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.
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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.
This is such a delicious recipe. The tofu cooks up so crispy and then the Sriracha sauce adds great flavor and heat. The cool lime flavor paired with the hot spicy plays with the tastes buds in a great way. Love the use of the butter beans to get extra protein too. Definitely recommend.
Thank you so much! We truly appreciate you giving the recipe a try and sharing your thoughts on it. We’re happy to know that this was a hit for you!
Wow! 🤩
Thank you!
Absolutely love this dish ❤️❤️❤️❤️ The crispy tofu is to die for and the cucumber & avocado salad, YUM! I’ve added it to my weekly rotation
Thank you!!!!! We love it when one of recipe becomes a regular in someone’s meal rotation. Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try!
This was amazing such great flavours loved it!
Thank you so much!
Wow! The whole time I was eating this I kept saying “Oh my gosh, this is so good!” The mango is definitely key. Love your videos too!
haha, so glad you enjoyed it so much!
This is the recipe I tried the very first time I cooked tofu. Amazing. It is now in the weekly recipe rotation. The first time I made it the tofu fell apart and I ended up with these super crispy tofu crumbles. Still amazing. This dish literally makes me so happy to eat. I know the mango is optional but definitely add it. 5 stars!
Thank you so much!!!! We love knowing that this recipe was a hit for you (Even though the tofu fell apart the first time!)
Delicious and amazing recipe! This one blew my husband away and I enjoyed cooking it for him too. Thank you so much for what you do with your cooking videos that help create a visual and clear step by step guide to follow such delicious and creative plant based recipes. Even the instructions for the printed version is clear and very well written and put together. Please know everything you put into your content shows and is inspiring.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful message! We are thrilled to hear that the recipe was a hit and that your husband loved it. It makes us so happy to know that the videos and written instructions helped make the cooking process enjoyable and clear.
Your kind words mean a lot and truly inspire us to keep creating delicious plant-based recipes.