You will love this vegan tofu Paprikash as a traditional spin on a Hungarian paprikash. Simple, delicious and full of so much flavor!
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Saucy dishes are my kind of dishes and this Hungarian vegan tofu paprikash is right up my alley.
So traditional Hungarian paprikash is not vegan. In fact it is made typically with chicken, as well as sour cream.
However, I wanted to come close to recreating the same flavors that you’d love from this dish while still make it vegan and easy and I think I did just that!
This dish pairs perfectly with our vegan cheesy bread roll though it’s not traditional.
Jump to:
Why You’ll Love This Dish
- Robust Flavors – You won’t believe the flavors that you get out of this dish
- Feeling After Eating– when you eat this meal, your body feels amazing. Not full or bloated, but satisfied and thankful
- Super saucy – this recipe was specifically designed to be extra saucy for dipping and just enjoying
🥘Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients!
- Tofu– You want to use an extra firm or super firm tofu so that it holds up well without crumbling
- Coconut Cream – You want the thick part of canned coconut milk after refrigerating it overnight or now they make specific cans that say coconut cream (Target brand is our favorite).
- Spices – You specifically want to try to obtain a Hungarian sweet paprika as that is what is used in the traditional dish.
See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
Substitutions and Variations:
- Tofu – you could sub with soy curls, chickpeas, cauliflower, mushrooms, white beans, or seitan
- Spices – you can use traditional paprika for this dish as well, but it will taste different (still good though)
- Coconut Cream – You can use another thick milk like soy milk or oat milk; however, you may need to let it simmering for longer
Step by Step Instructions for vegan Hungarian paprikash:
Step 1. Lay tofu pieces on a plate and evenly season both sides with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
Step 2. In a large skillet with high walls, add oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the seasoned tofu and sear for 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side for additional 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove tofu to a plate.
Step 3. Cook onions and seasonings. Then add broth and stir together. Add seared tofu back to the dish, cover with some of the sauce and let cook for 30 minutes (up to an hour), basting occasionally. Remove tofu back to the plate.
Step 4. Add in coconut cream into the sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes. Add tofu back into the sauce and cook until heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Top with fresh parsley, more coconut cream and red pepper flakes if desired.
Recipe FAQs:
Yes. Sub the tofu for something like chickpeas, mushrooms, beans, or another plant based allergy friendly main.
Yes. Once cooled completely, you can store in an air tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
To be honest this recipe makes a lot of sauce. If you want to add another block of tofu, you’d have enough sauce to do that. Otherwise, if you truly want to double, you will want to use a larger pot and not a skillet. Cook the tofu in batches in the beginning.
We do not recommend freezing this dish.
Other Vegan Dinner Recipes to Consider:
Did you make and love this recipe?
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Vegan Tofu Paprikash
Ingredients
- 28-32 oz super firm tofu, cut into 8 squares (or desired size) [2 blocks of tofu]
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 4 tablespoon all purpose flour (use gluten free if needed)
- 3 tablespoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup coconut cream (can sub with vegan sour cream)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
- red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Lay tofu pieces on a plate and evenly season both sides with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- In a large skillet with high walls, add oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the seasoned tofu and sear for 1-2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side for additional 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove tofu to a plate.
- Same skillet, reduce heat to medium low, add onions and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add garlic, tomato paste, and flour and cook, stirring, another 2-3 minutes. Add sweet and smoked paprika and stir together. Cook for 1 minute, careful not to burn. Add vegetable broth and stir together well.
- Add seared tofu back to the dish, pour some of the sauce over the tofu and then cover with a lid and let cook for 30 minutes (up to an hour), basting occasionally. Remove tofu back to the plate.
- Add in coconut cream into the sauce and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes. Add tofu back into the sauce and cook until heated through. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Top with fresh parsley and red pepper flakes if desired.
