Lemongrass Tofu – The Stingy Vegan

Bring bold, zesty flavor to your plate with this lemongrass tofu recipe! Packed with fresh aromatics, crispy tofu, and a tangy, savory lemongrass marinade, this dish is the perfect balance of refreshing and comforting.

Ideal for weeknight dinners or meal prep, it pairs beautifully with rice, noodles, or a fresh veggie stir-fry. This vegan dish is easy to make and loaded with vibrant flavor in every bite!

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This isn’t the typical Vietnamese lemongrass tofu recipe that’s so popular on the internet.

This recipe is another use for my lemongrass sauce recipe that’s delicious on roasted and barbecued veggies or spread on vegan burgers, wraps or sandwiches.

Lemongrass sauce is super easy to make: just throw all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until you reach a consistency that you like. 

What flavors go with lemongrass

Lemongrass is commonly found in Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine – especially Thai and Vietnamese.

As such, lemongrass pairs well with ingredients like lime, garlic, galangal or ginger, cilantro, Thai basil, lime leaves and coconut milk.

As a vegan you may be most familiar with the flavor of lemongrass in Thai curry as it is a common ingredient in green curry paste.

To use lemongrass in cooking, only the lower third of the stalk is needed.

Lemongrass is fibrous but the lower third is the most tender part.

To prepare lemongrass, cut off any remaining root at the bottom and the green leaves at the top.

Peel off the outer layer of the stalk until you just have the white, inner bottom third of the stalk remaining. Now it’s ready to use in your chosen recipe.

Lemongrass can be sliced, grated, pounded into a paste or blended in a food processor; depending on your recipe.

What is the best way to marinate tofu?

There are many different ways to prepare tofu. If you’re new to cooking with tofu, check out my tofu for beginners guide for some tips and easy recipes.

The best kind of tofu for marinating is extra-firm tofu. 

First, you’ll need to drain the tofu from its water. Give it a few good squeezes between your hands to remove as much water as possible.

Now cut the tofu into think slabs. Place the slabs between some paper towel-lined kitchen towels and place something heavy on top.

Allow the tofu to press for at least 15 minutes.

Now cut the tofu into cubes. The smaller you cut the tofu, the less time it will need to marinate so if you’re short on time, cut it quite small.

Prepare your marinade in a bowl or in container with a lid and toss in your tofu cubes. 

I try to leave my tofu marinating for at least 30 minutes, if I have time, but you can also prepare it the day ahead and leave it overnight.

Give the tofu a stir or shake up the container from time to time to make sure all of the tofu gets evenly marinated.

There are lots of ideas for tofu marinades on the internet. 

Most basic marinades include soy sauce, olive oil, vinegar and maple syrup.

You can swap out and combine these ingredients any way you like: lime or lemon juice instead of vinegar, sesame oil instead of or in addition to olive oil, agave or brown sugar for maple syrup.

You can also add any herbs and spices: garlic powder, onion powder, fresh or dried cilantro, basil, thyme, smoked paprika, liquid smoke, sriracha or other chili sauce, Dijon mustard, etc. 

The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients

The ingredients for this lemongrass tofu are easy to find in most large supermarkets or any Asian grocer.

Lemongrass: You’ll find lemongrass in the produce section of a large supermarket or an Asian market. This recipe calls for the whole, fresh stalks but lemongrass is also available as a prepared paste. I haven’t tried it with this recipe but I think it would work if that’s all you can find.

Tofu: Extra-firm tofu is the best for marinating. You can press out a lot of its water in order for the marinade to soak in. It also has the “meatiest” texture of all the tofu types.

Cilantro: You’ll need a bunch of fresh cilantro. I use just the leaves and some of the tender upper stems because my food processor doesn’t do well with the thicker bottom stems. Theoretically, you can use the entire stem of cilantro if you have a better food processor than me!

Ginger and garlic: This recipe calls for quite a bit of fresh ginger and garlic but the lime juice helps to temper the bite a bit. 

Lime: Fresh squeezed lime juice is best. Juicy limes are mostly green in color with a bit of yellow. One and a half limes equals about 3 tablespoons of lime juice.

