Tofu Salad

Tofu salad is a quick, healthy and delicious meal ready in just 20 minutes.

For those that are trying to reduce their meat intake, recipes like tofu curry, rice noodle salad, and tofu stir fry are fantastic.

Similar to this tofu salad, they use tofu as a main protein source paired with an abundance of delicious vegetables.

The secret to a delicious tofu salad recipe is in the sauce. I HIGHLY recommend tahini lemon sauce as it elevated tofu and veggies in a beautiful unison.

When mixing veggies, keep two things in mind:

1. Colors: pick bright, colorful veggies and make up a rainbow. The more colors, the more antioxidant variety you are going to eat.
2. Texture: a great salad should combine different textures. Pick crips, tender, soft, and creamy veggies to make the best tofu salad.

Lettuce

We use Romaine lettuce but feel free to replace it with your favorite variety.

You can use butter lettuce, watercress, lamb’s lettuce, Batavia lettuce, curly endive, spring mix, little gem, iceberg lettuce, radicchio, and arugula if you are into more tangy, slightly bitter flavors.

In winter, you can substitute chopped kale or spinach for lettuce. You can also add sliced red cabbage, green cabbage, and beets.

Cucumber

We generally use English or American cucumber.

You can replace them with other varieties, such as smaller Persian cucumbers, snack cucumbers, and Kirby cucumbers.

Pick fresh ones so that they are crunchy and sweet. Old cucumbers are flaccid and slightly bitter.

For cucumber, substitute thinly sliced zucchini, fennel, radishes, or chopped broccoli florets.

Tomatoes

We like to use small plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. Replace them with any other type of tomato as long as they are ripe.

Grape tomatoes, red cocktail tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, Heirloom tomatoes, and vine tomatoes are all excellent options.

If you choose larger tomatoes, you might want to cut them into wedges. If you choose small tomatoes, cut them in half or quarters.

Substitute diced red bell peppers, strawberries, or watermelon for tomatoes.

Corn

We often use canned corn for most of the year, but when corn is in season, you can also use corn on the cob, boil it until soft and remove the corn from the cob with a knife to separate the kernels.

Substitute yellow bell peppers or grated carrots for corn.

Onion

We like to use spring onions for this tofu salad.

Substitute red onion or shallots for spring onion. If you want, you can also add fresh herbs such as chives, parsley, or mint.

Avocado

Diced avocado adds creaminess, healthy fats, and plenty of nutrition, making the salad fulfilling and deliciously creamy.

Substitute roasted winter squashes like butternut squash, pumpkin, or kabocha squash for avocado. Roasted cauliflower works well too.

We have a separate blog post on how to make the best-pan-fried tofu, soft and almost silky on the inside and golden and crispy on the outside.

You’ll need a few ingredients, such as firm tofu or extra-firm tofu, cornstarch, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

It only takes about 15 minutes on the stovetop to make.

Substitute air fryer tofu, baked marinated tofu, or oven-baked tofu for fried tofu.

Tahini Sauce

• Tahini: pick a tahini that is light in color, quite runny, not dense like a paste, and made from hulled sesame seeds. You can read that on the package. Dark, thick tahini tastes bitter, so I wouldn’t use it for this preparation.
  
• Water: use plain tap water to dilute the sauce.
  
• Lemon Juice: add a touch of acidity and freshness.
  
• Garlic: a crushed clove infuses the sauce with a mild garlic flavor.
  
• Salt: to add flavor and bring the other ingredients together.

Substitute creamy and tangy honey mustard dressing, Italian dressing, or carrot ginger dressing for tahini sauce.

Step 1: Make the dressing

Add tahini, lemon juice, water, crushed garlic, and salt to a small bowl and whisk until the ingredients are creamy and smooth. Set aside.

Step 2: Pan-fry the tofu

Mix cornstarch, garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper in a large container. Then cut the tofu into small cubes and toss it in the mix until coated.

In a large non-stick pan, warm up the olive oil, then arrange the tofu on a single layer and fry it on medium-high heat for 12 minutes, flipping it every 2 to 3 minutes.

The tofu cubes should get golden brown on most sides.

While the tofu cooks, prep the vegetables.

Step 3: Mix the veggies

To a large salad bowl, add chopped lettuce, corn, chopped cucumber (we like to keep the peel on), thinly sliced green onions, and halved cherry or plum tomatoes (if using larger tomatoes, cut them in half first, then slice them into wedges), and pan-fried tofu.

Pour in about half of the dressing. Don’t add the avocado just yet, or it’ll turn brown.

Mix the salad until everything is well coated in the dressing. Then when you are ready to eat it, add thinly sliced or diced avocado. Give it another mix, taste it, adjust for salt, and serve immediately.

You can drizzle the remaining dressing on top or put it on the table for people to help themselves.

Tofu salad is an excellent lunch or dinner. It’s healthy, nutritious, tasty, and fulfilling.

Add grains: turn the tofu salad into a complete meal by adding your grains of choice. We love it with farro, barley, pasta, whole grain rice, couscous, and cooked quinoa.

Serve it with bread:

• Homemade rosemary focaccia bread
• Oven-baked crostini or tomato bruschetta
• Oven-baked croutons or air fryer croutons
• Savory chickpea frittata muffins

Breads

Focaccia

Starters

Crostini Recipe

Breads

Air fryer croutons

Sides

Chickpea Frittata Muffins

Questions

Make Ahead & Storage

Make Ahead: the salad is best when freshly made; however, you can chop the veggies ahead of time (except the avocado) and store them in the refrigerator to keep them crunchy.

You can also make the dressing in advance and keep it in an airtight container for 3 days. The fried tofu doesn’t keep well, so it’s best to do it right before assembling the salad.

Refrigerator: keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 – 36 hours. The salad and the tofu will lose their crunch, but they’ll still be tasty and nutritious.

Freezer: this recipe is not freezer friendly.

If you love crisp, seasonal, and wholesome salads, take your pick from these vibrant and fresh salad recipes:

• Chickpea salad: a reader’s favorite because it’s tasty, easy, and nutritious.
• Kale salad: a colorful mix of superfoods, this salad is your winter ally.
• Sweet potato salad: creamy, tasty, and fulfilling; everyone loves sweet potato salad.
• Black bean salad: one of our favorite ways of using black beans.
• Avocado salad: with tomatoes and cucumber, this one’s a blessing for summer.
• Couscous salad: Mediterranean-inspired couscous salad is the perfect lunch!

Salads

Kale Salad

Salads

Chickpea Salad

Salads

Sweet Potato Salad

Salads

Avocado Salad

If you tried this tofu salad recipe or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!