After finally figuring out how to cook tofu and actually have it taste good (see my Sesame Tofu with Broccoli), I couldn’t wait to make more. I used the same easy pan fry method, but this time combined the crispy tofu cubes with tangy sweet chili sauce, sweet bell peppers, creamy avocado, green onion, and cilantro, and the result was amazing. These Sweet Chili Tofu Bowls are THE BOMB (flavor bomb, that is).
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What is Sweet Chili Sauce?
Sweet chili sauce is a sweet and tangy sauce that is usually not very spicy (at least most brands sold in U.S. supermarkets aren’t). It’s one of those all-purpose sauces that is good on just about anything, or great for dipping anything in. It should be really easy to find at Asian markets, in most larger grocery stores (check the international foods aisle), and specialty stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
If you can’t find it at any of your local stores, you can also try making it from scratch, although homemade tends to be a tad bit more spicy than the commercial bottle versions. Here is my recipe for Easy Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce, a traditional recipe for Thai Sweet Chili Sauce using fresh peppers from She Simmers, or a recipe without refined sugar for Clean Eating Thai Sweet Chili Sauce from ifoodreal.com.
Can I Substitute the Red Bell Pepper?
Red bell pepper can be on the expensive side, so if you want you can substitute regular green bell pepper. Pineapple would also be awesome in this stir fry bowl, so feel free to add that if you have it!
Sweet Chili Stir Fried Tofu Bowls
Servings 4Ingredients
- 14 oz. extra firm tofu ($1.99)
- 1 pinch salt ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.08)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil* ($0.04)
- 1 avocado ($0.97)
- 1 bell pepper (any color) ($0.99)
- 2-3 green onions ($0.17)
- 1 handful fresh cilantro (optional) ($0.25)
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce ($1.66)
- 2 tsp sesame seeds (optional) ($0.10)
- 4 cups cooked rice ($0.88)
Instructions
- Remove the tofu from the liquid in the package, wrap it in a clean, lint-free dishcloth or a few paper towels, and press it between two plates with a weight on top for 30 minutes (see detailed step by step photos and instructions here). Once the excess moisture has been pressed out, cut the tofu into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes.
- Season the tofu cubes with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle a tablespoon of cornstarch over top and then toss to coat. Repeat with the second tablespoon of cornstarch.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium flame. Once the skillet and oil are hot, add the tofu cubes and fry until golden brown and crispy on all sides. Place the fried tofu in a large bowl.
- Dice the red bell pepper and thinly slice the green onions. Pull the cilantro leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop. Slice the avocado.
- Add the diced bell pepper to the bowl with the fried tofu. Pour 1/3 to 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce over top, then stir until the bell pepper and tofu are coated in the sauce.
- To build the bowls, start with one cup cooked rice, then add 1/4 of the tofu and bell pepper mixture. Add a few slices of avocado to the side of the bowl, then sprinkle the sliced green onion, chopped cilantro, and sesame seeds over top. Enjoy!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Glass Mixing Bowls
- Color Cutting Boards
- Non Stick Cookware
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Sweet Chili Stir Fried Tofu – Step by Step Photos
Start with a 14oz. block of tofu. They’re usually packed in water, so you’ll want to remove the tofu from the water and press the tofu for about 30 minutes to remove the excess moisture. For detailed step by step photos on how to press the tofu, click over to this Sesame Tofu recipe.
A few of you told me about freezing tofu and how it changes the texture slightly, making it almost sponge-like so you can just squeeze it with your hands instead of pressing it. I tried that method this time. I could indeed squeeze the block with my hands to express the liquid, although it did begin to crack a bit (not bad for my first try with this technique). Squeezing it by hand also made the block a little misshapen, so I had to press it back into shape with my hands. This is the block sliced in half after squeezing.
Cut the pressed tofu into 3/4 to 1-inch cubes, then season with a pinch of salt. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp cornstarch over the cubes, then toss to coat. Repeat that with a second tablespoon of cornstarch, or until all sides have a good coating on them.
Heat 1-2 Tbsp of a neutral cooking oil (canola, vegetable, peanut, light sesame) in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the tofu and fry until golden brown and crispy on all sides. I used my stainless steel skillet last time, so I decided to experiment with a non-stick skillet. The non-stick obviously didn’t stick as much, but I think my last batch was a tad crispier (that could also be due to the freezing and pressing methods used this time).
While the tofu is frying (or after frying, if you don’t like to multi-task), dice a red bell pepper and slice 2-3 green onions. Pull a handful of cilantro leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop. Slice one avocado.
Place the fried tofu and diced bell peppers in a large bowl.
This is the sweet chili sauce that I used. I just noticed that this brand is gluten-free, which I’m sure a lot of you will appreciate! :D
Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce to the tofu and bell peppers, or enough to fully coat everything in sauce. Stir well.