Hot pepper: To give this recipe a touch of spice, I used one habanero pepper. I like the fruity flavor of the habanero as opposed to a jalapeño but you can use any type of spicy pepper. Thai bird’s eye chili would also combine well with the marinade flavors. Adjust the number of chili peppers to your personal spice tolerance.

Soy sauce: Recipes like this lemongrass sauce would usually call for fish sauce, but to make it vegan we use soy sauce. You can use another salty alternative such as tamari or coconut aminos.

Sugar: A little bit of brown sugar adds a touch of sweetness and helps to create the sweet-sour-spicy-salty flavor profile that’s common in Thai cuisine.

Oil: Choose a neutral oil that won’t add any flavor to the marinade such as sunflower, canola, or vegetable oil. 

Water: To help get your blender going and thin the marinade, we’ll need a few tablespoons of water.

How to make lemongrass tofu

Lemongrass tofu is very easy to make, but it takes a bit of time to allow the tofu to soak up all the flavors of the marinade. Luckily, it’s mostly hands-off time!

Prepare the tofu: To prep the tofu, remove as much of the water that it comes packed in as possible.

Remove the tofu from the package and give it a few strong squeezes between your hands.

Cut it into slabs, place them between paper towel-lined kitchen towel and place something heavy on top to press out the water for at least 15 minutes.

While that’s happening you can make the marinade.

Make the marinade: Prep the lemongrass.

Cut the root off the bottom and the dry green leaves off the top until you are left with about ⅓ of the stalk.

Peel the outer leaf off. Slice the remaining white part of the lemongrass stalk into small rounds.

This recipe calls for a lightly packed cup of cilantro. I use just the leaves and some of the tender upper stems because my food processor doesn’t do well with the thicker lower stems.

Prepare the cilantro by removing the leaves from the stems but don’t worry if some of the stems get in there too.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic and ginger.

If you’re using a very spicy chili pepper, you may want to remove the seeds to help control the spice level. 

Juice one and a half limes or until you get approximately 3 tablespoons of lime juice.

Place all the prepared ingredients along with the sugar, oil soy sauce and 1 ½ tablespoons of water in a small food processor to the tall cup that comes with an immersion blender.

Blend until a thick sauce is formed.

Marinate: Cut the tofu into cubes and place them in a bowl or a container with a lid.

Pour in about half of the marinade along with an additional 2 tablespoons of water.

Mix it up well to coat the tofu in the mixture and leave it for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Give it a stir or a shake from time to time to make sure the tofu is evenly coated in the marinade.

Cook: Heat some neutral cooking oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.

Pan-fry the tofu in a single layer until golden on one side. Then give it a stir and flip the tofu to another side to fry. 

Continue until the tofu is golden-brown on all sides.

Toss: Return the tofu to the bowl or container you marinated it in and add a tablespoon or two of the remaining marinade as a sauce.

Toss and stir the sauce to coat the tofu and it’s ready to serve.

Store remaining marinade for another day!

Variations and substitutions

Lemongrass: I’ve only tried this recipe with fresh lemongrass. You can also buy jarred lemongrass as a paste. It would probably work as a substitute if you can’t find fresh lemongrass.

Chili pepper: I use habanero chili because I like the fruity flavor but any type of chili pepper would work. You could also use red chili flakes or a prepared chili paste such as sambal oelek.

FAQs

Make ahead and storage tips

This is a great recipe for making ahead because you can leave the tofu marinating overnight if you want.

Just prepare the sauce and press the tofu, then leave it marinating in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to fry it up and eat.

This recipe also makes more lemongrass sauce than you’ll need for the quantity of tofu called for. 

This sauce keeps well in the fridge in an airtight container for about a week. 

The fried tofu is best served right away to preserve its crispiness but leftovers can be kept in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

How to serve lemongrass tofu

Serve lemongrass tofu over rice or rice noodles with one or two vegetables on the side: steamed bok choy or broccoli, kimchi, avocado, edamame, stir fried vegetables, fresh cucumber or tomato, chopped green onions, etc.

Lemongrass tofu makes an excellent protein component to a Buddha bowl or salad.

Roll lemongrass tofu into a veggie wrap, burrito, or rice paper rolls with fresh veggies and sprouts.