Satay Tofu

Delicious baked satay tofu, a vegan recipe which everyone will love, serve on a skewer with my delicious peanut satay sauce

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Australasia

Keyword: satay tofu, tofu satay, baked tofu, tofu skewers, easy satay sauce

Servings: skewers

Calories: 188kcal

5 from 1 vote

In a large flat bottomed dish (one large enough to fit all your tofu slices) whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, and garlic powder.
Slice your firm tofu into 1 cm slices (photo 3).Sit the tofu slices in the marinade.
Flip the tofu over so that both sides are coated, leave to rest for a minimum of 30mins (this can be longer if you want to meal prep earlier in the day). While your tofu is marinating soak bamboo skewers in water.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 degrees Fahrenheit).
Once marinated, push a bamboo skewer lengthways through each piece of tofu, so that you end up with a tofu 'lollypop'. Lay these on a baking paper-lined baking tray
Bake in the hot oven for 30 minutes turning once (at the halfway mark) during cooking.

While your satay is baking you can make the quick satay sauce, it only takes a few minutes.
In a small pot, heat a little oil, sauté the onion and garlic until softened and fragrant. If you know that you will want a little chilli heat in your satay sauce you can add the chilli flakes to the onion and garlic, you get a little nicer flavour if you do this. (I add mine later, as I often remove some of the sauce before adding the chilli so that my non-chilli liking kid will still have some satay sauce to enjoy)
Add the peanut butter, coconut cream, and water, stir until melted, combined, and smooth. (photo 2).
Add the soy sauce, and lime or lemon juice, stir through. Taste, if you haven't added chilli and you wish to, you can add it now.
Set aside to serve with the satay tofu. I often prepare this sauce in advance and serve it cold with my tofu.

Soy Sauce: Can be substituted for Tamari if a gluten-free option is required
Chilli flakes: Can be left out entirely.
Coconut cream: Can be subbed for coconut milk, or can be left out entirely and the amount of water increased to ¾ cup.
Peanut butter: Can be subbed for an alternative nut butter such as cashew butter or almond butter, although this will mean a different taste profile.
You can use either lemon or lime juice
Brown sugar: Can be subbed for any granulated sugar, including coconut sugar.

This recipe works best with firm tofu, silken tofu will not slice, marinade or skewer well.
Some firm tofu may require pressing to reduce the water content even further before marinating.
Use a good quality peanut butter, this will give the best flavour to the satay sauce. Ideally, the ingredients in the peanut butter should be just peanuts with a little salt.
To turn this satay tofu into a family meal, serve the baked tofu and satay sauce with fresh vegetables (such as capsicum, cucumber, and carrot) and steamed rice.

Leftover baked tofu can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. (The tofu has the best texture if eaten on the day it is cooked, but it's still fine cold from the fridge).
Leftover satay sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.