Once the tofu and bell peppers are coated in sauce, it’s time to assemble the bowls. Start with 1 cup cooked rice, then add 1/4 of the tofu/bell pepper mixture. Add a few slices of avocado, then sprinkle green onion, cilantro, and a few sesame seeds over top. All done!
These Sweet Chili Tofu Bowls really do come together quickly and have quite a bit of flavor. My boyfriend, who had been joking about not wanting to eat tofu all week, remarked, “Mmm, a lot of different flavors in here!” #win
My wife and I are big fans of this recipe for Sweet Chili Tofu Bowls. They’re super easy to make, taste amazing, and are on the table fast. Make sure to buy some yummy sweet and spicy chili sauce. We also love the avocado, green onion, and cilantro garnish.When first told my wife we were having chili she was surprised that wasn’t beans and cheese we make alot
This is so delicious. I left the tofu in the pan and added in the pepper to sauté and cook. Then added in the sauce. I love being able to eat tofu as a substitute for meat every once in awhile and this dish always hits the spot.
Delicious and so very easy.
If you have a convection oven, I suggest convect baking the tofu for 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees. It will be nice and crispy as if you deep fried it!
I STILL can’t get my tofu to crisp up, but this was still good, light and healthy.
You’re right. That was THE BOMB. I added sriracha and I’m in heaven.
I did this with baked chicken breast instead of tofu tonight. I didn’t have any avocado, but I did Beth’s coconut rice. Fantastic.
I posted this on another comment on accident at first. I made a half batch of the Budget Bytes sweet chili sauce for this and it barely covered everything. Just a heads up if you’re doing that as well, I’d probably make a full 1 cup batch since the rice is pretty dry on its own as well. Still good though!
Reading the recipe left me a little confused as I wasn’t sure the flavors would all mesh. But they totally do! I like to cut my tofu in bite-sized slices as I find those easier to crisp up compared to cubes (you only have to flip them once). But overall a delicious and complete meal that turned out great.
So delicious, one of my favorite recipes by far. So helpful in eating more plant-based.
Where can I find the nutrition info? All I’ve found is a link to the nutrition disclaimer.
We only recently brought on a Registered Dietician to our team. She’s working hard behind the scenes to update the entire recipe database, over 1500+ recipes, with nutritional information. She’s working her way from the newest recipes back and it takes some time to update them all. Stay tuned!
I made a half batch of the Budget Bytes sweet chili sauce for this and it barely covered everything. Just a heads up if you’re doing that as well, I’d probably make a full 1 cup batch since the rice is pretty dry on its own as well. Still good though!
Was good, would make again but flavor wise it was missing something to give it that umph… maybe more salt?
No taste at all.
Huh? Did you use sweet chili sauce?
This was very tasty. The instructions are detailed and everything came out wonderful. I can’t wait to eat the rest of the leftovers!
This was DELICIOUS! I had some sweet chili sauce that had just been sitting in the fridge. I happened to have all the other ingredients on hand, so this was lunch! And will be for the rest of the week, it makes a decent sized bowl, so thank you! Great combo of flavors!
OMG, made this tonight, was fantastic! The Chile sauce was perfect with it. Just started making tofu with your pan fried sesame tofu, this is another addition to the rotation. My 59 year old southern wife had never eaten tofu before last week, and now is in love with it. She has been a die hard carnivore her whole life, but now has happily agreed to eating tofu twice a week as we are embarking on a wholesale major diet improvement. Thank you Beth for teaching me how to cook with tofu and providing such awesome recipies!
This makes me so happy! You are very welcome!
Delicious! Took a lot longer to brown and crisp up the tofu in a non stick pan than I thought it would, even on high heat. About 20 minutes in all. Next time I will try using stainless steel and see if it goes faster! This was the first tofu recipe I’ve made in a long time, as I didn’t like the ones I tried before. But this one was tasty! Oh, and if anyone is having issues evenly coating the tofu pieces with cornstarch, I used a small mesh strainer to sift it on, and that worked great.
I have a bottle of sweet chili sauce but haven’t been sure how to use it. This looks great. A long time ago, I coated some tofu slices with ground oatmeal, lightly fried them, then topped with soy sauce. Yummy, a bit like light fish.
Okay this recipe just changed my life! I decided to make this at 9pm tonight and was worried it would be too time consuming but it really wasn’t. It is the best tofu bowl I have had to date. Thank you!
Previously, when I’ve made this, it’s ended up a bit too sweet for my tastes. Tonight, I made a couple adjustments, and I think they made the bowl a lot more balanced!
