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Curb your Japanese take-out cravings with this easy homemade vegan tofu katsu curry recipe! Crispy panko breaded tofu in a creamy, mildly spiced curry sauce. Serve with rice and pickled veggies. GF option, Nutfree. Jump to Recipe
Meet one of my all-time favorite vegan tofu recipes, – Japanese inspired Tofu Katsu Curry! A vegan spin on a traditional Japanese dish that is fairly straight forward, and loved by everyone.
Vegan katsu curry is a bit of a special treat of golden crispy, breaded tofu served with a rich and fragrant curry sauce.
The mild sauce is probably my favorite part of this Japanese Curry! In my opinion, you can never have too much sauce, especially when it tastes this good. It is a beautiful mix between sweet & spicy with a bold flavor thanks so garam masala and curry powder. To keep things authentic, you can serve the breaded tofu over sushi rice but really any rice will do. And yes, cauliflower rice would be a great alternative if you want to keep things low cal.
Instead of making a separate milk and flour mixture for breading I use the curry sauce itself to coat the tofu which is then breaded and then pan fried or grilled! Shorter and simpler.
Vegan Tofu Katsu Curry
Ingredients
- 14 oz Extra firm tofu , pressed between paper towels for 15 minutes and then sliced
for the curry sauce
- 15 oz can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup veggie broth
- 1.5 tbsp of all purpose flour, for Glutenfree use 2 tsp rice flour and 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp sugar or maple syrup
- 1 tsp soy sauce, , tamari for gf, coconut aminos for soyfree
- 1 tsp tomato paste or ketchup
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
for the breading
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs, ( or other breadcrumbs. If they’re too large then crush them a little before using)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne, optional
for the bowl
- pickled vegetables, Such as carrots, radish and cucumber
- cooked rice, scallions, asian chili sauce such as sambal oelek
Instructions
- Prep – Press the tofu if you have not already and then slice and set aside.
- Make the sauce while you press the tofu: Heat a saucepan over medium heat and combine all of the curry sauce ingredients, whisk well to combine and bring to a good boil, stirring occasionally , and simmer for a minute. Take off the heat and let it cool for a minute, so that it thickens.
- Dip the pressed and dry-blotted tofu slices into the curry sauce. You can also let them marinate in the fridge for an hour for more flavor.
- Prepare your breading by mixing the bread crumbs, salt, and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Now, take the tofu slices out of the marinade, and let the excess curry sauce drip off. Now place the tofu into the shallow bowl to coat with breading from all sides. Repeat for all slices.
- Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat, once hot drizzle a grilling pan with a little bit of oil. Place the breaded tofu slices on the grill pan. Press each slice a little bit for a few seconds at a time. Cook for 3-5 minutes until grill marks are formed. Take off the grill pan and set aside. You can also pan fry these breaded tofu in a shallow pan/cast iron skillet.
- To serve, fill the bowl with rice, pickled vegetables, some blanched veggies like bok choy or broccoli. Slice the breaded tofu slices diagonally and place on top of each of the bowls, drizzle with the remaining curry sauce liberally and serve. Add a dollop of asian Chile sauce in side for heat if needed.
Video
Notes
- In lieu of tofu, you could use seitan which will give more of a meaty texture. Or, you could bread and fry aubergine slices and make this a veggie katsu which is soyfree
- For the rice, I used cooked basmati but you could also use sushi rice, brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice. Quick Pickled vegetables make a great addition to your tofu katsu bowls.
- For gluten-free, use gluten-free breadcrumbs.
- you can also serve it with tonkatsu sauce.
- To make this dish ahead of time, you can make the katsu curry sauce and store it in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Alternatively, you could make a big batch and freeze it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients for making Vegan Katsu Curry:
- Tofu – for this recipe we need extra firm tofu. You don’t want soft tofu because it is going to break apart. Also, you want to press it between paper towels for 15 minutes before slicing.
- Full-fat coconut milk and veggie broth form the base of the creamy curry sauce and we season it with tomato paste, curry powder, and garam masala for flavor and that gorgeous orange color, as well as salt, soy sauce and garlic powder for umami and maple syrup or sugar for sweetness.
- All-purpose flour acts as a thickening agent for our sauce. For GF use 2 tsp rice flour and 1 tbsp corn starch.
- For the egg-free breading, we use bread crumbs, seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper. Use glutenfree bread crumbs to keep it gluten-free
Tips and substitutions:
- In lieu of tofu, to make Soyfree, you could use seitan which will give more of a meaty texture. Or, you could bread and fry aubergine slices and make this a veggie katsu.
- For the rice, I used cooked basmati but you could also use sushi rice, brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.
- Pickled vegetables make a great addition to your tofu katsu bowls.
- To make this dish ahead of time, you can make the katsu curry sauce and store it in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container. Alternatively, you could make a big batch and freeze it.