Mr. Nard Dog. Thanks for the Tofu Paprikash recipe. I’ve never had a paprikash before and now I understand how it got it’s name 😁. I’m not vegetarian, but this looked so good, I had to try it (just between you and me, this is the second recipe of yours that I’ve made). I was NOT disappointed! On the recipe page, someone commented that it tasted too much like flour, but I didn’t get that. The roux turned out perfectly. I did a few things differently though. I prepped the tofu the night before, adding the spices and oil to the tofu in a zip top bag, then refrigerated it over night. I don’t know if that made a difference, but it was damn good. That got a 5-star rating!
We’re so happy that you are enjoying the recipes Lorien! (we’ll keep it between us 😉 )
Maybe I did something wrong, but both my wife and I felt it tasted as though it had way too much flour (we used GF measure for measure) – it really covered over all the flavor of the dish. Before going vegan, Chicken Paprikash was one of my favorites.
We even added lemon juice to try to cut through the floury taste – but it didn’t do much.
I may try it again with either no or 1 tablespoon of flour instead.
Hi Dennis. Sorry you were disappointed with this dish. While you are welcomed to make those changes, this is an appropriate amount of flour to liquid ratio to make a roux. Maybe it was the GF flour that you used that altered the taste, but we’ve made this recipe multiple times and the flour is not a dominate flavor. My only other suggestion would be to make sure that you really whisk/stir the flour together so there’s no pockets of flour remaining.
Also we see you left another similar comment to this, we are only approving this one since it’s the same. Just note that we typically only approve comments once a week and sometimes are a little further behind than that. Thanks for understanding.
Thanks for your reply Larisha.
I totally get you on the roux ratio. The only thing I can add that may be the problem was I typically freeze my tofu, thaw and press. When I added the tofu to the hot pan with oil, the tofu absorbed a lot of the oil while it was browning. So by the time the tofu was removed and I moved on to the next step, there wasn’t as much oil as I would imagine would be needed for the roux.
But I agree, it could be the GF flour.
Thanks again for your response.
(Sorry about posting the review more than once – when I didn’t see it up, I thought it got lost and I wanted to make sure it went through)
Ahh that could definitely be it too.
Wow. I’ve never cooked with coconut cream but it’s so delicious it could make me give up sweets for good! Seriously though, I found this recipe when I searched for anti-inflammatory vegan recipes after lunch. I was completely full but your video made me hungry again. I thought about making this for two whole days. My bf and I loved it!
I never can follow a recipe. I used chickpea flour bc I love the flavor it adds, I air fried my tofu to save a little time, I used more paprika (both kinds) and more garlic. I could see this pairing well with farro, short grain rice or another large, chewy grain. We had some frozen falafel, so I heated that in the oven to soak up the extra sauce. This is definitely a recipe I will make again, can’t wait to try more!
So happy that you loved it so much. Coconut cream is one of our favorite things to use!
do I use chickpeas instead of the tofu??
Yes, if you’d like
Absolutely incredible! Definitely in my rotation now!
yay!
I just made this and it is really delicious!
I halved the recipe and I found the sauce was a bit too thick, I probably ended up using 1 1/2 cups of stock. This is probably just from there being a smaller amount of liquid in a wide pan.
Thanks for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it
This came out fantastic! I had some trouble searing the tofu but it was worth the effort. I served this over vegan egg noodles and grated some vegan parmesan on top.
Sounds wonderful! Glad you enjoyed
LOVE. I’ve been wanted to try this dish since I read about it in Dracula and was so excited to find your veganized version! I added cauliflower in after the onions and ate it with bread. So good I’m obsessed
Great addition idea! Glad you enjoyed it
Beyond delicious, and, as an extra bonus: easy to follow directions!
Winning!
Hello,
I’ve been watching your videos for a while now and I love them. I always see you use coconut cream in your recipes and I have tried many different brands, but they all are too liquid or too oily, and not at all the consistency I see in your videos. you link the ingredient to Thai Kitchen, which is one I’ve used a lot, but is always the wrong consistency. which brand do you prefer or what do you do with the can before opening… basically, how can I get that coconut cream consistency out of a store bought product?
thank you
Are you refrigerating them?