Lemon Tofu – The Stingy Vegan

This lemon tofu recipe is a vegan version of Chinese lemon chicken that features crispy tofu in a sticky sweet and sour lemon sauce.

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Vegan Chinese food

I often crave the Chinese takeout dishes I enjoyed as a child. 

Unfortunately, so few of the items on a Chinese restaurant menu are vegan.

Even the ones that seem like they might be vegan, like noodles and veggies, could have a sauce made with chicken stock or oyster sauce.

Fortunately, Asian ingredients are becoming more popular and accessible and it’s easier than ever to make your favorite Chinese takeout dishes at home!

There’s even lots of food blogs specializing in vegan Chinese food and I love the cookbook The Chinese Vegan Kitchen.

Now, I’m by no means a Chinese food expert, but on my blog you’ll find my recipes for vegan hot and sour soup, sweet and sour tofu, vegan dumplings, vegetable spring rolls, and vegan wonton soup.

How to make crispy tofu

A new technique for making crispy tofu that has recently become popular on social media is to tear it into chunks rather than cut it.

Tearing up your tofu creates an uneven texture with lots of nooks and crannies that fry to a crisp, creating super crunchy tofu.

Another trick that’s been around for a while is to coat the tofu in cornstarch. The cornstarch coating gets super crispy when fried. 

So my go-to technique for making crispy tofu like for this maple chili tofu is to take a block of extra-firm tofu, use my hands squeeze out as much water as possible, tear it into bite-sized pieces and toss it in a container with a couple tablespoons of cornstarch.

Then I fry it in a good amount of neutral-flavored oil over medium-high heat.

Frying tofu in a very hot pan will help to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Also, let it brown on one side first before stirring it to fry on the other side.

Try these tips for the best, crispiest tofu you’ve ever had!

Ingredients

This is a very simple Chinese-style sticky lemon sauce that’s poured over fried tofu. It’s easy to make with basic supermarket ingredients.

Tofu: My personal preference is for extra-firm tofu as it has the “meatiest” texture. I like to stock up on tofu and freeze it. Once thawed, the texture becomes even meatier. It’s an extra optional step, but I recommend trying it.

Lemon: Depending on how juicy your lemons are, you’ll need probably one and a half or two to get ⅓ cup of lemon juice for this recipe.

Soy sauce: Regular Chinese-style light soy sauce adds both umami and salt to this recipe.

Water: A lot of Chinese lemon chicken sauce recipes call for stock but I find the flavor too overpowering. Water dilutes the lemon juice without adding flavor so the lemon flavor stays strong.

Sugar: I use white granulated beet sugar to give this lemon tofu and sweet and sour flavor profile. You could probably substitute agave or other liquid sweetener if you don’t want to use white sugar.

Aromatics: Ginger and garlic add more Asian flavor.

Cornstarch: A cornstarch coating makes the tofu super crispy. A couple teaspoons of cornstarch also thicken the sauce to make it nice and sticky.

How to make lemon tofu

Lemon tofu is super easy and quick to make. Serve it with rice for an easy weeknight meal!

Prep: Gather your ingredients. Finely mince the garlic and the ginger.

Juice the lemons until you get ⅓ of a cup.

Sauce: Add the water, sugar, and soy sauce to the lemon juice and stir it well until the sugar is dissolved.

Heat two teaspoon of oil in a small pot or a pan over medium heat and fry the ginger and garlic for about a minute until soft.

Stir two teaspoons of cornstarch into the lemon water mixture. 

Pour the mixture into your pot and, stirring continuously, bring it to a simmer and cook until thickened. This just takes a minute or two.

Remove from the heat and set aside.

Tofu: I don’t usually bother to press my tofu. I just give it several good squeezes between my hands over the sink.

Use your hands to tear the tofu into bite-sized pieces and toss them into a bowl or a container with a lid.

Sprinkle over about a tablespoon and a half of cornstarch. Stir it with a spoon, or put the lid on the container and shake it, until the tofu is coated in cornstarch.

Heat about 3 tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.

Add the tofu and let it fry until golden brown on one side before stirring and tossing to brown on the other side.

Combine: Once the tofu is browned on all sides to your liking, place it in a clean bowl.

Pour over the lemon sauce and stir to coat the tofu in the sticky lemon sauce.

To serve the tofu you can garnish it with some chopped green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.

Variations and substitutions

Bake: I always fry my tofu but you can definitely cook in the air fryer or bake it. To bake tofu, first drizzle over the oil and gently stir it to coat it in oil before sprinkling over the cornstarch. Again, gently stir to coat the tofu in cornstarch. Spread it on a lined baking pan and bake at 400 f / 200 c for 20 – 30 minutes, tossing once halfway. 

Sugar: If you don’t want to use white sugar, try agave or maple syrup. Add a little at a time and taste it until you get a good balance of sweet and sour.

Protein: If you don’t have tofu, you can pour this sauce over a vegan chicken substitute or cauliflower. For the cauliflower, I make a crispy coating with panko, then bake it before pouring over the sticky lemon sauce.

FAQs

Make ahead and storage tips

Fried tofu is best served immediately while it is still crispy. The sauce will soften the tofu if it is stored in the fridge.

That said, you can still store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The flavor will be good even if the tofu is no longer crispy. 

How to serve lemon tofu

Serve this Chinese-inspired sticky lemon tofu over rice and garnished with chopped green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.

For excellent rice to go with all your tofu recipes try this ginger rice.

For some extra color and nutrition, add a side dish of steamed broccoli, garlic ginger bok choy, edamame or cucumber salad.