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Tofu and spinach cutlets are nutritious and delicious, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.
They are also easy to make, with really basic, everyday ingredients, mixed together in a food processor, shaped into cutlets, and baked for just over 20 minutes.
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How to make tofu and spinach cutlets?
Start this recipe with 4.5 ounces (125 grams) of stale bread (you can also use fresh bread if you don't have stale), cut it into small chunks, and put it in a bowl.
Pour 1 cup (250 grams) of unsweetened soy milk over it to soften it. Tap water is fine too.
Push it into the liquid and let it soak for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare 14 ounces (400 grams) of spinach. Cook it in a pan for a few minutes until it loses its cooking water and then let it cool down for a couple of minutes.
Now take a food processor or blender, and add 4.5 ounces (125 grams) of tofu in chunks, the spinach you just cooked, ⅓ cup (50 grams) of breadcrumbs, half a clove of garlic chopped into small pieces, 3 tablespoons (15 grams) nutritional yeast, to give a light cheesy taste, a grating of nutmeg if you like, and 3 to 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Also, add in the soaked bread, squeezing it well first. You do not want to add too much liquid to the mixture of the cutlets otherwise you'll struggle to shape them.
Finally, season with two or three pinches of salt and two twists of pepper.
Watch a quick 30-sec video on how to prep these vegan cutlets.
Blend for two minutes, stopping a couple of times to scrape the mixture down the sides of the blender and to taste and adjust for salt.
In the end, you will have a firm and sticky mixture, ready to be transformed into tofu and spinach cutlets, but also in nuggets, burgers, or meatballs, which you can deep fry or as we prefer to do, bake.
Shaping, breading and baking the cutlets
As the next step, preheat the oven to 350F or 180C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Prepare two containers for breading the cutlets. I use two baking trays. In one put about 1½ cups (220 grams) of breadcrumbs, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and some Italian herbs seasoning made with sage, rosemary, and thyme.
In the other, put some unsweetened soy or oat milk.
Then grease your hands with a few drops of oil and shape the cutlets. Each cutlet is made of about 2 tablespoons of mixture.
I like to make them quite thin, but you are free to do as you like.
Then holding the cutlet in your hand, brush it with soy milk.
It is better to brush it rather than dipping in the milk, because it may break. Then flip it over in the breadcrumbs and brush the other side with soy milk.
Now cover it with the breadcrumbs and make a little pressure with your hands to make the breadcrumbs stick.
Put it on the baking sheet with baking paper and repeat this process until you run out of the mixture.
I make 6 cutlets with these doses and serve one cutlet per person, but again, you can choose to make them larger or smaller depending on your taste.
Making this recipe several times we have noticed that sometimes the mixture can be slightly wetter or drier depending on the type of tofu used and how much water remains in the spinach.
raw baked
The result however does not change, once cooked in the oven the cutlets will be nice and compact, crisp outside, and tasty and soft inside. So don't worry if they stick to your hands a bit while shaping them.
The tofu and spinach cutlets are ready to be baked. Bake them at 350F or 180C for 20 minutes, then turn them over and bake them for another 5 minutes.
Serving suggestions
Our favorite way to serve them is with a nice mixed salad. You can also cut them before serving to make the dish prettier and lay them on top of a bed of salad.
We serve them with a wedge of lemon to squeeze on top.
The crispy and flavorful breadcrumbs on the outside and the soft and tasty inside make these tofu and spinach cutlets a complete, healthy, and delicious dish, suitable for adults and children. They quickly became one of our favorite dinners!
Variations
You can change the shape of the tofu and spinach cutlets, and turn them into nuggets, meatballs, burger patties, and so on.
As mentioned before you can also deep fry them, but in this case, I recommend making them slightly thicker and smaller, so they don't break while in the oil.
Storage
Store the tofu and spinach cutlets in the refrigerator, after baking them, for up to 3 days, best if in an air-tight container.
Reheat in a preheated oven at 350 C (180C), or in the microwave. You can freeze the cutlets before cooking them.
To do so, place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, freeze them, then when they are frozen you can move them into a plastic bag to save space in your freezer.
Video
Recipe
Tofu and spinach cutlets
Equipment
- 1 Food processor
Ingredients
- 14 ounces (400 grams) spinach
- 4.5 ounces (125 grams) firm tofu
- 4.5 ounces (125 grams) stale bread
- 1 cup (250 grams) unsweetened soy milk or water
- ⅓ cup (50 grams) bread crumbs
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 tablespoon (15 grams) nutritional yeast
- 4 tablespoons (45 grams) olive oil extra virgin
- 1½ teaspoon (7 grams) salt
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 grams) pepper
- nutmeg (optional, to taste)
For the breading
- 1½ cups (220 grams) bread crumbs
- ½ tablespoon Italian herbs seasoning (made with rosemary, sage, thyme, etc)
- 1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt
- ½ cup (125 grams) unsweetened soy milk
For serving
- 1 lemon cut into wedges to squeeze on top
Instructions
Making the cutlets
- Chop the stale bread into chunks, put it in a bowl, and let it soak in the soy milk for a few minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the spinach in a non-stick pan till they are completely soft and loose all of their water.
- Squeeze the soaked bread to remove most of the milk then add it to a food processor.
- To the same food processor add the spinach, tofu, garlic, nutritional yeast, olive oil, salt, pepper, and some grated nutmeg.
- Blend for a minute, till all the ingredients are well combined together.
Breading the cutlets
- Preheat the oven to 350F or 180C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Prepare two other trays for the breading. Into one tray add the unsweetened soy milk. In the other add the bread crumbs, salt, and Italian herbs seasoning.
- Lightly oil your hands then with the help of a spoon, put some of the cutlet mixture into your hands, and shape it as a cutlet.
- While still on one of your hands, brush the top of the cutlet with the soy milk, then put it down onto the bread crumbs.
- Brush the other side of the cutlet with soy milk, and cover with breadcrumbs. Make the bread crumbs stick to the cutlets, applying some pressure with your hands.
- Transfer the cutlet onto the baking tray, then repeat till you run out of the mixture. You should get 6 cutlets.
- Bake at 350F or 180C for 20 minutes, then turn them around and bake for another 5 minutes.
- Serve with a couple of lemon wedges. They are delicious with some squeezed lemon on top.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
If you liked this recipe, you might also like:
- Tofu with pizzaiola sauce
- Pan-fried tofu with lemon
- Tofu cream cheese
- Mushroom and tofu - pan fried
- Tofu and spinach pesto
- Tofu cacciatore
- Oven baked tofu with cherry tomatoes and olives
Did you try this recipe at home? Let us know in the comments below.
Buon appetito!
Nico
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