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Cashew Tofu Stir Fry – The flavorful vegan alternative to cashew chicken with crispy tofu! A healthy 30-minute dinner you can enjoy anytime!
Table of Contents
Cashew tofu with crunchy vegetables is a delicious vegan alternative to the popular Thai Cashew Chicken dish! If you don’t know it, it’s a signature dish of the Thai cuisine cooked with chicken, cashew nuts, and a flavorful sauce served over rice.
With this recipe, I am going to show you how to make the best vegan cashew chicken with tofu. Therefore, let’s call is cashew tofu! It’s incredibly delicious, flavorful, and crunchy! Plus, nobody really misses the meat here.
My Cashew Tofu also comes with a fair amount of fresh and crunchy veggies, making it a little richer in vitamins and healthy nutrients.
If you love Asian tofu dishes, then you really must try this recipe. It’s a perfectly balanced main dish with protein, healthy fats from the cashews, and lots of veggies!
For the vegans who prefer a more authentic dish, use a vegan chicken alternative instead of tofu. The recipe & cooking method stays the same!
Ingredients
You can find the quantities in the recipe.
- Cashew → I like to toast them first, makes them even more flavorful. Toasted cashew nuts add a great crunch to this dish.
- Tofu → Use firm tofu or extra firm tofu. Make sure to squeeze the liquid from the tofu so that it becomes crispier when cooked, and absorbs the sauce better.
- Rice → Basmati or jasmine rice to serve it with.
- Carrot, Zucchini, Bok Choy → Tastes really delicious with these fresh vegetables! They also add vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants to this dish! Feel free to adjust according to your own taste. It’s best to use crunchy vegetables like sugar snap peas, broccoli, baby corn, red bell pepper, or green asparagus. Bok choy can also be substituted with Chinese cabbage, spinach, or bean sprouts.
- Onion, Garlic, Spring Onion, Chili → In only use the green part of the spring onion for this recipe. The white part can be used for a salad. However, if you wish so, chop it roughly and add it to the wok with the rest of the vegetables.
Stir-Fry Sauce
- Mushroom Sauce → Mushroom Sauce is the vegetarian/vegan alternative to oyster sauce and very popular for seasoning any Asian meal. It consists mainly of soy sauce and mushroom extract, which makes for an exquisite flavor. You can buy it in every Asian grocery store. 😉
- Soy sauce, Rice Vinegar, Sesame Oil, Sugar, Cornstarch → If you don’t have rice vinegar at home, substitute it with lime juice. Instead of sugar, use maple syrup or honey (vegetarian). The cornstarch thickens the sauce a little.
Visual Step-by-Step Instructions
This visual step-by-step instruction will help you along the way – definitely recommended if you’re a cooking beginner! 😉
- Rice: Cook the rice according to the package instructions. → I only cook my rice in a rice cooker! Makes truly the best rice!
- Toast cashew nuts in a wok without oil for 5 minutes over medium heat until golden brown. Set aside.
- Cover the tofu in a paper towel and press to remove excess water (or use a tofu press). Cut the tofu into cubes.
- Heat a wok or large frying pan with one tablespoon of oil over high heat, add the tofu, and fry for 5-10 minutes until crispy. Set aside.
- Use a serrated knife to cut the veggies if you wish them to look as in the pictures! 😉
- Add one tablespoon of oil, garlic, onion, carrot, zucchini, and bok choy stems to the wok, stir-fry for 5 minutes.
- Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and add it with the tofu and cashews to the wok. Cook for one minute until slightly thickened.
- Add in bok choy leaves, scallion, and chili pepper.
- Stir well!
- Serve over rice! → Feel free to season with freshly cracked black pepper and garnish with sesame seeds!
Storage Instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Good for 3 days.
Reheat in a wok or microwave.
More Asian Tofu Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Cashew Tofu – Vegan Cashew Chicken
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Ingredients
- ⅔ cup (130 g) basmati rice
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ cup (75 g) cashew nuts
- 9 oz (250 g) firm tofu
- 2 cloves garlic peeled & finely sliced
- 1 onion peeled & roughly chopped
- 1 carrot in strips, see notes
- ½ zucchini in strips, see notes
- 1 chili pepper seeded & sliced in fine strips
- 1 scallion only green part, sliced in 1" pieces
- 1 bok choy roughly chopped, stems & leaves separated
Stir-Fry Sauce
- 3 tbsp mushroom sauce see notes
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- ½ tbsp sesame oil
- ½ tbsp white sugar
- ½ tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Rice: Cook the rice according to the package instructions. → I only cook my rice in a rice cooker! Makes truly the best rice!
- Toast cashew nuts in a wok without oil for 5 minutes until golden brown. Set aside.
- Cover the tofu in a paper towel and press to remove excess water (or use a tofu press). Cut the tofu into cubes.
- Heat a wok with one tablespoon of oil over high heat, add the tofu, and fry for 5-10 minutes until crispy. Set aside.
- Add one tablespoon of oil, garlic, onion, carrot, zucchini, and bok choy stems to the wok, stir-fry for 5 minutes.
- Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and add it with the tofu and cashews to the wok. Cook for one minute until slightly thickened.
- Stir in bok choy leaves, scallion, and chili pepper. Serve over rice!
