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Painting With A Green Palate...100% Vegan, & Gluten-Free Cooking

Garlic Pepper Tofu (vegan, gluten-free)

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My husband had garlic pepper tofu at a Thai restaurant once and loved the dish. Not having tasted it myself, I tried to search for a recipe online to recreate it at home, but failed to find one which had all the ingredients I wanted to add. Therefore, I decided to try and create the dish myself. The outcome was savory and delicious! Since then, I’ve made this dish several times and it has become one of our staples when making Thai food at home. Hope you enjoy the dish as much as we do!

5 from 1 vote
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Garlic Pepper Tofu
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 

Re-create a restaurant favorite at home! This Garlic Pepper Tofu is for you black pepper lovers out there!

Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Thai, Vegan
Keyword: easy thai food, garlic tofu recipe
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 120 kcal
Author: Anjali Lalani
Ingredients
  • 28 oz. firm tofu , 2 blocks
  • 3/4 cup white onions , finely chopped
  • 3-4 cloves garlic , chopped
  • 2 teasp ginger , grated
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • green onions , chopped (optional)
For the Sauce:
  • 5 tbsp tamari , or soy sauce (non GF option)
  • 1 1/2 teasp ground pepper , preferably fresh ground pepper
  • 4 1/2 teasp sugar , coconut or white sugar, or maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 teasp chili sauce , I use Huy Fong Chili Sauce
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • 5 tbsp water
Instructions
To Prepare Tofu:

  1. Cut both tofu blocks in half. Place each half in a clean paper towel one at a time and squeeze to remove excess storage liquid (without breaking up the tofu). Cut the tofu into 1/2 to 1 in. cubes and pan fry on medium-high heat with 2 Tbsp cooking oil, mixing and turning frequently until all the water is burned off and the tofu is lightly golden brown on most sides (be sure not to burn the tofu). While the tofu is cooking, continue on to prepare the sauce.

To Prepare Sauce:
  1. Combine all ingredients listed under sauce above. Mix until all the cornstarch has dissolved. Add more chili sauce if you prefer more spice.
  2. Once the tofu is done, set it aside in a separate bowl.

  3. In the same pan, add 1 Tbsp cooking oil and heat on medium. Add the garlic and ginger and fry in the oil till fragrant. Add the white onions and continue mixing until they are cooked (1-2 minutes).

  4. Add the tofu, and pour sauce over the tofu. Mix on low-medium heat until the sauce slightly thickens and coats the tofu. Do not burn off all the sauce. This should only take a few minutes.
  5. Taste the sauce after it is done. Depending on how sweet and spicy you prefer the dish, adjust as needed with soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and chili sauce.
  6. (optional) Top with chopped green onions and serve hot over brown rice.
Nutrition Facts
Garlic Pepper Tofu
Amount Per Serving
Calories 120 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 6g 9%
Saturated Fat 3g 15%
Sodium 711mg 30%
Potassium 247mg 7%
Total Carbohydrates 8g 3%
Sugars 4g
Protein 8g 16%
Vitamin C 1.8%
Calcium 4.1%
Iron 7.5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Comments

  3. Avani V. says

    July 1, 2011 at 4:04 AM

    Made this dish yesterday and it was much easier than expected! I was a little worried about cooking the tofu, but that wasn't too hard. Ended up being a little spicier than I would have liked because I used red onion instead of green (that's all we had in the house), but it was still very tasty.
    Reply

  5. Kavita Rao says

    October 31, 2011 at 4:08 AM

    CThis dish came out excellent! Loved the recipe and will def make it again. I used soft tofu but it was still delicious! Can't wait to try other recipes from ur blog!
    -KavIta Rao
    Reply

    • anjali says

      March 16, 2014 at 11:01 PM

      Thank you so much Megan! So glad you enjoyed the dish. It's a staple in our house as well with some quinoa on the side. Hope you get a chance to try out a few other recipes from the site!
      Reply

    • anjali says

      April 17, 2014 at 3:52 AM

      So glad you enjoyed this dish! It's one of our favorite go-to Thai dishes and it's so easy to make! Thanks for the comment and thanks for visiting my site. Hopefully you get a chance to try out some of the other recipes on the site.
      Reply

  9. Reena D. says

    August 4, 2014 at 1:02 AM

    I made this tonight and its soooo easy and delicious! I added a couple veggies like bell pepper and spinach. I also sub'd the sugar with splenda to keep it low sugar...def. a healthy dish that tastes great!
    Reply

  10. sheena says

    September 24, 2014 at 11:43 AM

    I have tried several recipes from your site (which are all awesome btw, especially your thai basil eggplant & sweet chili lime tofu) but this is definitely one of my go-to recipes for a quick dinner along with roasted garlic & onion whole wheat couscous..I sometimes add another vegetable to this dish - my most recent version in which I added some sliced baby portabello mushrooms came out soooo delish!I was curious as to whether you have or would consider adding any nutritional information to your recipes online?next on my list is to try making your tofu w/peanut sauce & spinach with jasmine brown rice :)
    Reply

