This easy spicy maple glazed tofu rice bowl is packed with bold flavor! Delicious tofu with rice, and a fresh cucumber avocado salad.
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The secret to flavorful, crispy tofu that actually holds onto the glaze? Press it well and give it time to marinate.
As a long-time vegan and someone who’s cooked a lot of tofu over the years, and used to think I hated tofu, I can tell you—those two steps make all the difference.
Pressing removes excess water so the tofu crisps up nicely, and marinating lets every bite soak in that sweet heat from the maple glaze.
This spicy maple glazed tofu is one of those meals that looks a little fancy but is super approachable. It’s sweet, spicy, sticky, and perfect over rice, in bowls, or tucked into wraps.
We turn to it on busy nights when we still want something flavorful and satisfying.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Dish
- Flavorful – There are so many flavors packed into one bowl with this dish that work so well together to have an incredibly delicious meal. The sweet and spicy of the tofu with the light and bright avocado cucumber salad is just perfection together.
- Take Out Inspo – This dish feels like it comes right out of your favorite take-out Asian spot without ever having to leave the house!
- Meal Prep Friendly – All the components of this dish are easily meal-prepped and then ready to toss together when you’re ready to eat it
Ingredients for this dish:
Gather your ingredients!
Tofu
We are using an extra firm tofu here for this dish. It’s perfect for holding it’s shape while cooking, but also allowing for the marinade to penetrate perfectly.
We also use soy sauce, cornstarch and spices for the rest of the tofu dish.
Substitute: If you don’t eat tofu, you can swap this with cauliflower, chickpeas, mushrooms, or vegan chicken pieces. For the cauliflower you can make the same way as the tofu. With the chickpeas or mushrooms, if would be best to just toast in a skillet, and then add the sauce in until heated through.
For soy sauce, you can swap with a no soy soy sauce, tamari, or coconut aminos depending on your needs. The cornstarch can be swapped with arrowroot powder.
Spicy Sauce
For the sauce, you’ll need butter beans, lime, sriracha, cumin, onion powder, smoked paprika, and maple syrup. The better beans make the sauce creamy and add protein, while the remaining ingredients help with flavor.
Substitute: For the beans, they can be subbed with cannellini or great northern beans. Raw cashews will also work.
Variation: If you don’t like spicy dishes, you can omit the sriracha, or add less. You could also just add some red pepper flakes to taste if you’d like less.
Cucumber Avocado Salad
This salad combines mini cucumbers, avocados, cilantro, lime, and maple syrup.
Substitute: It will change the taste, but if you aren’t a fan of cilantro, try using parsley.
Rice
We prefer using brown basmati rice for our recipes. However, since this is being made separately from the rest of the dish, you can use what you prefer for your rice bowls.
Substitute: You can also do this with noodles, quinoa, or other grains that you prefer using.
Other Vegan Tofu Ideas To Try:
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Spicy Maple Glazed Tofu Rice Bowl
Ingredients
For the Crispy Tofu:
- 1 14-16oz block extra firm tofu, pressed and drained, torn into pieces (397g)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons sriracha
- 2 cups rice, uncooked (400g)
For the Avocado Cucumber Salad:
- 2 mini cucumbers, finely diced
- 1 avocado, finely diced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime, zested and juiced
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
For the Spicy Sauce:
- 1 15oz butter beans, drained and rinsed (425g)
- 1 lime juiced
- ¼ cup sriracha (80g)
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- water, as needed to thin
Additional Ingredients, Optional
- Fresh mango, diced
- Black sesame seeds
Instructions
- Make Tofu: Preheat oven to 425˚F. Add tofu into to a large bowl. Add soy sauce and vinegar and gently stir together. After 15 mins, to the tofu, add cornstarch, garlic powder, paprika and oil. Gently toss to coat. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and put into oven. Cook for 25 minutes, flipping half way through.
- Maple Sriracha Sauce: Add maple sauce and sriracha to a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside until tofu is finished. When finished, drizzle across and toss to coat well.
- Rice: Cook 2 cups of your favorite rice according to the package instructions.
- Sauce: Add all sauce ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. If needed, add a teaspoon of water at a time to desired consistency.
- Avocado cucumber salad: Add ingredients to a bowl and toss until the avocados and cucumbers are fully coated.
- Make your bowl: Add rice first, then desired about of tofu salad and sauce.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
The easiest way to press out tofu is to use a tofu press. We use this tofu press because it’s easy to use and works great.
However, if you don’t have a tofu press then you could wrap the block of tofu in a kitchen towel, place it on a plate, and then put something heavy on top like a cast iron skillet.
This recipe has tofu and soy sauce. You can use a no soy soy sauce and the tofu could also be done with chickpeas or cauliflower.
Once cooled, store each of these separate in air tight containers. Each part of the dish is good in the fridge for up to 3 days.
We do not recommend freezing this dish.
Delicioso !!!
Gracias!
My cooking sheet is 25 years old… makes the best dinners! I made the tofu. I wasn’t sure about the heat from the amount of Sriracha in the recipe but boy was it good my lips are tingling but boy was it good thank you for this recipe. I like the way the tofu is crispy but not crunchy like fried thank you.
You’re so welcome. Enjoy that sheet 😉
Fantastic! The prep came together pretty easily and the bowls were the perfect summer bite for our movie night!
Love that! Hope you enjoyed the movie too
Lots of components to prep but really delicious when it comes together.
Glad you enjoyed!
This is absolutely my new favorite crispy tofu recipe. With no leftovers, you’ve definitely exceeded expectations.
Thank you Larisha and Andrew!
Love that!
This is a very flavorful dish that comes together pretty quickly and satiates you so you aren’t hungry an hour later. The mango was a good call. Delicious.
Happy you enjoyed it!
Just made this for dinner and WOWZA, knock out flavors. I don’t like as much spice so I only put chili garlic oil (didn’t have sriracha) on the tofu glaze. I also didn’t add maple syrup to the cucumber avocado salad. And I didn’t have butter beans so I substituted for cashews. I can’t wait to make this again a little more faithfully to the original recipe but all the substitutions worked out deliciously!
So glad you enjoyed it Chelsea!