Vietnamese Caramelised Tofu

‘Divine! Julia, your Vietnamese-inspired caramelised tofu is absolutely scrummy. Tasty, colourful, healthy and delicate.’
Jules B, Kendal; Food Customer

✨ Before We Begin…

Crisp tofu in a sweet, savoury, sticky caramel sauce with ginger, garlic, and chilli.

‘Must be best food offer, of any genre, in Kendal. Hugely accomplished cooking and very much recommended.’
Tony P, Kendal; Food Customer

The Cook’s Mind

What This Recipe Helps You Practise

• Caramelising sugar to amber.
• Balancing sweet, salty, and spicy.
• Frying tofu for a crisp crust.

Make-Ahead

• Make the sauce ahead and reheat.
• Tofu is best cooked fresh.

Freezer-Friendly

• Not freezer friendly.
• Reheats but really, it’s not at it’s best. If there’s some left over, I think it’s better cold than reheated.

Key Substitutions

• Tofu: swap for tempeh or seitan.
• Soy sauce: use tamari for gluten-free.

Cooking Parlance

• Caramelise: cook sugar until amber before adding liquid.
• Deglaze: add liquid to lift caramel.

Ingredient Focus

✨ Tofu — protein-rich and adaptable.

To Ingredient Focus: Firm Tofu

Serving Suggestions

• Serve with jasmine rice.
• Top with herbs and lime.

Multi-Purpose Recipe

This recipe has more than one life…

• Use as filling for lettuce wraps.
• Turn into a noodle topping.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Crisp, sticky, and addictive.
• Balancing bold flavours.
• Quick but impressive.

Handpicked to Go With This One

A few recipes that play well together — flavour friends, not just neighbours.

• Best Vegan Ramen Recipe – High Protein, Tasty, Light
• Authentic Vegan Chow Mein – A Flavour-Packed Takeaway Classic
• Perfectly Cooked Rice

Waste Less: How To Use Up Your Ingredient Stash!

Got something spare — a handful, a spoonful, or the end of a packet? These tags help you find other ways to use it. It’s a small step toward cooking intuitively and wasting less ❣️

Vietnamese Caramelised Tofu Recipe

Vietnamese Caramelised Tofu

Julia Savory

A dish to showcase how stunning tofu can be! Sticky, umami-rich sauce clings to tofu, green beans, and peppers in this lockdown favourite. Fresh lime and coriander cut through the richness, making it a dish that wins over even tofu sceptics. This really is a dish to cook for non-vegan friends!

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Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Pressing time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Main

Cuisine Drawn from Asian Flavours

Servings 3 servings

Calories/Seving 361 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 400 g firm tofu | unpressed weight; ideally Cauldron brand. It's better (softer inside) than say Tofoo, which is almost too firm.
• 15 ml rapeseed oil
• salt | to season the tofu prior to cooking
• ground black pepper | to season the tofu prior to cooking
• 200 g red onions | unpeeled weight
• 23 g fresh garlic | unpeeled weight
• 180 g green pepper | prepped weight
• 180 g green beans
• 10 ml rapeseed oil
• 1 pinch salt
• 60 g soft dark brown sugar
• 60 ml light soy sauce
• 30 ml lime juice
• 5 ml hickory liquid smoke
• 15 g cornflour | for cornflour slurry
• 15 ml water | for cornflour slurry

To serve

• basmati rice
• ½ lime | wedges
• fresh coriander | neatly chopped to scatter across the top
• ½ tsp chilli flakes

Contact Julia Direct

Instructions

 

Prep tofu, fry

• Press the tofu in a tofu press, skin side up.
  400 g firm tofu
• Start to heat a fry pan on a low heat with the oil.
  15 ml rapeseed oil
• Slice the tofu, skin side down to avoid it breaking up. Slice the tofu into good size pieces, around 1 cm thick and lay on a board. When you're nearing the end of that task, turn the heat of the pan up to medium hot.

  Season the tofu with salt and pepper on one side, and when the oil in the pan is hot, put the slices seasoned side down into the hot oil. Hear a proper good sizzle.

  Season the other side, the side that's up, so you know the tofu is fully seasoned.
  salt, ground black pepper
• Leave the tofu to cook; don’t mess with it. Look at it from the sides and see the ‘cook’ rising up through the tofu. If you move it too early, it might be sticking. Leave it; watch the video. Turn it after 3-4 minutes. Cook the other side.
• When dark golden brown on each side, put into a container with a piece of kitchen roll inside to absorb moisture. Don’t put a lid on. You want the tofu dry and thirsty for sauce!
• Ensure to watch the video to see how well done mine is.

Prepare veggies

• Peel and chop the onion into slim (2cm wide) petals, peel and slice the garlic on the diagonal, and put in a container, ready to stir fry.
  200 g red onions, 23 g fresh garlic
• Slice the green pepper and put into a container. Measure out the green beans into the same container, ready to stir fry.
  180 g green pepper, 180 g green beans
• Cut the ends off the lime and cut two slender wedges, ready to dress the dish.
  ½ lime
• Lightly chop half a handful of coriander.
  fresh coriander
• Make the cornflour slurry by mixing cornflour with water. And get more water ready.
  15 g cornflour, 15 ml water

Cook veggies, add tofu

• Heat a large frying pan so that it's properly hot, then add the oil. Allow the oil to heat through. When the oil is hot, add the onion and salt and stir fry for a couple of minute; then add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
  10 ml rapeseed oil, 1 pinch salt
• In quick succession: add the sugar and melt it in the pan to caramelise, then the soy sauce, lime and liquid smoke. Stir it and mix it through. Add the tofu, mix and warm through thoroughly. Be careful to put the slices of tofu squarely in the sauce so it can soak up the sauce.
  60 g soft dark brown sugar, 60 ml light soy sauce, 30 ml lime juice, 5 ml hickory liquid smoke
• Then add the green beans and green pepper, and stir and cook, mixing everything thoroughly. Once the green veggies have nearly cooked, add the cornflour slurry and mix again to cook and thicken the sauce. Have water close-by so you can adjust if required. It should be glossy.

To serve

• Put rice into dish, spoon this gorgeous tofu onto the rice, dress with coriander, and chilli flakes, with a lime wedge on the side. Be aware that the lime wedge is to definitely to squeeze over. Spare lime? Zest a little over the finished dish!
  basmati rice, ½ tsp chilli flakes

Notes

• Make-ahead: cook the tofu as per the taught method and use for other dishes or in sandwiches. If using in sandwiches, these big chunks would work or go for finer slices.
• This doesn’t reheat in the microwave very well. It’s better cold actually!

Nutrition

Calories: 361kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 17gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 9gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 1135mgPotassium: 471mgFiber: 6gSugar: 27gVitamin A: 749IUVitamin C: 69mgCalcium: 258mgIron: 4mg

Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.

Keywords caramelised tofu, stir fry winner, tofu winner, umami tofu

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

COPYRIGHT

© The Golden Polar Bear, 2025. Recipes and photography by Julia Savory. If you share this, please pass it along with kindness and if possible share a link back to this site. #ForTheAnimals

Photographed truthfully. If you cook it, yours will look like mine.

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