When it comes to dinner, stir-fry is a staple in our house. I know I'm in need of a good rest when I start making stir-fry for dinner every night, but it's just the perfect healthy lazy-night meal! This Teriyaki Peanut Tofu with Stir-Fried Veggies & Brown Rice is a new favourite!
The night before I go for my weekly grocery store trip we usually like to make a huge, veggie-packed stir-fry. It's a great way to use up everything in my vegetable crisper to make room for lots of fresh new produce.
This teriyaki peanut tofu stir-fry is a new recipe I've been keeping in rotation lately. It's a nice change from my usual go-to which is generally one variation or another of my Baked Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu + stir-fried veggies + brown rice or quinoa.
William and I have both been loving this dish. The spicy-sweet peanut-y sauce is super flavourful and seriously satisfying when paired with pan-fried tofu.
Pair the zippy peanut tofu with some steamed brown rice and whatever veggies you happen to have on hand. You'll end up with the perfect, easy mid-week meal that's still exciting and delicious!
Another great thing about this recipe? There's no need to press your tofu before getting started! Just a quick pan-fry until the tofu is a perfect crispy golden-brown.
When it comes to lazy dinners, less work is a very very good thing.
With just 6 ingredients, the teriyaki peanut sauce is an absolute breeze to throw together. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, throw in the crispy golden tofu and let it sit while you begin stir-frying your veggies.
Once your veggies are perfectly tender-crisp, add a couple of dashes of soy sauce and set them aside. Go light on the soy sauce, you want to add a little flavour while still leaving some room to pour a little (or a lot!) of that magical teriyaki peanut sauce over the whole dish to serve.
Reheat your wok and add the entire bowl of crispy tofu + teriyaki peanut sauce. Stir constantly because it thickens up fast!
Now doesn't that look absolutely heavenly? There's just something about that crispy-saucy tofu thing.
If you like this recipe, scroll on past the recipe for some more peanut sauce and stir-fry recipes you might like!
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Teriyaki Peanut Tofu with Stir-Fried Veggies & Brown Rice
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Lunch and Dinner, Entrée, Main
- Cuisine: Vegan
Description
Teriyaki peanut tofu served with stir-fried veggies and brown rice. Pair the zippy peanut tofu with some steamed brown rice and whatever veggies you happen to have on hand. You'll end the perfect easy mid-week meal that's still exciting and delicious!
Ingredients
Brown Rice Base
- 3 cups (750ml) cooked brown rice (1 cup - 250ml brown rice + 2.5 cups - 625ml vegetable broth)
Veggie Stir-Fry
- 1 tbsp (15ml) sesame oil or coconut oil
- 3 cups (750ml) broccoli florets
- 2 cups (500ml) zucchini, quartered and cut into ½ inch slices
- 2 cups (500ml) white button mushrooms, quartered
- 1 cup (250ml) carrots, sliced diagonally
- ½ red pepper, sliced
Teriyaki Peanut Tofu
- 1 block (350g) firm or extra-firm tofu, cubed
- ½ tbsp (7.5ml) sesame oil or coconut oil
Teriyaki Peanut Sauce
- ¼ cup (60ml) soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Aminos
- 2 tbsp (30ml) chile garlic sauce or sriracha (or a mix of the two)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp (15ml) brown sugar
- 1 tbsp (15ml) peanut butter
- 2 tbsp (30ml) sesame oil
- 1 tbsp (15ml) sesame seeds (optional)
- water to thin the sauce
Instructions
Preparing the brown rice
- Bring 2.5 cups of vegetable stock to a boil in a medium sized saucepan. Add 1 cup of brown rice, turn the heat down to low, cover and cook for 55 minutes.
- Once the rice is cooked, remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
Preparing the Teriyaki Peanut Sauce
- In a medium sized bowl, combine all of the sauce ingredients.
- After you've mixed all of the ingredients together, taste the sauce and feel free to customize it to your liking. Add more sriracha and/or chile garlic sauce for more heat, or add more brown sugar for sweetness. If you're a peanut butter lover you can double the amount used in this recipe.
Pan-frying the tofu
- Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil or coconut oil in a wok or skillet over medium-high heat.
- Arrange your cubed tofu in the wok. Cook until golden-brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Flip each piece and brown the other side, cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Once the tofu is cooked, pour it into the prepared teriyaki sauce and let it sit until you've cooked your vegetables.
Stir-frying the vegetables
- Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
- Add the broccoli florets, toss, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the zucchini and carrot, toss, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the mushroom and red pepper, toss, and cook for another 2-3 minutes until the broccoli is tender yet crisp.
- Add a few dashes of soy sauce and toss to coat. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
Finishing the Teriyaki Peanut Tofu
- Reheat your wok or skillet and pour the tofu and sauce mixture into the hot pan.
- The sauce should bubble and thicken, stir constantly to prevent the sauce from burning.
- Once the sauce is thick (about 1-1.5 minutes) remove from heat.
To serve
- Serve the ¼ of the vegetables and ¼ of the tofu on a bed of brown rice (about ¾ cup).
- Enjoy!
