Crispy golden tofu bathed in a 5-ingredient peanut gochujang sauce that is spicy, sweet, tangy, and so delicious.
Sticky Gochujang Tofu with Herbs and Peanuts
Watch How To Make This Gochujang Tofu
This Tofu Makes Me Love Life.
The way to my heart is through max flavor with minimal effort, and this recipe is exactly that. It’s spicy, crunchy, sweet, sticky, and all-around FEEL GOOD. Here’s what I’m doing:
- Ripping tofu into chunks.
- Baking the tofu.
- Saucing the tofu.
- Dipping, dunking, devouring.
The end result here is craggly little bites of crispty, boingy, saucy, sticky tofu. Throw it onto a rice bowl with the crunch of cucumber and some herbs. Add more sauce. Happy dance.
The beauty of this recipe is that we get to go super minimal at the start – salt, pepper, oil and cornstarch. The main goal is just TEXTURE. And once the crispity golden texture is there, we drench her with spicy-sweet sauce (5 ingredients, thank you very much) that sticks into every tofu nook and cranny.
This tofu is fast enough and easy enough that I can make it for a WFH lunch, which I often do. And love. The girls are a no-thanks to the spicy gochujang sauce, so when I make this for dinner, we give them the plain tofu as “tofu nuggets” with ketchup or honey mustard and Bjork and I get to enjoy the whole batch of that finger-licking sauce to ourselves.
The gochujang sauce in this recipe is based around peanuts, sesame, and soy – but should you find yourself wanting a gochujang sauce that’s even a little more luscious (and potentially a bit more allergy-friendly), this mayo-based gochujang sauce is a total delight and would work just as well here!
Welcome To My House! Let’s Make This Sticky Gochujang Tofu!
1
Pull Your Tofu Into Chunks.
Pull the tofu into chunks and toss with cornstarch, salt, and a bit of oil – main goal here is to create a bit of a textural exterior for the sauce to cling to!
2
Make Your Sauce.
While the tofu bakes, shake up a quick gochujang sauce in a jar.
3
Toss Tofu with Sauce.
Once the tofu is golden and textured, pour sauce over it and toss to coat.
4
One Last Little Roast.
Send it back to the oven just long enough to get it deeply colored and roasty-toasty.
5
You’re Done! Yum!
Drizzle the tofu with more sauce to make it a lil sticky and delicious. Serve with all the goods. So yum.
Sticky Gochujang Tofu with Peanuts and Herbs
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Description
Max flavor, minimal effort! This Gochujang Tofu is a beauty. Crispy golden tofu bathed in a 5-ingredient sauce that is spicy, sweet, tangy, and so delicious.
Ingredients
Scale
Tofu
- 1 16–ounce block extra firm tofu – ideally the kind that comes vacuum-packed
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and pepper to taste
Gochujang Sauce
- 3 tablespoons gochujang sauce (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1–2 tablespoons water as needed
Serving
- Rice
- Cilantro, green onion, and/or peanuts as a garnish
- Cucumber, or other veggies for the bowl
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Press the tofu a few times with paper towels (if you use the vacuum-packed kind, this is hardly necessary at all – yay!). Tear the tofu into rough chunks.
- Tofu: Put the tofu chunks in a nonstick square baking dish, or a sheet pan lined with parchment. Add the oil, cornstarch, salt, and pepper directly to the pan; shake or toss to coat.
- Bake: Bake tofu for 15 minutes. Give it a shake or stir to rotate the pieces. Then bake for another 10 minutes. (Total bake time: 25 minutes.)
- Make Sauce: While baking is happening, shake up the sauce ingredients in a jar until smooth.
- Sauce on Tofu: Pour just enough sauce over the tofu to coat; toss to combine. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, checking every so often to prevent burning, until golden brown.
- Done! Remove the pan from the oven and toss with a fresh drizzle of sauce. Serve with rice and a vegetable, and top with chopped peanuts, cilantro, green onion, and any remaining sauce. SO GOOD!
Notes
Note 1: Gochujang is a spicy Korean fermented red chili paste fermented paste. I use gochujang sauce for this recipe and I love the Bibigo brand! Gochujang sauce tastes like gochujang but it also has flavors of garlic, sesame, etc. – it’s more of a condiment. You can also use proper Korean gochujangpaste in this recipe, but it will be thicker, spicier, and have less added flavors. If you do this, use less (1 tablespoon would be plenty) and add a bit of extra flavor like brown sugar, garlic powder, ginger, etc.
