oven baked tofu

our local natural foods market has been making this for years. well, at least since i worked there back in the late 90’s. i love this stuff! here's my take on their version - since i never knew what went into it - we just kinda winged it! the results rocked harder than i remember it be'n! yay!

oven baked tofu is so versatile. you can put them in wraps, eat them on their own, with ketchup, bbq sauce, etc - or make a yummy gravy to smother on. it's all awesome.

ingredients for tofu & marinade:
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp liquid braggs/tamari/soy sauce
¼ cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp stone ground mustard
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp sriracha (optional, but the sriracha gives it a little kick!)
2 tsp vegan worcestershire sauce
1 tsp miso (optional)
1 block extra-firm herbed tofu, sliced into 16 thin slabs (about 1½ wide and about ½ to 1 thick - it varies according to the size of your tofu block). feel free to use plain tofu if you can’t find herbed tofu, or if you prefer plain.

“breading”:
¼ cup nutritional yeast
⅓ cup cornmeal
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
½ tsp black pepper

what you’ll need:
covered pan or container (for marinating tofu slices!)
small to medium sized bowl (for breading tofu slices!)
9x13 baking pan
oil cooking spray (we use canola) or enough oil to lightly grease the baking pan

what’cha gotta do:
the night before, morning before, or heck – even an hour or two before: drain & press the tofu. you can find directions for pressing tofu here (and we like to save our paper towels and wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel to press). while it’s pressing start making up the marinade.

to make the marinade: combine all the marinade ingredients in a container and mix well. slice up the pressed tofu, add all the slices to the marinade, cover the container and let it all chill out - marinating for at least 1-2 hours (we marinate ours overnight).

once the tofu is well marinated put all the ingredients for the breading in a bowl (just make sure it’s large enough to fit a tofu slice) and place each piece of tofu, one at a time, into the bowl and dredge it in the breading mix. coat well – and don’t forget to coat the ends & the sides! they want to be covered in all that yumminess, too!

spray the baking pan with a bit of the oil cooking spray and add in the breaded tofu slices.

bake on 375 degrees (no need to preheat) for 15 minutes.

flip those tofu slices over and bake for another 10 minutes.

remove from heat & enjoy! (i like to wrap mine up in a tortilla with a little vegenaise, tomato, & salad mix!)