Skip sketchy store bought vegetarian nuggets and make this chicken fried tofu instead! These meatless nuggets taste fried but are baked to cripsy golden perfection.
Did you know Whole Foods makes chicken-fried tofu? They do! I’ve only come across it maybe twice in my lifetime via their expensive yet oh-so-addictive hot bar, and lately its been on my mind non-stop. Clearly it’s time for another restaurant inspired copycat!
Being the uber supportive husband that he is, Paul promptly tried to talk me out of it.
P – “Jenny you just dipped TOFU in EGG… you just completely negated the whole point of using tofu!”
J – “Tons of vegetarians eat eggs! I eat eggs!”
P – “You should just use chicken.”
J – “But I don’t want chicken. You ate all the chicken!”
P – “I…. Oh… Well it still doesn’t make sense!”
J – “I made fried pickles too.”
P – “OOOOH!”
I’ll admit it: he’s totally right. This recipe makes about as much sense as Miley Cyrus in a snuggie… but who am I to argue with my stomach?
Chicken fried tofu for. the. win.
Baked Chicken Fried Tofu
Baked Chicken Fried Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 block of extra/super firm tofu
- ¼ cup plain bread crumbs
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp parsley
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ¼ tsp sage
- ⅛ tsp onion powder
- ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper [optional]
- a pinch of white pepper
- a few cranks freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ½ cup milk
- 2-3 TBSP all-purpose flour
- cooking oil spray (olive oil or coconut oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- First drain the water from your package of tofu, gently squeezing/blotting out any excess liquid with a few paper towels.
- Turn the block on it's side and cut into two symmetrical sheets.
- Cut each sheet in half vertically, then horizontally, then again at each diagonal until you have a total of 16 tofu triangles. You can also cut the tofu into 8 larger squares for nuggets that have more tofu and less breading!
- Set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together both breadcrumbs along with your seasonings.
- Next grab a small bowl and mix together your egg and milk.
- Fill a third small bowl with the flour and get ready to dip!
- Dip each tofu triangle in the flour mixture, then the egg bowl, and finally plop it straight into the breadcrumb bowl and cover with breading. I don't do anything daintily so I literally smash the breadcrumbs into the tofu wedge to pack in as much coating as I can.
- Spray all sides with cooking spray [top, bottom, and sides] and place on an oil-rubbed baking sheet.
- Bake at 400F for 35 minutes, flipping them after the 20 minute mark.
- Enjoy immediately with your favorite dip!
Notes
Nutrition
If possible, avoid placing the nuggets on the floor while you attempt to stage a photog session with them. Someone is bound to swoop in and steal one.
Especially furry someones.
They also love chicken fried tofu, apparently.
I suppose it’s a plus that they’re Madison approved?
Once they’ve had a minute or so to cool, commence face stuffage!
Take the flavor a step further and serve them dunked in your favorite dip! They’re great with ketchup, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, sweet chili sauce and my beloved smoky chipotle sauce.
This is a great recipe! One suggestion, try adding nutritional yeast to the dry ingredients. It gives them a slight cheesy flavor that i feel lifts the flavor! Thanks for this! Yum!
Love this suggestion! Thanks Rebecca!
this is really good and pretty simple too!! how long do they keep for? no one else in the house eats tofu except for me, so I can’t eat it all in one sitting haha.
So glad you’re loving the recipe Eli, thanks! They’re good for a few days! I always wind up finishing them by day 2 (they’re just so snackable lol!) and you can reheat in the oven or toaster oven by baking on a baking sheet at 375 F until hot in the center and crisp on the outside. I think they’re usually done within 10-15 minutes for me?
I love this recipe!! I’m super new to being vegetarian (like started 20 days ago) and not going to lie, I was craving some chicken nuggets, so when I found this recipe I was so excited! They’re delicious, I’ll take these over real nuggets any day. My husband even loved them.
This recipe is great! My picky son loves it too! Thanks!
I am so happy I found this recipe!
I don’t know why Whole Foods doesn’t have these nuggets on the hot bar all of the time!!!
Trying the recipe tonight.
I wonder if these would cook well in an air fryer.
