Spicy Sriracha Tofu Jerky

March 31, 2021 admin

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This savory and extra spicy tofu jerky is made with oven dried tofu strips flavored with smoky seasonings and fiery sriracha sauce!

I generally have a backlog of a few weeks’ worth of recipes for this blog. Occasionally I make something and decide I need to post it the very next day, but most of the time my recipes work their way through the list and slow process of photographing, editing, writing and publishing. This recipe has been in my queue for a few weeks now, and my husband has asked me numerous times when I’m going to post it. I usually take that as a sign that the recipe was pretty damn good.

In this case, I’ve been informed, that not only is the recipe awesome, but jerky played a part in his journey towards going meatless.

I’m lucky to be with a guy whose food preferences are pretty close to my own. But he tells me that during his younger years, long before contemplating cutting out animal foods, he belonged to a band in which he was the only meat-eating member. His vegetarian bandmates mockingly brought him several packages of veggie jerky, which he devoured and loved, much to their amusement. I suppose if jerky had ever been an obstacle to him going veg, he did away with it then and there.

I don’t really think it’s surprising that he loved it so much. Jerky’s appeal really isn’t about meat, right? It’s all about the seasonings, spices and flavor.

Any recollection I have of eating jerky made from animals is way foggy at this point. I’m sure the texture of tofu jerky isn’t exactly like it, but I definitely had something of an “Oh, yeah, I remember this kind of food!” moment when I tasted it.

I made my jerky by basing tofu in a super-flavorful sauce and then cooking it in the oven at a super low temperature. If you’ve got a food dehydrator I’m sure that would work too.

And just to show you how easy the oven method is, I went and made a video of it!

4.94 from 15 votes Print

Spicy Sriracha Tofu Jerky

This savory and extra spicy tofu jerky is made with oven dried tofu strips flavored with smoky seasonings and fiery sriracha sauce! CourseSnacks CuisineAmerican Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 3 hours Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes Servings 4 Calories 93 kcal Author Alissa

Ingredients

1poundextra firm tofu
¼cupsoy sauce or tamari
1teaspoonliquid smoke
1 ½tablespoonssriracha sauce(or to taste)
½teaspoongarlic powder

Supplies

Parchment paper

Instructions

Drain the tofu and pat it dry.
Cut the tofu into very thin slices, between ¼ and ⅛ of an inch, shooting for ⅛ inch. (Too thick and they’ll take forever to bake.) Then arrange the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Stir the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, and brush half of the mixture over the tofu slices. Flip the slices and brush the remaining mixture on the opposite sides.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake at 200°F for 2-3 hours, or until slices become tough and dry, very carefully flipping them about halfway through.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the tofu to cool. The texture will toughen up a bit more as they cool.
Store the jerky in a sealed container for 2-3 days.

Nutrition FactsSpicy Sriracha Tofu JerkyAmount Per ServingCalories 93Calories from Fat 42% Daily Value*Fat 4.7g7%Saturated Fat 1g5%Sodium 987mg41%Carbohydrates 4.1g1%Fiber 1.2g5%Sugar 1.8g2%Protein 10.4g21%Calcium 180mg18%Iron 2.2mg12%* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.« Vegan Swedish MeatballsVegan Pink Velvet Cupcakes »

I dehydrated mine for 6 hours at 150F and they turned out perfect!

This is beyond delicious! No one would scoff at tofu like this. So far we are just eating it out of hand, but I can see adding it to some dishes—maybe even your paella, which I’d like to make soon. And I probably won’t be running to Whole Foods for that new sandwich that has gone viral—the tempeh tomato lettuce avocado—but I may just make one of those sammies at home with this. I can even see crumbling it up some and putting it in fried rice. It’s so excellent.

Love the recipe! I think it’s a creative and wonderful idea for tofu. As a vegetarian, this is very exciting for me to stumble upon. 🙂

One constructive criticism: could you please put over/parchment paper in the ingredients? I just went to the store after reading the ingredients and now have to go back! 🙁

Reply
- I just made this with some tofu I smoked so I omitted the liquid smoke, I used to eat homemade jerky like every day but being vegan for four years it is a texture that I miss. The hardest thing about this recipe is the wait…it was slightly painful lol, I ended up taking it out at 2 hours 45 minutes. They came out perfect and I will be trying other flavors like teriyaki maybe some salt pepper garlic and red pepper flakes. Thanks for the recipe what a great idea!
  
  Reply
  - Well these aren’t going to last long!!! Next time double batch! Ready delicious, glad I found this recipe.
    
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    oh my gosh!! i’ve made a few of the recipes on this blog (all OUTSTANDING successes), but this one is fantastic. i sliced my tofu super thin–probably closer to 1/10 inch or so… almost transparent in some places. the texture is so satisfyingly chewy and the flavor reminded me very much of the homemade beef jerky my late grandfather used to make. thanks so much for posting!!!
    
    Reply
    
    Great recipe! I know I’m a year or so late to the party but after trying some expensive vegan jerky I bought from the store I decided to try my own. This recipe was exactly what i was looking fort I’ve made this twice already and am currently making a double batch right now.
    
    For anyone who doesn’t have an oven that goes low enough, my first run at 250 burned everything within an hour. They were still good but not perfect. I broke out my food dehydrator for the last run and the results were excellent. If you have a food dehydrator try using that instead.
    
    Reply
    
    These are AMAZING – I’m not a fake meat kinda vegan but like you say, these are more about the flavours and I love that they’re easy to throw in my bag for a quick protein snack. I tried a Korean style marinade too and it was also delicious – gochuchang instead of sriracha, and a little sesame oil
    
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    I’ve been trying different finicky vital wheat gluten and disappointing mushroom recipes forever trying to fill the jerky and bacon void in my life that’s existed since becoming vegan. I would never have thought that tofu could have this taste and texture. This simple, cheap, and amazing tofu recipe is my new favorite thing!
    
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    I’m super late to the blog, but was wanting to try to make some tofu jerky of my own once I heard it existed (last week!). All the recipes I originally found called for a dehydrator, which I don’t own, nor am I about to go out and buy something that I will use once or twice and that will be in the way all the time after that (looks over at my Instant Pot is only used about 3 times a year). I finally came across your recipe with oven directions. THANK YOU!!! I used pre-pressed tofu that was frozen, thawed, and pressed again. And I made a different marinade but used your amounts of soy sauce as a guide for my liquid aminos and about how much marinade I would need. I checked mine again at the 2.5 hr mark and ended up going ahead and baking the full 3 hours. Success! My mom even willingly went back and ate another piece after I got her to try the first one, and she normally refuses to eat tofu. Thanks again!
    
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