Lemon Garlic Fried Tofu Chicken
A special thanks to Tessemae’s All Natural for sponsoring today’s recipe!
Lemon and garlic of two of my favorite ingredients to cook with in the kitchen. As I vegan I rely on a lot of spices and seasonings to make my meals as tasty as possible. What is great about tofu is that you can substitute it for so many recipes that normally require meat, especially chicken. One meal that I enjoyed before going vegan was lemon chicken, it was a meal that my mother use to make us a lot growing up. I decided to test out something new and I ended up creating this amazing and incredibly tasty lemon garlic fried tofu chicken… wow, it came out great!
So I recently discover Tessemae’s All Natural line of organic salad dressings and what’s especially great about them… many of their products are vegan. Tessemae’s All-Natural makes 25 marinades and condiments, all of which are USDA organic, gluten free, non-gmo, vegan and Whole30 approved… and they contain no added sugar or xantham gum… ever! You can find their products at Whole Foods Market, Publix and Kroger. I decided to use their lemon garlic dressing to marinade the tofu in which I was so glad I did because it truly gave it a strong lemon flavor.
The first step in creating this recipe is draining your tofu. I just wrap my block of tofu up in paper towels and place several heavy plates on top. Then I let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until a good amount of the water has been absorbed into the paper towel. Once you are done draining the tofu, chop it up into bite sized pieces.
Next you are going to fill a shallow bowls with about 1/2 cup of the Tessemae’s lemon garlic dressing. Mix it around until all of the tofu is covered. Now I like my lemon tofu very… lemony (if that is even a word hehe!) So I squeezed half of a lemon and mixed that into the marinade. You are welcome to skip this stop or add more lemon juice if you love a strong lemon flavor like me! Put in a few dashes of garlic powder and parsley, mix again. Put your tofu in the refrigerator and allow it to marinade for about 30 minutes.
Once your tofu is done marinading, fill a bowl with flour and dip each tofu chunk into the flour and roll it around until all sides are covered. Do this until all of the chunks have been coated in flour. Then you are going to fry the tofu in small batches using a small sized pan on the stove. Pour enough olive oil in the pan to allow the tofu chunks to be submerged and float when ready. Cook on medium-high heat and once the oil is hot enough, fry each tofu nugget for 30 seconds or until a nice golden color emerges from the outside. If it is taking longer than 30 seconds to achieve this the oil may not be hot enough yet. Line a plate with some paper towels and remove each nugget from the hot oil when ready and place on this plate so the paper towels can absorb the excess oil. Do this until all the tofu has been fried. Serve over rice and enjoy! Simple right? You are going to being amazed at how crispy the tofu comes out and the flavor is simple wonderful.
- 1 package of extra firm tofu (cut into bite size pieces)
- 1/2 cup of Tessemae's lemon garlic marinade
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1/2 lemon (squeezed)
- 1/2 cup of flour
- Drain your tofu, I wrap mine in several sheets of paper towels and place a few heavy plates on top. Once drain, chop tofu into bite sized pieces.
- Fill bowl with the lemon garlic dressing, lemon juice, seasoning and add tofu chunks
- Let marinate for 30 minutes in fridge
- Fill bowl with flour
- Remove the marinating tofu from the fridge. Dip each tofu chunk into the flour and roll it around until all sides are covered . Do this until all the chunks have been dipped into the dry mixture.
- Fry tofu in small batches using a small to medium sized pot on the stove. Pour enough olive oil in the pot to allow a few tofu chunks to be submerged and float when ready. Place pot on stove over medium-high heat.
- Once oil is hot enough, fry each tofu nugget for 30 seconds or until a nice golden color emerges from the outside. If it is taking longer than 30 seconds to achieve this the oil may not be hot enough yet.
- Line a plate with some paper towels. Remove each nugget from the hot oil when ready and place on this plate so the paper towels can absorb the excess oil. Do this until all the tofu has been fried.
- Serve over rice and enjoy!