This Spinach, Avocado and Marinated Tofu Salad recipe was originally published on March 13th, 2013. After noticing more people visiting this recipe we decided to update it and repost it on August 30, 2019.
This new and improved version of our Spinach, Avocado and Marinated Tofu Salad features fresh new images, and updated recipe, nutrition info, and a new dressing. The original recipe called for a simple "dressing" of soy sauce and sesame oil. We've stuck to that theme but upgraded it to a creamy toasted soy & sesame dressing. We’ve doubled the marinated tofu portion of the recipe but otherwise kept it the same.
We included the original image at the end of the post to jog your memory if you think you've made this recipe before.
We topped this hearty salad of baby spinach, marinated tofu, avocado, carrot, cucumber, red bell pepper, green onion with a creamy toasted sesame and soy dressing.
This is a great meal to pack for work or school lunches (just pack the dressing on the side). Add some cooked brown rice to turn this salad into a filling vegan lunch bowl. A single serving, made as is, contains 15 grams of plant-based protein (scroll to the end for complete nutrition information.)
Feel free to swap ingredients in and out. I love adding to or swapping the spinach with romaine lettuce for a crunchier salad.
Inspired by the flavours of gomae, a Japanese spinach salad, this toasted sesame and soy dressing is blended and contains cashews for a creamy finish. This versatile dressing is perfect for rice noodle salads, vegan lunch bowls, summer rolls, and stir-fries.
The marinated tofu in this recipe remains the same as before: a simple marinade of soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and garlic. You can choose to bake or sauté the tofu. Baking takes a little longer but it's more hands-off and uses less oil. Sautéing is quicker, but its uses more oil and requires more hands-on supervision.
As with any marinated tofu recipe, you’ll enjoy the best flavour if you press your tofu first. I’m not a fan of typical pressing methods, they tend to take a while or they don’t work that well. I usually use my “quick pressing method” from my very old “4 Part Tofu Tutorial”. Slice a block of extra-firm tofu into 8 slices and lay them on a clean folded kitchen towel. Top with a second folded kitchen towel and add pressure to draw out excess moisture. Place a cutting board on top and weight it with some heavy things, (cookbooks, cast-iron bakeware, nesting bowls, etc.) for 30 minutes or so. If you're in a hurry you can quickly press some moisture out of the tofu with your hands.
Tofu Pressing Tip (for my fellow cooks with cats and dogs in house):
Pet hair is a fact of life and sometimes kitchen towels aren't 100% fur-free. You can use paper towel to press tofu but you'll need to use a lot of it. Instead, use the kitchen towel method but add a single piece of paper towel wrapped around the tofu. With this method, paper towel is a barrier between the tofu while the kitchen towel absorbs moisture. This ensures that you don’t add any undesired “ingredients” to your tofu with minimal waste.
Alternatively, you can buy a tofu press! It's like a little vice that evenly adds pressure to press excess moisture from a block of tofu.
This marinade is rich enough that you CAN skip the marinating if you’re looking to save time. In this case I’ll whip up the tofu first and let it marinate briefly while I preheat my oven or skillet and prepare the dressing and vegetables. After that, use up remaining marinade in the cooking process. If baking, top the tofu with any leftover marinade before baking. If sautéing, add remaining marinade near the end of the cooking process and cook until it’s absorbed.
Marinated Tofu, Avocado, and Spinach Salad with Creamy Toasted Sesame & Soy Dressing
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Lunch & Dinner, Main Course, Salad
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
A hearty salad of baby spinach, marinated tofu, avocado, carrot, cucumber, red bell pepper, green onion with a creamy toasted sesame and soy dressing.
Ingredients
Marinated Tofu:
- 1 block (350g) firm or extra-firm tofu, pressed and cut into small squares
- 2 tbsp (30ml) low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 tbsp (30ml) water
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp (10ml) sriracha (more or less to your preference)
- 1 tsp (5ml) sesame oil
- (Optional, for sautéing) 1 tablespoon (15ml) canola oil (or other neutral-tasting vegetable oil)
Creamy Toasted Sesame & Soy Dressing:
- 3-4 tablespoon (45-60ml) low-sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup (60ml) raw cashews
- ¼ cup (60ml) water
- 3 tbsp (45ml) toasted sesame seeds, divided
- 2 tbsp (30ml) canola oil
- 2 tsp (10ml) sugar
- 2 tsp (10ml) rice wine vinegar
Spinach, Avocado, and Marinated Tofu Salad:
- 8 large handfuls of baby spinach
- 1 carrot, grated
- ½ cucumber, halved and sliced
- ½ red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 2 stalks green onion, sliced thinly
- 2 tbsp (30ml) toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Toasting sesame seeds:
- Heat skillet over medium heat. Add sesame seeds and cook, stirring often until golden-brown and fragrant. Do not leave unattended.
Marinated Tofu:
- For optimal flavour, press tofu to draw out excess moisture. Check out our tutorial on draining and pressing tofu for a quick and easy method.
- Combine marinade ingredients. Add cubed tofu. Stir to coat. Marinate for 1 hour (stirring halfway through). If you're in a hurry, you can skip this step.
