Vegan General Tso’s Tofu

If you love Chinese food, you will love this vegan General Tso’s tofu!

General Tso’s is typically a sweet and spicy fried chicken dish at North American Chinese restaurants. Despite being served so widely, there is no record of any connection to General Tso Tsung-t’ang, the leader the dish is named after.

While there are some slight variations depending on cultures and region, the basis of the dish is the sauce, batter, and the main – which is usually chicken. Broccoli is also usually served along side it.

The sauce is the main component and made up of soy sauce, rice wing vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, dried whole red chili peppers and garlic.

We are taking the same base sauce and pairing it with tofu for a vegan General Tso’s that is simply amazing.

We don’t claim that this is an authentic recipe, however, we will show you how to make a delicious recipe easy and accessible to all!

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VEGAN GENERAL TSO’S TOFU INGREDIENTS:

Below are notes about the main ingredients before we get into the full recipe located lower in this post on how to make this vegan tofu dish:

• Tofu – The star of the show! You want to use an extra firm block of tofu for this recipe
• Brown sugar – Beyond adding just a little bit of sweetness to the marinade, sugar helps to neutralize spice as the sugar crystals absorb some of the capsaicin oils and balance the flavors well
• Garlic and Ginger – the aromatics for this dish.
• Red Chili Flakes – many places use actual red chilies, but they can be hard to locate, so we are using red chili flakes instead
• Soy sauce, Hoisin, Rice Wine Vinegar and Chili Paste – These are like the seasonings for this recipe. We recommend adding each and not making many changes besides a swap for the soy sauce if you need a soy free or gluten free variety

Substitutions and Variations:

• Tofu – obviously this whole dish is based around tofu, but you could also use seitan, jackfruit, oyster mushrooms, chickpeas, cauliflower and more with this recipe
• Red Pepper Flakes – you can use red chilis if desired or omit entirely if you don’t want this to be spicy
• Brown sugar – swap with coconut sugar if needed
• Cornstarch – Can be swapped with arrowroot powder
• Soy sauce- See below in the frequently asked questions for soy sauce swaps!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Tips for making the perfect tofu:

WHAT IS THE BEST TYPE OF TOFU TO USE?

We prefer extra firm tofu for this recipe and would highly recommend using that.

This recipe will also work with firm tofu if needed.

We do not advise using silken or soft tofu for this recipe.

WHY SHOULD I FREEZE TOFU FIRST?

Freezing tofu gives it a more meat-like texture. While this isn’t a requirement, we highly recommend doing it this way.

Freeze the tofu in the store packaging. Then remove and let thaw completely before adding it to a tofu press to drain (see below).

HOW DO I PRESS OUT TOFU?

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.

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