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Blackened Tofu Tacos with Caramelized BBQ Onions are packed with delicious flavor and exciting textures! Gluten-free. Nutfree
Taco Tuesday just got a lot better! These Blackened Tofu Tacos are the BOMB! Thanks to a generous coating of spices like paprika or cumin, the tofu gets a nice golden crust that’s packed with smoky flavor. Pair that with some crunchy veg, vegan sour cream and sweet and spicy caramelized bbq onions and you’ve got a real good taco on your hands.
I’m telling you, if you’ve never tried blackened tofu, forget everything you thought you know about tofu and give these blackened tofu tacos a try! Feel free to play with the spices to suit your personal preferences, such as adding some cayenne pepper if you want some heat!
You can serve these as burritos or too a seasonal salad with the blackened tofu and bbq onions. So much texture and flavor and works well in any format
More Vegan Taco Recipes:
- Carrot Walnut Taco Meat
- Mango BBQ Soycurls
- Barbacoa mushroom Tacos
- Berbere Spiced Jackfruit Tacos
- Chipotle Shredded Butternut Tacos
Blackened Tofu Tacos with BBQ Onions
Ingredients
For the tofu:
- 14 ounces firm or extra firm tofu pressed for at least 15 minutes and cubed
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce or use tamari for gluten-free
- 1 teaspoon oil
For the blackening spice:
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or chili powder blend
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
For the BBQ onion topping:
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1/2 cup of onion
- A good pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
For the rest of the tacos:
- lime juice as needed
- 2 cups of chopped lettuce or cabbage as needed
- vegan ranch or vegan sour cream as needed
- tortillas as needed, Glutenfree as desired
Instructions
- Press and cube the tofu if you haven't already. Then add to a bowl. Add the soy sauce and 1 teaspoon oil and toss well to coat.
- In another small shallow bowl, mix all the spices then sprinkle the spices over the tofu and toss well to coat.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.Add 2 teaspoons of oil and let the oil heat up then add in your spiced tofu.
- Cook for 7-10 minutes or until the tofu is golden, is crispy on most of the edges.
- You might want to be careful with the end of cooking so as to not burn the spices.
- Make the BBQ onions: Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until the onion is golden. 7-8 mins. Stir occasionally.
- Then add in your BBQ sauce and hot sauce and toss well to coat then take off heat.
- To assemble tacos, warm your tortillas on a gas stove or a pan then layer a layer of lettuce. Add a good helping of the tofu.
- Squeeze some lime juice over the tofu then top it with the BBQ onions, more lettuce, and vegan ranch, or sour cream as needed.
- Repeat for all your tacos and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Nutrition does not include tortillas
- You can also make this into a wrap. Add in some slaw, bbq onion, and some rice and roll it up into a burrito.
- You can also turn this into a sandwich by cutting the tofu into larger slabs then blackening it. Then adding to a sandwich layer along with the lettuce, ranch, BBQ onion, and lime juice.
- To make these Soyfree , omit the soy sauce and use my chickpea flour tofu or use cooked chickpeas
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- firm or extra firm tofu is used in this recipe. Make sure to press it for at least 15 minutes
- the tofu gets marinated in soy sauce and oil
- for the blackening spice, we blend smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin with thyme, chili powder, salt and pepper
- for the BBQ onion topping, we sautee onion with BBQ and hot sauce
- chopped lettuce or cabbage as needed
- vegan ranch or vegan sour cream as needed
Tips & Variations:
- It’s important to press the tofu: this can be done using a few dish towels and some heavy books or an actual tofu press. Once pressed, you’ll cut it into cubes. You can do this step up to a few days in advance to save time.
- You can also make this into a wrap. Add in some slaw, bbq onion, and some rice and roll it up into a burrito.
- You can also turn this into a tofu sandwich by cutting the tofu into larger slabs then blackening it. Then adding to a sandwich layer along with the lettuce, ranch, BBQ onion, and lime juice.
- Use tamari instead of soy sauce for gluten-free
- These also taste fantastic with homemade lime crema
How to make Vegan Tofu Tacos:
Press and cube the tofu if you haven’t already. Then add to a bowl.
Add the soy sauce and 1 teaspoon oil and toss well to coat.
In another small shallow bowl, mix all the spices then sprinkle the spices over the tofu and toss well to coat.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add 2 teaspoons of oil and let the oil heat up then add in your spiced tofu.
Cook for 7-10 minutes or until the tofu is golden, is crispy on most of the edges. You want to be careful with the end of cooking so as to not burn the spices.
Make the BBQ onions:. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.
Add the onion and a pinch of salt and pepper and cook until the onion is golden. 7-8 mins. Stir occasionally.
Then add in your BBQ sauce and hot sauce and toss well to coat then take off heat.
To assemble tacos, warm your tortillas on a gas stove or a pan then layer a layer of lettuce.
Add a good helping of the tofu. Squeeze some lime juice over the tofu then top it with the BBQ onions, more lettuce, and vegan ranch, or sour cream as needed.
Repeat for all your tacos and serve immediately.
I used the spice mix (minus the onion powder cuz I didnt have) and baked the tofu and it was so delicious! had them with sumac onions and coriander in tortillas with a spread of labneh mixed with indian green chutney, SO good!
Sounds delicious!!
These were so good! They’ll definitely be in my regular rotation! Thank you, Richa! Your recipes are consistently good.
Wonderful!
What is a good bbq sauce i get so confused when I look at the 100 s kind of sauces at the store
I use Annie’s maple barbecue or plain barbecue
Love this recipe! The flavor is on point thanks to the seasonings and sauces, it’s a balanced high protein meal and it uses simple ingredients! Will be remaking it every time I have wraps 🙂
Awesome!
Amazing recipe!! I tried it today and it was bomb!!
💣 💣
These were so good! I felt like it was something you would see on the menu at a vegan restaurant. Everyone in my family loved them. I followed the recipe exactly except used 1/2 chile powder and 1/2 cayenne. I used a bag of shredded green cabbage and made a vegan ranch to drizzle on top.
Will definitely be making these a lot!
❤️❤️❤️ please do leave a rating when you make them again!!
These are amazing! Loved them. I used vegan ranch to drizzle and the super firm tofu that doesn’t really require pressing. I will make these many times over!!
Yay
Richa – you’ve done it again!! Just finished frying up this tofu and geez Louise, is it DELICIOUS!! Made my onions last night and tonight I’ll be putting it all together in a corn tortilla for dinner.
I don’t really “press” my tofu. I freeze it, thaw it and then gently squeeze out excess water. This quickens the whole process for me.
Agree with another commenter: if you’re reading this, you need to make this NOW. Thanks Richa! (Btw, will put in my plug again for you to lend your genius to coming up with a vegan pepperoni please.)
OMG!!! These tacos were delicious! As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it. You read the recipe and think “it can’t be that easy and taste good”, but it did. I let my tofu in a press for several hours. The tofu cooked perfectly (didn’t burn the spices) and the bbq onions really accented the dish. Everything worked very well together. I used corn tortillas and the new HV vegan ranch. Seriously, you need to make this recipe. Like now.
Yayy
thanx for sharing! had to make some changes; julienned broccoli slaw instead of lettuce, had smoked tofu and added a half cup of cooked corn to the bnq sauce. did not add any salt. it’s a keeper!
Yum
Merci pour vos recettes! Je fais du tofu semblable avec la sauce siracha sans les épices sauf ail servi avec légumes sautés et riz chinois. Tout le monde aime