First, I toasted the rice and cooked it with some toasted garlic and veggie broth for extra flavor. I didn’t have brown rice, but I think that also would have added some depth. Second, I added a little bit of very thinly sliced green cabbage to each bowl for extra color, crunch, and nutrition. Finally, in addition to the chili sauce, I splashed just a little bit of rice vinegar–maybe a 1/2 tsp or so–over the top of each bowl.
It was great!
I made this last night and everyone loved it (I’ve got one gluten free kid, one vegetarian kid and a husband who loves tofu). This was my first time cooking with tofu and my first time eating it — and I must say it was pretty good. I used a little canned pineapple and sauteed the bell pepper, pineapple and half of the green onion (mostly the white parts) for just a couple of minutes after I emptied the tofu out of the skillet. Tofu is not nearly as intimidating as I thought it was!
Love it
Loved it. We now make this regularly. I am not a vegetarian but this showed me that tofu deserves a place in my menu plans!
Last night I was coming home from a crazy stressful day—my husband asked if he could help me with anything and I jokingly said “make dinner?”–he said sure!! He pulled up this budget bytes recipe which I said I planned on making, and made the whole thing-it tasted amazing!! I think that your pictures made the whole process a lot easier for him, and I’m excited that he enjoyed his time in the kitchen and was rewarded with a great meal!
That’s so cool! I love hearing stories like that. Thank you. :)
I was afraid the sweet chili sauce would be too sweet (we got the Kroger version of Thai Kitchen), but once mixed in with everything, it really was the perfect amount of sweetness. Definitely a keeper in our dinner rotations!
I made this tonight. Everything come together super quick. Added some steamed broccoli and fresh pineapple. A keeper for sure
Just finished this. Hubby isn’t home yet and I am dying to eat his portion, too! I’ve never had the chili sauce before. I made my own with the Life Tastes Like Food recipe you linked. So yummy! I will definitely make this again!
WOW!tHIS RECIPE IS SIMPLE AND AMAZING.THANKS FOR THE POST.
Loved it, will make this again! The cilantro and avocado really made the dish.
All of your bowl recipes have seriously changed my life — teriyaki meatball bowls, banh mi bowls, pineapple sriracha breakfast bowls… SO GOOD. ALL OF THEM.
I never felt compelled to cook with tofu before, but thanks to this recipe that’s all changed. Had this for dinner tonight :)
Delicious – will definitely make this again!
Not only has your tofu-frying method saved me from mediocre tofu, this recipe is amazing! It has very quickly become a staple meal in our kitchen.
Thanks !
This dish was AMAZING! Thank you for teaching me the proper way to cook tofu. Total gamechanger. I actually can’t wait to make another Asian dish with tofu, But, honestly, so flavorful and delish–even the meateaters in the family ate it up!
This recipe was my first attempt at cooking tofu as well. I loved it! I will be using tofu more often. Thanks for the great recipe.
Another winner! This was sooo good! I used sweet chili sauce from Trader Joe’s, and it was REALLY spicy. But still delicious! Next I want to try this same method of cooking the tofu, but with sweet and sour sauce. And then maybe a peanut/pad thai sauce. The options are endless!
Beth, I’m so glad to see you trying tofu. It is cheap and a great source of protein. Here is a wonderful recipe just as an idea. http://ohmyveggies.com/recipe-peanutty-quinoa-bowls-two-make-baked-tofu/ . The think I like about it is that it is good cold. And the baked tofu is amazing. I’d love to see more tofu on budgetbytes!
I’ll have to try that baking method! I experimented with baking some last week and didn’t like it nearly as much as the pan fried version, but I used a much different technique that the one you linked to. Thanks for sharing it! :)
Really wanted to make this, but the chill sauce seemed to have an awful lot of sugar. Made the tofu using your pan-seared method though, stir-fried some veg, and put your sweet and sour sauce over all. Yum! I never much cared for tofu until trying this method – thank you!
Sweet Tofu balls..really this is looking awesome. I dnt know what is tofu. I will search about it. I will surely try it. Thanks for sharing…
Do you think black beans would be a good substitute for the avocado? If so what should I season them with? Thanks :)
Black beans would taste pretty good in this, but the creaminess of the avocado might be missed. I don’t think you’d have to season them with anything. The sweet chili sauce adds enough flavor to cover everything.
I ended up not using the black beans and I didn’t have any avocados so I just stuck with the tofu mixture, it was still tasty but your right I missed that creamy component from the avocado, I’ll have to grab a few next shopping trip :)
Can’t wait to try these tonight, I made your artichoke chicken skillet a while back and they were delicious! Thanks for the wonderful recipes.
I love sweet chili tofu. Such an easy but filling comfort food option. My version includes shiitake mushrooms, a handful of Thai basil, and some fresh ginger for an Asian kick. Thanks for sharing!
This looks crazy good and I was just thinking how I need to start eating less meat!