    • anjali says

      September 29, 2014 at 10:17 PM

      Hi Sheena! Thank you so much for the great feedback! I'm so excited that you've enjoyed some of my Thai recipes...those dishes are some of my favorites and go-to's as well. The Thai Basil Eggplant is one of my most popular dishes, so I'm glad you had a chance to try it out. So far for the garlic pepper tofu, I've only added bok choy, but I absolutely love mushrooms and how great they are at soaking up sauces so I will have to try adding them next time.And YES...absolutely. Adding nutritional information to my recipes is something I am planning on doing. I will actually start to add them this month for any future recipes, and back-calculate my older recipes as quick as I can. So definitely be on the lookout for nutritional information. In the meantime, if you have any specific recipes for which you would like the nutritional information for, let me know and I'll do my best to get that info to you.Yum...jasmine brown rice sounds delicious. Hope you enjoy the peanut sauce recipe!
      Reply

  11. Sejal D. says

    October 30, 2014 at 9:48 PM

    I tried this recipe last night and it was om nom nom delicious (not to mention, super easy to make)! I couldn't believe how similar it tasted to dishes like this that I have had at a restaurant. I definitely recommend tossing in extra green onions towards the end :)
    Reply

    • anjali says

      October 31, 2014 at 6:08 AM

      So glad you loved it!! I was surprised how easy it was to recreate and oh-so-much-better and healthier than the restaurant version! And yes..love extra green onions =) Thanks for visiting!
      Reply

    • anjali says

      March 9, 2015 at 8:53 PM

      So glad you said that it tastes better than a Thai restaurant =) My thoughts exactly!! I was trying to recreate one of my favorites at home, but loaded with a ton more black pepper, ginger, and garlic =) Hope you get a chance to try out some of the other Thai dishes! My Eggplant one is a follower favorite!
      Reply

  13. Shirin says

    April 16, 2015 at 2:36 AM

    Hi Anjali, I made this recipe and absolutely loved it! I've been trying for a while to get the right tofu recipe that incorporates both sweetness and spice and this totally nailed it! Thanks for sharing and I love your blog!
    Reply

    • anjali says

      April 19, 2015 at 3:02 PM

      Awesome to hear! Thanks so much for the comment, and glad you loved the dish! It's one of my favorite re-creations of a favorite thai dish we once had. Hopefully you get a chance to try out a few other Thai dishes on my site!
      Reply

  15. Cindy says

    April 23, 2018 at 6:00 PM

    I've never used chili sauce so I have a question: is it sweet chili sauce or chili garlic sauce or are they all the aame? I am looking forward to making this 😊
    Reply

    • anjali says

      April 25, 2018 at 12:22 PM

      It's chili garlic sauce :) I typically like using the one found in most local and asian markets. The Huy Fong brand with the green lid! But any would do! Even sriracha if you don't have another, although taste will be slightly different but still delicious! I actually omit the chili sauce all together when i make this dish for the kids :)
      Reply

  16. Karen Shoup says

    July 16, 2018 at 3:21 PM

    Hi there,Do you serve this tofu dish with quinoa or with brown rice? I noticed both were mentioned. Do you have a preference?K
    Reply

    • anjali says

      July 18, 2018 at 5:22 PM

      I've served it with both! Really just depends on what you're in the mood for. I prefer brown rice, but typically serve with quinoa in my house since it's healthier and our grain of choice.
      Reply

  17. KS says

    October 28, 2018 at 9:35 PM

    I found the black pepper to be way too strong. Both my wife and I had heart burn for hours. I made it again but only used 1/4 tsp black pepper for a more subtle taste. Now I really like the recipe.
    ★★☆☆☆
    Reply

    • anjali says

      October 28, 2018 at 10:31 PM

      Hi! This is meant to have a lot of garlic and pepper and different people, of course, can handle different amounts of spice. Not sure why you gave it a 2 star rating if you really liked the recipe though. If it's just the amount of black pepper, would've been nicer if you left a comment and said what you switched but gave it a better rating since it's a preference thing. This dish is clearly heavy on black pepper, which most readers love. It's the main ingredient for the sauce. I make it all the time as do other followers and have had no problem with heart burn.
      Reply

  18. HL says

    February 6, 2019 at 5:49 PM

    We loved this dish so much and will definitely have it on regular rotation - love the intense flavours! I served it with steamed broccoli and brown rice and it made the perfect dinner. Thanks!
    ★★★★★
    Reply

    • anjali says

      February 9, 2019 at 12:18 AM

      Thanks so much for trying it out! It's definitly very strong in flavor...especially with the garlic and pepper. Broccoli sounds perfect with it! Thanks so much for the great review!
      Reply

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