Breaded Baked Tofu

For a while I've been wanting to experiment more with tofu. Since I stopped eating meat I've mainly been getting my protein through veggies, grains and nuts, but occasionally I like to eat tofu or tempeh for some extra ummmph. Usually I'll just press my tofu for a half-hour or so with some heavy books to get rid of excess water and then cut it up into cubes and saute it in a pan. I've had never tried marinating it or breading it before until recently and made quite a difference! 

I decided to try breading some tofu first and it was just like breading any other kind of meat or fish. For a whole block of tofu (pressed for a half hour with heavy books), I used a food processor to processes two pieces of bread that I had into bread crumbs. Then I added in 1/2 teaspoon paprika and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and processed everything a little more.

After my tofu had been pressed for a while, I cut it up into 3/4 inch cubes and poured about 2 teaspoons of sesame oil over top. I was making an curry so I thought the sesame oil would be a good addition, but if you're going a different route you can definitely use olive oil or vegetable oil.

After I coated the tofu cubes with some oil I rolled them around in my seasoned breadcrumb mixture until they were coated in the crumbs. I learned that the smaller the bread crumbs the better. My bread crumbs were a little too large so I had a hard time getting the crumbs to stick to my tofu. If you use store bought bread crumbs or process your bread longer you should be fine!

Once all the tofu was breaded I just placed them on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and baked them in the oven at 350 for 35-40 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of baking, rotate the tofu blocks so that they can brown evenly.

After they've baked for about 40 minutes you're all done! You now have some flavorful, protein-packed tofu to add to any dish you're making.

If you have any other recipes for breading or marinating tofu, please let me know! I'm always open to suggestions.

Eat Consciously,

     Faith