Your cart is currently empty!
Crispy Tofu Stir Fry / The Digs On Healthy Sauces!
—
I have never been the biggest fan of tofu but for the past month or two I have been trying to find ways to make tofu that I enjoy! You can feel free to use diced potatoes instead of tofu for this recipe – just as delicious and wholesome!
Soy products like tofu get a bad rep and while some can’t digest them as well or have an allergy etc, they are NOT unhealthy and are perfectly healthy to include in your diet if you enjoy them/digest them well! Damon actually loves tofu and has it 1-2x per week!
Pairing this crispy oil free tofu with healthy sauces (see blurb below on what sauces are healthy!), rice and veg is killer..
This tofu stir fry kicks A$$! I hope you love it!
Ingredients for Tofu:
- 1 block extra firm tofu (14oz)
- 1 cup flour or Panko etc.
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt (optional)
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- Plant milk.
Other ingredients:
- Rice or grain of choice (quinoa, couscous, etc!)
- Low sodium veg broth (for rice or grains if you want)
- Veg of choice – frozen or fresh! I used a frozen mix of broccoli, sugar pears, carrots, onion, bell peppers, green beans, water cress!
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Press tofu for a while to get the moisture out!
- Dice tofu into blocks.
- In a dish combine all other ingredients and mix well.
- Place milk in another dish.
- I have done this next step two ways and both work fine! 1: dump a handful of tofu in the milk dish .. then dump into the crumb mix coating evenly .. then place on parchment paper. Or 2: do this but piece by piece – or you can cut the tofu into strips instead of cubes and lessen the piece by piece step 😛 .. entirely up to you!
- Bake tofu on middle rack for 15-20 .. then toss around and bake for another 15-20 or until they become crispy! Alternatively you can use a pan and some oil (if you use oil) and saute these!
- Toss the tofu in some of your sauce of choice if desired! This step can be skipped.
- In a large non stick type frying pan, heat up a few splashes of veg broth and add in some garlic + any veg you desire (frozen or fresh) .. once they are cooked through – turn up the heat and add some sauce and fry em up – I like mine a tad burnt! But cook to your liking!
- Steam up some brown or white rice — or any other grain! I usually cook mine in 1/2 or all low sodium vegetable broth to pack in the flavor!
- Serve in a big bowl with more sauce for topping if desired!!
Pre-Packaged Sauces..
Are they good? Bad? Healthy? Unhealthy? Too much sodium? What about ingredients? Should we use them everyday? I want to go over what my opinion of these yummy sauces are .. and which are my fav healthy ones! + how to tell if a sauce is wholesome enough to include in your day to day diet!The first thing you will want to opt for is: organic. Organic brands tend to care a lot more about the wholesome factor: using the least amount of chemicals and the most whole foods!!Next you will want to simple flip the package over and start reading .. you should see minimal ingredients – things you know and recognize! If you see refined sugar, heavy oil, dairy etc — put it back and find another brand! If there is sugars – they should be from maple syrup, cane sugar, palm sugar etc .. the WHOLE sugars! Sauces tend to be on the saltier side which makes sense as they are flavor boosters … but you should try to peak around and find the lower sodium options or brands that just by chance use less salt! Try to make sure refined white salt isn’t used – pink Himalayan or sea salt is best.Salt is not the enemy but OVER consuming it is! Terrible for your heart health/blood pressure, digestion, bloating, inflammation, water retention and of course your taste buds adjust depending on how much salt you use – the more you use it the more you’ll need it. Try giving yourself a break from salty foods for 3 weeks and opt for more sweet foods/meals more often .. go back to a more savory/salty meal and you will find that the heavy sodium doesn’t appeal to you anymore!Next up: using the sauce! I think it is easy to over consume sauces by drenching food in them. Try to dip or use a minimal amount and use spices/herbs to pack in flavor along with the sauce! Sauce is a condiment – so we should use it as just that! No need to measure out your sauces – just use that intuition and make sure you aren’t “smothering” food!
Are they good? Bad? Healthy? Unhealthy? Too much sodium? What about ingredients? Should we use them everyday? I want to go over what my opinion of these yummy sauces are .. and which are my fav healthy ones! + how to tell if a sauce is wholesome enough to include in your day to day diet!The first thing you will want to opt for is: organic. Organic brands tend to care a lot more about the wholesome factor: using the least amount of chemicals and the most whole foods!!Next you will want to simple flip the package over and start reading .. you should see minimal ingredients – things you know and recognize! If you see refined sugar, heavy oil, dairy etc — put it back and find another brand! If there is sugars – they should be from maple syrup, cane sugar, palm sugar etc .. the WHOLE sugars! Sauces tend to be on the saltier side which makes sense as they are flavor boosters … but you should try to peak around and find the lower sodium options or brands that just by chance use less salt! Try to make sure refined white salt isn’t used – pink Himalayan or sea salt is best.Salt is not the enemy but OVER consuming it is! Terrible for your heart health/blood pressure, digestion, bloating, inflammation, water retention and of course your taste buds adjust depending on how much salt you use – the more you use it the more you’ll need it. Try giving yourself a break from salty foods for 3 weeks and opt for more sweet foods/meals more often .. go back to a more savory/salty meal and you will find that the heavy sodium doesn’t appeal to you anymore!Next up: using the sauce! I think it is easy to over consume sauces by drenching food in them. Try to dip or use a minimal amount and use spices/herbs to pack in flavor along with the sauce! Sauce is a condiment – so we should use it as just that! No need to measure out your sauces – just use that intuition and make sure you aren’t “smothering” food!
Sauces I love:
- Trader Joe’s Korean Style BBQ Sauce
- The Ginger People – Sweet and Spicy Dip
- Date Lady – Sweet Chili Sauce
- Whole Foods 365 Brand Teriyaki Sauce.
- Annie’s Worcestershire sauce – great for marinades!!
- Coconut Aminos (lots of brands but I love Bragg’s) or liquid aminos / soy sauces/tamari.
- Organic hot sauces and salsas (just check the ingredients!)
- Organic BBQ/KETCHUP/MUSTARD – make sure to pay close mind to ingredients, opt for organic and minimal ingredients that you can pronounce! Annie’s is a great brand but there are truly 1000s of wholesome organic options around!
Leave a Reply