CRISPY ORANGE TOFU
The first time I tried Orange Chicken, I was at a restaurant in the mall. I was not a fan. I am sure the food court is not the best place to experience food for the time, so I gave it another try at my favorite local Chinese restaurant. Surely there would be a different outcome here. Still no. After taking on a plant-based diet, I knew my Orange Chicken days were behind me, and I wasn’t mad about it.
Imagine my surprise when Mama Paige recommended developing a Crispy Orange Tofu recipe for this collection. I was skeptical but eventually agreed only if we used the leftover marinade from the spiced mandarin oranges. This is what you call compromise! The orange sauce is light and warm with a hint of zest from the mandarin oranges. It’s everything I wished my first Orange Chicken experience would have been.
Let’s get into the Recipe!
Let’s get started! If not already, press and cube your tofu. To press tofu, wrap the tofu in a dry, clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Place a cutting board on top of the wrapped tofu. Then put a heavy object on top of the cutting board. Let sit for 10 minutes. The weight of the object will slowly push the water out of the tofu. After the tofu has been pressed, cut into cubes. Then, you’re ready to get started on the marinade.
In a small bowl, mix vegan chicken broth base, cornstarch, salt, pepper, water, turmeric, and ground ginger. Add cubed tofu to the marinade. Be sure to give a good stir to coat all of the pieces. Add to a container with a lid and let sit in the fridge overnight. If you don’t have all night, let the tofu sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours.
When the tofu is done marinating, it is time to make the Drunken Orange sauce and dry dredge mix. In a medium pot, mix vegan chicken broth (use the broth from the wedges or mix chicken broth base with water), spiced orange marinade, white sugar, soy sauce, sriracha, ginger powder, orange juice, and orange peel. Heat to a boil. Then, lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Once the sauce is done simmering, remove it from the heat and let sit for cool slightly. While the sauce is simmering, make the dry dredge mix. Add flour, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, seasoning salt, ground ginger powder, ground cayenne pepper, allspice, and ground black pepper to a medium bowl. Set aside.
Ok, let’s start coating and frying. Heat the vegetable oil in a large stockpot or preheat your fryer. Remove the tofu from the marinade and toss in the dry dredge mix. Before tossing the pieces back into the marinade, whisk in vegan chicken broth, water, and oat milk to amplify the flavor. Add tofu back into the marinade and toss, then back in the dry mix. Put the coated pieces on the wire rack to rest for a couple of minutes. Letting the pieces rest will help make sure the coating stick to the tofu. Once the oil is ready, fry each piece until golden brown. Then, toss pieces in the Drunken Orange sauce and enjoy! I recommend pairing it with rice or noodles.
Just A Suggestion…
NOTE: This section includes affiliates links. When you purchase an item using a link, we make a small commission that helps us run this site at no additional cost to you
Crispy Orange Tofu
Ingredients
- Tofu – drained, pressed, and cubed
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Green onions for garnish
- 4 Tsp vegan chicken broth base
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- Dash salt
- Dash pepper
- ½ C. water
- 1/8 Tsp turmeric
- ¼ Tsp ground ginger
- 1 C. vegan chicken broth (use the broth from the wedges or mix 1 Tbsp of broth base with 1 cup of water
- ½ C. spice orange marinade
- 1/3 C. white sugar
- ¼ C. soy sauce
- 1 Tsp siracha
- ½ Tsp ground ginger powder
- ¼ C. fresh orange juice
- inch strip of orange peel
- 3 C. flour
- 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tsp seasoning salt
- ½ Tsp ground ginger powder
- ½ Tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 1 Tsp allspice
- 1 Tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp vegan chicken broth (use the broth from the wedges or mix 2 Tsp of broth base with 2 Tbsp of water
- ¼ C. oat milk
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together ingredients for the tofu marinade. Add tofu cubes. Stir to coat with marinade. Cover and let sit in the fridge overnight.
- In a medium pot, mix drunken orange sauce ingredients. Heat to a boil. Then, lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Once the sauce is done simmering, remove it from heat and let sit to cool slightly.
- In a medium bowl, mix ingredients of dry dredge mix. Coat tofu pieces in dry dredge mix.
- In the marinade container, add vegan chicken broth and oat milk to create a wet dredge. Toss tofu pieces in a wet dredge. Add pieces back into the dry dredge. Toss to coat.
- Let tofu pieces rest on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
- In a large stockpot, heat vegetable oil for frying. Oil should cover 1/3 of the pot. Once the oil is ready, carefully add tofu pieces into the hot oil. Fry until tofu is golden brown on all sides.
- Let tofu pieces rest on a wire rack until orange sauce is ready.
- Once the sauce is ready, toss in drunken orange sauce.
- Garnish with green onions. Serve with favorite rice or noodles.
