These three-ingredient crispy dippers pair beautifully with a sweet and tangy sauce. Best part? You can whip them up in under 30 minutes!
It’s no secret that the best snacks are a) crispy b) easy to eat with your hands and c) easy to whip up in a pinch. With that in mind, we created these crispy tofu fingers with a super simple dipping sauce.
Even though they are slathered in Sriracha, don’t be alarmed – most of the heat cooks off, and they end up not being very spicy – just flavorful!
Sometimes we like to cut the tofu into cubes instead of fingers, then toss it into salads or stirfrys. The dipping sauce also makes a great dressing for tempura, rice bowls or soba noodles.
Crispy Tofu Fingers with Soy Ginger Dipping Sauce
Prep time
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These three-ingredient crispy dippers pair beautifully with a sweet and tangy sauce. Best part? You can whip them up in under 30 minutes! For a variation, cut the tofu into cubes instead of fingers, then toss it into salads or stirfrys. The dipping sauce also makes a great dressing for tempura, rice bowls or soba noodles.
Author: The Vegan Video Pantry
Serves: serves 2
Ingredients
- 8 oz firm or extra firm tofu, sliced into fingers
- A generous squeeze of sriracha (enough to coat the tofu)
- 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
- 2 tbsp high heat neutral oil, like safflower, sunflower or canola
- ****For the sauce:
- 1 inch of fresh ginger
- ¼ cup of soy sauce or tamari
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp agave
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl, slather the tofu with enough sriracha to cover it. Toss tofu in bowl until all sides are coated.
- Add arrowroot powder and toss until a sriracha/arrowroot paste has formed and coated all the tofu. You may need to use your hands or a pair of tongs to make sure all the tofu is coated.
- Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once oil is shimmering in the pan, add tofu fingers, making sure to leave enough room so that they don’t touch each other (the arrowroot will make them stick together).
- Cook on each side until browned, about 2-3 minutes per side. Note: If your tofu fingers are very thick, you may have to cook all four sides, but if they are on the thinner side, you may only have to cook the top and bottom. Take a look to make sure yours look crispy on all four sides and make a judgement call from there.
- Once they’re crispy, remove with tongs and drain on a paper towel lined plate.
- To make the sauce, first take a measuring spoon (teaspoon or smaller) and use it to scrape down the piece of fresh ginger to remove the skin. This helps you reduce the amount of ginger you would waste if you cut the skin off with a knife. Then mince the ginger and place it in a small bowl.
- Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and agave. Whisk to combine.
- Serve immediately!
I didn’t expect much from this recipe but this recipe is so good that I am going to make it again for my family and bring it to my work as my lunch.
The only thing I would suggest is that if you are not a fan of sweet sauces like I am, then you should look up some reciped fot a more savory sauce. A quick one would be to add some minced garlic to the recipe called for here, omit the rice vinegar, reduce the soy ssuce to 1/8 c and add a dash of salt, with perhaps a tbsp of vinegar.
But this recipe also doesn’t need a dipping sauce at all because the Sriracha gives the tofu fingers so much flavor that you can eat them by themselves. Maybe a but of salt when you add the flour though to make it extra yummy.
And last, fry these up in the pan with enough oil to shallow-fry them rather than the 2 tbsps the recipe calls for. The more oil, the easier to fry them up and the crisper they will be!
Made them again and I have some more tips for you guys!
First, pat your tofu dry by wrapping it in paper towels and set aside for at least ten minutes. So long as some of the excess water from the tofu is drained, you’re good.
Second, add ground flax seed to the arrowroot powder (I usually use potato starch or flour). It makes it even crispier. And make sure to sprinkle the powder by hand, not dump it over by spoon. Believe me, it covers them better and looks better, too. Ooh, and add some salt! You think the Sriracha will make it a little salty but nope, you barely taste it in the finished product.
Also, if you’re not trying to be healthy about oils, I would deep fry this instead of shallow-fry for a crispier finish.
And I honestly think a traditional dredging process would make the recipe so much better. I’m thinking….replace the traditional egg mixture with a milk-sriracha mix (non-dairy of course!), add salt and other seasonings if preffered to the arrowroot powder/flour/starch, and add panko or breadcrumbs to make it super crispy!