- Baking Instructions: (Uses less oil, slower method) Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread tofu out in a single layer with no pieces touching. Top with remaining marinade. Bake for 20 minutes (or until tofu is crisp on the outside and tender inside.)
- Skillet Instructions: (Uses more oil, faster method) Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil over medium-high heat. Add marinated tofu cubes (reserving excess marinade) and cook, turning tofu as needed, until all sides are golden-brown and crisp on all sides. Stir in remaining marinade and cook until marinade cooks down and coats the tofu.
- Chill tofu.
Creamy Toasted Sesame & Soy Dressing:
- Set aside half of the sesame seeds. Combine remaining ingredients in a blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add remaining sesame seeds and stir. Chill in refrigerator.
Assembling salad:
- In a large bowl, add 2 handfuls of spinach. Top with grated carrot, sliced cucumber, red bell pepper, avocado, and green onion. Add ¼ of the chilled marinated tofu. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with extra toasted sesame seeds.
Keywords: marinated tofu, tofu salad, vegan sesame dressing
Sue
Thanks for this delicious recipe. We espeecially loved the tofu and that dressing!! Yum.
★★★★★
Matthew
We've had this recipe many times now, it's a hit thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Donna
Wow! This was absolutely delicious! I even got hubby to eat it and he loved it too. We are far from vegan but are trying to eat healthier. Thanks for a fantastic dinner!
★★★★★
Natasha
Very tasty
★★★★★
Kortneii MacKenzie
Yum this was a nice change of pace.really enjoying the different flavors! Excellent recipe! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Evelyn
I could not find rice wine vinegar, I found rice vinegar is that the same?
cm
A lovely salad for a summers day, and full of exceptional nutrition too.
★★★★★
Tanya W
Easy and delicious! It's super tasty and will be in our summer rotation! Great way to use large bags of spinach before they go bad!
Because another similar recipe I love calls for cornstarch before baking, I added about 1 T cornstarch. Next time I'll have to try side by side with and without to see if how that changes it! My husband and family loved it (except our 10 & 12 yo boys who hate tofu).
This is versatile. I didn't have avocado, peppers, or carrot, but it was still a great and quick meal (you do have to plan ahead a little for tofu pressing time and baking time). I have fallen in love with tofu because it can be prepared so healthfully and deliciously. I like not worrying about it getting tough like a lot of chicken, and not having unhealthy hormone and antibiotic additives (and not causing animals to live out horrible lives to feed us!).
★★★★★
Belinda
I wanted to make an avocado, orange, spinach salad with tofu, but I have not been very successful with making tasty sauteed tofu. Your recipe was my inspiration. Your suggestions for pressing the tofu, skipping the marinating time and baking the tofu made the salad fabulous!! I ended up adding thinly sliced cabbage, cooked golden beets and green onion. The salad was delicious—thanks to your dressing recipe, your excellent tofu preparation suggestions and your tasty marinade recipe! Thank you. We will definitely make this again.
★★★★★
Barbara
This recipe looks amazing - thanks!
I'm a little confused about the tofu - the recipe says to add just a quarter of the marinated tofu. What about the rest?
Brittany
Ah! I'm sorry you were confused, I should have been more clear in my directions. My intention was that you would use 1/4 of the tofu for each serving!
Stephanie
Delicious! I didn't have cashews so I swapped in natural peanut butter for the cashews and the oil. I baked the tofu and added half a cup of cooked quinoa since I'm nursing a baby. Highly recommend!
★★★★★
Cheryl
Delicious recipe with some great new ideas. Fantastic photography show casing the lively colours and textures too. And it's vegan--hurray!🌱
★★★★★
Brittany
Thank you so much! The photography has certainly come a long way, haha 😛
Lisa
This is delicious. How long will the leftover dressing last in the fridge?
Tim Bu Dong
Ummm, I might be dense, but the ingredients list leaves out almost all of the ingredients?
Can you actually complete the ingredients list?
- Avocado
- Spinach
- Tofu
- ???
Looks like cucumber and red capsicum, but I can't tell. Or is that tomato?
Kanika
Amazing recipe !!simple ,quick and addictive ..thanks
Anna
Discovered this addicting recipe a couple months ago and use it all the time. Yum! I marinate a whole block at once. Is there a way to put it the oven to cook, or should you always fry|?
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks for commenting Anna! You can definitely cook this tofu in the oven, I'd preheat your oven to about 425F and cook for about 10-15 minutes per side. I hope that works for you!
Mary Feraz
Made this with some leftover tofu and wheatberries. Nice flavors. Thanks!
★★★★
Andrea
Was on a tofu hiatus for a few months after getting burned out, but after an amazing tofu scramble experience my fermented soybean craze was kick-started once again. I am a salad fanatic and wanted to incorporate chilled tofu into my meal prep for this week's lunches. Stumbled upon this recipe and WOW! So simple with inexpensive ingredients and the flavors are just perfect for a yummy summertime lunch. I added brown rice for texture and opted for a balsamic vinaigrette dressing (not a fan of Asian store bought dressings). I can tolerate some heat so I wish I had added more sriracha sauce and marinated for a tad longer because I can barely taste it. I'd recommend marinating for at least two hours.
Great recipe- definitely adding to my rotation!
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks so much Andrea!