not sure how to advise. It’s possible you didn’t get your pan hot enough before adding the oil and then the tofu, but this recipe tends to be forgiving because once the pieces char, they release from the pan pretty easily. Do you have a cast iron skillet?
We do have a smaller cast iron pan, I was thinking of halving the recipe anyhow so we might give that a go and fearlessly start the pan on very high heat. Thanks.
Came here to say – this recipe – and this cookbook recommendation – are excellent! Thank you for the tip. Love that I can always trust you!
This is hands down my favorite tofu prep now (and works with lots of sauces), and the entire cookbook (What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking) is outstanding and creative. Caroline Chambers provides lots of suggestions to tweak or swap ingredients and the recipes are organized by the amount of time they take. She also provides riffs on a theme (kings Hawaiian roll sliders, four ways, etc). Perfect gift for a busy foodie. Thank you again Alexandra!
So happy to read all of this, Katie! Thanks so much for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
It was easy and yummy. I will make it again.
Great to hear, Caroline! Thanks for writing 🙂
LOVED! Just made it for lunch as a salad – dumped the hot crispy tofu on mixed spring greens and topped with scallions, toasted sesame seeds and cilantro. I managed to get the tofu crispy – maybe it was the squeezing out in the dish towel before hand. I am a tofu novice, so I was kind of excited this worked for me.
Yum! Great to hear, Kellee. Thanks so much for writing and sharing this 🙂