Love this peanut sauce? Check out our other peanut sauce recipes! Vegan Rice Paper Rolls with Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu (served with sweet and spicy peanut sauce) and our Warm Sweet Potato & Quinoa Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce.
Or check out our other stir-fry recipes like this Garlicky Cashew & Broccoli Stir-Fry and Almond Butter Noodles.
Vegan Rice Paper Rolls with Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu and Peanut Sauce
Alana
I make this probably once a month for my girlfriend and I. We LOVE it. Thank you!!!
★★★★★
Anni
We added lime, cilantro, red cabbage and sriracha. DELICIOUS! The family loved it!
★★★★★
Kim
How many calories is this all together I make it all the time but I have no idea how many calories I'm consuming.
Marie
This is our new favorite way to eat tofu, the sauce is just so good! We've made this many times in the last few months 🙂
★★★★★
Kathy Paulek
It looks like this recipe has been around for awhile, but I just tried it. Delicious. In fact, I'm eating it right now with ramen noodles. Thanks for posting and I can't wait to check out your other recipes 🙂
Anne
This was great, and I recommend it highly. I especially liked the teriyaki sauce with the fried tofu.❤❤
★★★★★
Uday Maitra
We had most, but not all the ingredients, but the Teriyaki Peanut sauce came out exceptional! We tossed the stir-fried veggies to the tofu in the sauce and mixed it gently. It was delicious with freshly baked bread. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Chris
This was excellent! My favorite stir-fry ever! We are not vegetarians, but I'm trying to make several plant-based only meals each week and I can positively say that I found the tofu to be even more satisfying than using chicken! I doubled the peanut butter and didn't have mushrooms so I subbed sugar snap peas. My tofu was nice and crispy, but after cooking in the sauce, it was pretty soggy. It didn't bother me, though (this was my first attempt at making tofu), and it also didn't deter me from eating every morsel on my plate! I will absolutely be trying more recipes from your site, thank you!
★★★★★
Sam
Delicious and simple! First time trying tofu and this recipe was lovely. Sauce was amazing 😍 I will definitely be making this again!
Nicole Madsen
I made this for dinner but with cauliflower rice! Great sauce 🙂 i added basil and green onion on top.
★★★★★
Candace
I never leave reviews but I had to say something about this one! Best stir fry ever!! And we followed the recipe exactly. Even better than at a restaurant!! Thank you!!!
Brittany
Oh thank you SO much Candace! I really appreciate you taking the time to review this recipe ♥ I think you'd really like this Garlicky Cashew Broccoli and Tofu Stir-Fry too!
Kathy
I must say that this is the best stir fry recipe I have ever tried. It beats all the ones that I have made and that I have tried in restaurants. Thank you for such a wonderful recipe!! I used combination of Chilli Garlic sauce and Sambal Olek and it was oh so delicious!!
★★★★★
Brittany
Thank you so much Kathy, I'm so glad you loved the recipe so much!
Stephanie
I feel like I should preface my review by saying that my family and I are not vegans. My husband's idea of a good dinner is a chunk of meat on the grill, veggies optional. I made this for dinner tonight after seeing in the news that Americans need to be eating more plant-based meals for the economy, the environment, and their health. I didn't think I could commit to being a vegan but I can commit to one plant-based meal a week. This was hands down the best dinner I have made in 2018. It is delicious and satisfying. My kids were a bit picky about the tofu, but I just plan to keep serving it and they'll get used to it. I can't wait to try more recipes from the site on vegan night. My husband said, "well if vegans eat like this, I suppose I could be a vegan." Bravo!
★★★★★
Mae
Lovely lovely meal...restaurant quality. Thanks so much for the recipe!
El
Delicious and easy to make! I will say the sauce came out pretty salty:/
But I can fix that next time
Neha
Hey Brittany, this is the perfect recipe I was looking for !! Thanks for the detailed post
Elaine
Hey Brittany, have loved making this! I was wondering if you could provide the nutritional info for this recipe?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Susanne
Hi, just to say - the first time to try tofu - it worked so well - your recipe was so good and easy and so delicious. Not
a bit left over
★★★★★
Brittany
Yay! Thanks Susanne, I'm so glad you loved this recipe!!
Jennifer Damron
OMG, loved this! I doubled the sauce as I like things saucy. Plus I'm not really a fan of vegetables so the sauce helps me out. I think I might add crushed peanuts on top next time. So glad I found this. I had been searching for a fantastic tofu recipe, and now I've found it!
★★★★★
Brittany
I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe Jennifer! Crushed peanuts would be sooo good on top for a little crunch and saltiness. Tofu is my favourite ingredient so you should definitely check out some of the other tofu recipes on the site 🙂 Sriracha & Soy Sauce Tofu is great for sandwiches and salads and this Garlicky Cashew Broccoli & Tofu Stir-Fry is another favourite dinner recipe. Thanks for commenting, I really appreciate it!
Marina
This was so yummy and easy! I didn't have brown rice on hand so I added some udon noodles to the stir fried veggies. I also double the peanut butter 👍
Brittany
Oooh, udon noodles would be an awesome sub for brown rice - I've got to try that ASAP! And you can't go wrong with double PB, can you? 😉
Katie M.