On a side note, the back of your cat’s head looks exactly like my cat Puffball. I bet the front of them looks the same too : )
Ohmygosh Paula I think they’d be so fun to try in an air fryer! I’ve never used one but if you do, totally let me know how it goes. I’m so tempted to ask for one for Christmas this year – do you love yours? And LOLing at our kindred kitties! Our sweet Maddie passed away last year and we miss her so much! Snuggle Puffball for me!
Would love to see a recipe without eggs….
Hi Bonnie! You could whisk together a little dijon mustard with olive or avocado oil and use that in place of the egg!
Great recipe! For vegans, substituting the egg and milk with either applesauce or ketchup will allow the flour mixture to stick to the tofu
Love this tip – thank you Jeannie! 🙂
I made this tonight. It was my first time cooking tofu. We both liked it! We have only just begun to go down the vegetarian road so everything is new to us. Thanks for the recipe! It’ll be used again!
These were really good! Nice tofu newbie recipe, Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed them Jace! 🙂 Thanks!
Hmm, well it does make sense to me! One reason I want to eat less meat is because of the animal fats and because it’s not really necessary to kill animals for food. I still want to get my proteins to stay healthy, and I don’t want to eat tofu all the time. I think egg is a fine complement to a healthy diet.
Did you press your tofu before all of this? or did you just cut straight from the block after you drained the package of the water? i’ve never cooked a tofu recipe without draining it first. i think it would mess up the flavoring?
Hi Victoria! I’ll add a note into the recipe for sure, thanks for the great question! I do drain the package first. I’ve made this recipe with pressed and non-pressed tofu and personally prefer the un-pressed (but drained) tofu because it tastes a bit creamier to me once baked in nugget form.
LOL I just realized it was already in the recipe instructions 😉 Do let me know if you have any more questions! xo
Not to great. I just made them. Maybe it depends on your dipping sauce? But they do not make the cut alone for sure. :9
Terribly sorry they didn’t make the cut!
Trying the recipe as we speak and already looks delicious while cooking! Only thing is I had to double the breading and seasonings half way through I ran out and had to make another batch, but at least its easy to whip together!
Yay! Thanks Angela! So excited you’re trying it! I haven’t made these in wayyyyy too long and totally need to remedy that this week! <3
You crack me up and I definitely want the fried pickles. Chicken Fried Tofu approved by Madison; that’s one smart pussy cat right there. You’ve raised her right, well except the small detail of her eating food off the floor.
Yesterday, mine swiped a tomato off the counter. Bad kitty.
Omg, I love you!! <- Like even MORE than I did before! 😉 I swear, it’s like you just “know” things…WF’s fried tofu is one of my absolute favorites!
Ahhhhh, I know dipping the tofu in eggs is contradictory, but this recipe looks so delicious. I’m vegetarian and I eat eggs every now and then, maybe I can do this too 😀
Hmmm I’m with paul on dipping the tofu in eggg… though that could just be that I’m weirded out by tofu 😉 Those fried pickles though!
I like your brain. Would it be rude to invite myself over for dinner? I’m checking flights right now… 😉
This is BRILLIANT! Simply BRILLIANT! I love tofu – but just think I might love baked chicken fried egg dipped tofu more!
As a vegetarian who only misses fried chicken, THANK you! I’m so excited!
When I pressed the tofu with the first batch it did dry it out a little! I patted it dry the second time around and skipped pressing and it came out awesome! Oven times may vary a bit (every oven I’ve ever cooked in has been different on heat settings) but as long as you don’t overbake you should be good to go!
Baking didn’t dry it out too much?
I can def voucher for you that this stuff is AMAZING at Whole Foods! Can’t wait to try your at home recipe!
Haha! I love that Paul called you out on dipping tofu in egg- too funny! These look really great, though!
This looks great! But with fried pickles tooo??? soooon
Isn’t it?! I think I’m going to be naughty and straight up pan-fry the next batch. You know, for testing purposes. [riiiiiiight!]
Did you ever pan fry these? Looking for something fast to do with my class
I haven’t but I’m sure they’d be extra delicious pan fried! Totally go for it!
hahah this is hilarious — but they do look tasty! xo jillian – cornflake dreams
these look incredible!!!
Haha I love that even the healthiest things can get fried. but I am definitely not complaining! Especially since it’s baked 😉
How did you know I needed something brilliant to do with the block of tofu in my fridge? Love you!