I love tofu, especially the fried kind. I learned about it when I lived in China. I’ve tried to replicate the authentic frying method here but it was not quite the same. I think one important difference is that in China they were frying it in a large amount of hot oil– basically flash-boiling it in oil which sears the edges. I am intrigued with your method, Beth. Can’t wait to give it a try.
Wow! Interesting. I’m just not all that confident that I can cook tofu. Maybe you offer tutoring services? I know it’s so healthy and want to try harder though!
This would be really good with pineapple added to it. There is a local healthy juice/salad bar that used to do the Spicy Hawaiian which was super similar to this, but with pineapple. They discontinued it of course. Now I can make it myself!! Thanks!
Does the tofu taste like paneer by chance? I’ve never tried it and am hesitant to say the least.
Not really. Tofu is kind of neutral in flavor, so you’ll taste more of the sauce or whatever you put on it. It’s funny, though, after I fried them I ate a couple cubes and kept thinking that they tasted like french toast! I think it was just the “fried” flavor, though. ;)
This looks yummy; I’ll substitute chicken for the the tofu as I have soy issues.
I love tofu–and I especially love your technique to crisp it up without deep frying it. Sweet chili sauce is a fave condiment at our house, and my 10 yr old grandson wants it with nearly everything from Thanksgiving turkey to his weekend omelet-not too spicy, not too sweet, and perfect as a dip with nearly any protein! Thanks much to Sally for pointing me to a recipe!
I made the Sesame Broccoli with Tofu last week and it was amazing! I’ve never fried tofu that successfully before! I will definitely be making this Sweet Chili Tofu this week.
Oh this looks so good! Colourful and delicious :) I hate how expensive red bell peppers are but they’re so worth it, especially for Asian-style dishes.
I haven’t tried that sauce before because I was always afraid it would be too spicy! I will have to get some so that I can try it with the crispy tofu.
I’ve never experimented with freezing tofu myself, because it just didn’t seem worth the effort. I tend to forget to take things out of the freezer to thaw. Do you think it’s worth it in this case to do the extra steps of freezing and thawing the tofu vs just pressing it?
I’m loving the tofu recipes. I with people were less afraid of tofu, it’s a great inexpensive source of protein and extremely versatile.
I’ve found that freezing/thawing tofu changes the texture significantly enough that I only do it if I have extra tofu that needs to be saved. I’ve read that some chefs freeze tofu specifically for that texture (spongy/chewy) but I personally prefer the raw, creamy/crumbly/lighter texture of tofu the way it is. It’s worth a try if you have extra tofu to save. You might like it. Beware, though, the tofu gets yellow-ish. It’s not bad, just changes color.
I’m not sure if I’ll do the freeze/thaw thing again because it takes a whole extra day, as opposed to a 30 minute press. :P I liked the texture both ways, but maybe liked the creamier non-frozen tofu a *little* better.
Freezing and thawing the tofu makes it easier to crumble. You can cook it with taco seasoning and then use it like ground beef, or saute it with veggies, soymilk, and nutritional yeast to make a sort of vegan scrambled eggs.
Yum! I need to try that.
Tofu turns yellow and gets crumbly when it has been frozen. I like it as an alternative to TVP, but I’ve never used it in a recipe like the one above.
I wonder if it depends on the brand or type. Mine wasn’t yellow or crumbly at all after freezing and thawing.
I’ve made the Homemade Sweet Chili Sauce from Life Tastes Like Food. It was very good.
Hi Beth! I recently made my own chili sauce — it’s really easy, and probably cheaper than buying it store made. You should look into publishing a recipe for it! This recipe looks delicious, though :)
I almost did, but I ran out of time! :) So I just posted links to a few different recipes around the web instead (they’re in the intro).
I’m definitely making this for dinner tonight, but you should know that if you know you’re going to use cubes or small slices, go ahead and cut the tofu before pressing it. The smaller pieces press more quickly and much more evenly than the giant block.
One of my favorite restaurants in town makes delicious tofu bowls. Now I can try making my own, can’t wait to try this recipe!
I studied abroad in Australia in college, where sweet chili sauce is a popular condiment. It’s extremely good as a dip for French fries (especially when mixed with sour cream)! It’s also pretty good in wraps. I never thought to use it as a marinade though.
It’s not used as a marinade here.
How is the texture of tofu this way or is texture based on the firmness you buy? I usually don’t mind the taste of tofu since it takes on whatever flavor you want, but I’ve had tofu at so many restaurants where it’s mush on the inside and that always weirds me out. Like it’ll be nice and firm and then you’ll bite in to it and it’ll kind of pop and be weird and mushy. Now I’m grossing myself out.
Hahaha Well, the frozen kind was a bit more tough. The non-frozen kind had a softer, almost creamier interior to the fried cubes, which I thought was a nice contrast to the crunchy exterior.