How to make Vegan Katsu Curry:
Prep – Press the tofu if you have not already done so and then slice it and set it aside.
Make the sauce while you press the tofu: Heat a saucepan over medium heat and combine all of the curry sauce ingredients, whisk well to combine, and bring to a boil and simmer for a minute. Take off the heat and let it cool for a minute, so that it thickens.
Dip the pressed and dry-blotted tofu slices into the curry sauce. You can also let them marinate in the fridge for an hour for more flavor.
Prepare your breading by mixing the bread crumbs, salt, and cayenne in a shallow bowl. Now, take the tofu slices out of the marinade, and let the excess curry sauce drip off. Now place the tofu into the shallow bowl to coat with breading from all sides. Repeat for all slices.
Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat, once hot drizzle with a little bit of oil and swirl around to distribute the oil. Place the breaded tofu slices on the grill pan. Press each slice a little bit for a few seconds at a time. That way, you get nice charr.
Cook for 3-5 minutes until grill marks are formed. Take off the grill pan and set aside.
How to serve Tofu Katsu Curry
I served my tofu katsu on a bed of rice along with some pickled vegetables. For the pickled vegetables, you can use a mix of radish, carrots, and cucumber and if you don’t have any store-bought picked at hand, I highly suggest you check out my recipe for quick pickled vegetables.
Once your tofu is fried, you just fill the bowl with some freshly cooked or re-heated rice, pickled vegetables, and some blanched veggies like bok choy or broccoli/broccolini if you like
Now, slice the breaded tofu slices diagonally and place some on top of each of the bowls, drizzle with the remaining curry sauce liberally and serve.
MORE DELICIOUS TOFU RECIPES FROM THE BLOG:
MORE BAKED TOFU
- Crispy Breaded Tofu
- Chili Garlic Baked tofu
- Spiced Baked tofu for Butter Tofu
- Orange Tofu
- Cajun Tofu
- Peanut Butter Tofu
The curry sauce is definitely a winner, but I couldn’t get the breadcrumbs to stick to the tofu for the life of me. I tried a few different times, but no luck 🙁 definitely a let-down.
Maybe the bread crumbs were too large or the sauce too thin. You can crush the breadcrumbs so they are smaller or add additional flour to the sauce so it’s thicker
This was SO GOOD! A total keeper! It’s nice to have something different to do with tofu.
I marinated the tofu for hours before I cooked them, not sure if it made a huge difference, but I had the time so I did it. Also, did not have “panko crumbs” so just used what I had which was regular break crumbs which worked fine.
I am not used to frying foods and had the heat up too high and sadly I burned a good stainless steel pan, as well as spaced out and put the hot pan on a drying mat that had plastic in it! Now not only is the top of the pan burned, the bottom has burned plastic on it! UGH.
Any tips on how to get the plastic off the bottom of the pan would be helpful 🙂
Thanks for another good recipe Richa!
Doubled it! That sauce is bombbb!
This was a total hit with all three kids and hubby. Loved it! Will likely end up in heavy repeat 🙂 served with rice, bok choy and the pickled veggies. Thank you!
Yay
This sauce is terrific! Everyone loved this whole recipe.
Awesome
This looks super tasty but not Japanese at all, except for the tofu! Japanese curry is a totally different flavor profile. Though it might feel like “cheating,” there are vegan curry roux products that make it super quick and easy to throw together a Japanese curry. I will absolutely use this technique for the tofu katsu – great idea to grill it like that – but I will use a Japanese curry roux.
It’s inspired. I generally use Japanese curry powder.
The roux also has other ingredients. I don’t eat them as they are all triggers for my migraines
This looks great. But can I use the chickpea tofu with it??? Thank you.
Yes!
Please don’t rate it if you haven’t made it.
This looks wonderful, and I plan to cook it very soon. Question: how necessary is the use of grill pan? I don’t have one. I generally cook breaded tofu in an iron skillet. Is the grill pan necessary to get the right texture?
No use the cast-iron skillet. I mentioned it in the instructions to use either a Grill pan or a skillet
This looks fantastic and looks like it could be cooked in an air fryer. Have you tried it that way?
Great idea!! not yet – but maybe I will. Thanks!
Wow! I was going to make another of your recipes this evening, because I had fresh cauliflower from the garden and roasted with a sprinkle of curry powder is our favorite way to eat it. THEN…..
….this recipe showed up in my in-box, so I switched gears. IT IS FABULOUS! The delicious sauce, the crispy and flavorful tofu, the side of pickled veggies, the soothing rice (I made basmati), it is one of those WOW dishes and will go into my rotation of favorites. Thank you for another outstanding recipe!
Awesome!! So glad you made this! You can probably bread the cauliflower too and bake and serve with curry sauce and pickled veggies!