Hi! Do you have any suggestions on what I could use with the peanut butter to make a sauce that is NOT spicy? My daughter detests the slightest amount of 'kick' unfortunately. This recipe sounds AH- MAZZING and hoping I can sub out the chile/ sriracha to make it a little more kid-friendly.
Thank you so much!!!
Brittany
Hi Katie! you can just leave out the sriracha/chili sauce if you like. You could sub in a touch of lime juice or vegetable broth or just leave it out altogether. I hope that helps!
Megan
I rarely comment on recipes but I had to on this one because wow! This was delicious! I've been vegan 3 years and yet I've never really made tofu taste as nice as this, crazy to think it really may be just as simple as soaking the already fried tofu in a sauce after! But the sauce was lovely too (I omitted the sesame oil just because I don't have any but the rest was perfect).
★★★★★
Brittany
Yay! Thanks for commenting Megan, I'm so glad you loved the tofu especially 😀
Jess
Hi, loving this recipe, made it last week and it was so delicious I'm making it again tonight. I'm new to making stir fry and cooking in general and had a question; how much water on average do you usually add to thin the sauce out? Thanks!
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks Jess! It kind of depends, but usually between 2-4 tbsp of water is enough to thin the sauce to my liking (without lacking flavour.)
Veggie lover
Can u suggest how I can make this recipe with tempeh, we are trying to not eat tofu.
★★★★
Brittany
It's basically the same, you may find it takes less time to pre-fry the tempeh than it would for tofu. That's it!
Gail
Yummy yummy recipe. My son loved it i commented earlier about making crispy tofu , I forgot to mention to freeze it first. Then defrost, squeeze out liquid etc. now since I am in a rush, getting old and forgetting to defrost the tofu... I will just toss it into the oven ,frozen solid, for 20 minutes turn over and bake 12 minutes. It will defrost bake and dry out . Then dredge in cornstarch salt pepper a little oil bake 10 more minutes. Love your peanut butter teriyaki sauce!
Brittany
Thanks again Gail! Great tips!
Gail
Want super crispy tofu? Squeeze out water, cut into cubes, dredge in cornstarch, salt ,pepper. Fry in a little oil toss around until crispy everywhere.
I am making your yummy recipe right now. Thanks
Brittany
Thanks for the tip Gail, I'll try it out ASAP!
Laura Olinger
I've had this recipe on my tp-make list for a while but didn't commit to it until tonight. Why did I wait so long?! The tofu in the sauce really makes this dish great.
★★★★★
Brittany
Thank you so so much Laura! I'm glad you enjoyed it! 😀
Adelaide
This was delicious! I've never made tofu that tasted this good before. Thank you for this recipe!
★★★★★
Brittany
You are so welcome! Thanks for commenting 😀
Lea
Eeeerm this looks great and all, but somewhere up there it says "6 ingredients"...I count 16? Haha I feel a little tricked! Still going to try it...
Brittany
Hi Lea! Sorry for the confusion, I was only referring to the sauce. Sorry about that!
Grace
This looked so good and I needed a recipe using Tofu. The brand Nasoya Light Firm Tofu took longer than 3-4 minutes to brown. Hesitant about being too spicy, I decreased to 1 tsp of chili garlic sauce which I had in my pantry. The flavors are great! I used mixed pepper, carrots cut into matchstick size, white mushrooms, zucchini, and snow peas.
Brittany
I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe, thanks Grace! I've never used Nasoya's Light Firm Tofu so I'm not sure how it differs from regular extra-firm tofu.
Frida
Oh this was really good.
When I mixed the sauce it turned out more black-ish than the brown colour it has in your photos. Perhaps I had a too strong soy sauce? Anyway I added some more water, brown sugar and a dash of lime juice. It turned out great! : )
Brittany
Thanks Frida! I'm thinking that you're right, different soy sauces can be different strengths. I usually stick with a fairly light soy sauce but I've used some very dark, strong ones before too. I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe, thanks for commenting!
Michaela
made this tonight, so so yummy - thanks for sharing 🙂
★★★★★
Brittany
Thanks for trying it out! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
HT Stafford
This was indeed what I was looking for. Took the leap in "pan frying" tofu & am happy to say it worked! Have always baked in the past but am now confident in this alternative. Absolutely delicious! Love the sauce, it's a keeper & will be used & enjoyed in many recipes. I can't say...hold on(a few left over bites are calling) how much this recipe was,is and will be enjoyed & for this I Thank You!
★★★★★
Daisy
Hi, do you think I could freeze this meal, rice included? I tried freezing your coconut curry with rice and it turned out great.
Brittany
That's great to hear! I think it would be okay to freeze this, you might want to test it with a small portion first though. Please let me know how it works out if you give it a try!
Annaliese
This looks wonderful! I am going to try this tonight-but without the rice. I love peanutty-spicy tofu! Thanks for the recipe inspo!!
Brittany
Thanks! I hope you enjoy 😀