Note 2: You don’t have to use a nonstick square baking dish, but I like that it has higher sides and makes it easy to toss everything around all in one pan. Here’s the one I have. (affiliate link)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Korean-Inspired
Keywords: gochujang sauce, baked tofu, gochujang tofu, spicy tofu, tofu bowl, rice bowl, vegetarian dinner, vegan dinner
Frequently Asked Questions For This Gochujang Tofu
How spicy is the sauce?
Pretty spicy. Too spicy for my kids. You can scale the amount of sauce down even further if you’d like a less spicy sauce! Or, you can try this mayo-based gochujang sauce which is quite a bit milder and still really delicious.
Can you use regular tofu (not vacuum-packed)?
You can, but a) you need to press it more to remove the moisture, and b) it’ll take a bit longer in the oven to get crisped up. Maybe closer to 40 minutes.
If you have a peanut allergy, is there a substitute for peanut butter?
I would use this gochujang sauce instead!
Could I make this with meat (like chicken)?
Yes! This sauce would be delicious with chicken meatballs, air fryer chicken, sauteed shrimp, any and all.
Could I make this with gochujang paste (not sauce)?
Yes, but I’d suggest starting with much less. I think 1 tablespoon will be plenty. I would also add a bit more garlic or other seasonings to round out the flavor.
Three More Really Good Tofu Recipes
Filed Under: All Recipes Dairy-Free Dinner Gluten-Free Quick and Easy Recipes Rice SOS Series Tofu Vegan Vegetarian
October 8, 2024
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
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Yes!!!! More vegetarian recipes like this please & thank you 🙂
I am making this now.
Question – in the video you use 1 tbsp of seasame oil and pb. But in the recipe you use 2. Why the difference?
Made and delicious!! Thank you
I have been looking for new ways to enjoy tofu, and this recipe seems perfect. I love the mix in of peanut butter that will add a great layer of flavour. Thanks for this!
Pretty good! I enjoyed it ! Little too much peanut butter for me.
This was absolutely delicious and seems flexible for chicken pork! Thank you!!!
Wow, this Sticky Gochujang Tofu looks incredible! I love how simple and flavorful it is, especially with that crunchy texture and the vibrant sauce. I can’t wait to try this recipe for dinner—definitely adding it to my meal prep rotation! Thanks for sharing such a fantastic dish!
I do agree with all the ideas you have introduced on your post They are very convincing and will definitely work Still the posts are very short for newbies May just you please prolong them a little from subsequent time Thank you for the post
I love this healthy receipe. , go Chi Jang..to fu. , i change it with rice cauliflower. ..less calories… ..thanks ..healthy eating!! Good job !!
The recipe looks so delicious in the pictures. I could not get mine to come out that way. I was able to buy tofu that was vacuum sealed. I even dried it out a little bit more but I could not achieve the crispiness. I finally ended up putting it under the broiler for a few minutes and that helped but still didn’t turn out quite the way I imagined and the way the picture showed.
The sauce was delicious and I liked the dish but would have preferred the tofu to be crispy and gooey like it looks in the picture.
I live in Colorado. Maybe altitude has something to do with it?? I did end up cooking it longer.
It was still delicious but I probably wouldn’t make it again. Or maybe cube the tofu and cook it to crispy first.
Hi Sherry – I live at 6,500′, so maybe not as high as you in CO, but mine came out nice and crispy. I used Trader Joe’s high protein tofu, added about 10 minutes baking time and used more like a heaping TBSP of corn starch (or actually arrowroot powder).
Uhmmm YUM!! Better than a handful of tofu rice bowls I have tried at restaurants! I could only find gochujang paste so used the note version, adding brown sugar and some extra ginger and garlic paste. I crushed up cashews as that’s what I had and some fresh green onions. I can’t wait for my lunch leftovers tomorrow!!
Ok, I never post. I also don’t look a ton at this site (or any site actually) because I’ve been in a cooking rut for the last year or two and have been feeling uninspired in the kitchen. However, I did see the recipe for the sticky tofu and decided to make it last night. HOLY COW its a 10 out of 10! My tofu hating husband couldn’t get enough of it and it was also so easy. Thank you Pinch of Yum!
Love to hear it!
This was pretty tasty, but the sauce came out incredibly salty! I’m wondering if it’s because I used a natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt). I ended up adding some honey to counter the saltiness, and that helped.
Great recipe! After trying it I can say that it has rightfully made it into my top 10 favorite dishes! I would like to thank the author!
After going to 2 stores could not find goguchang paste or sauce so trying this with chili garlic sauce instead.
This was SO good!! I rarely use tofu but this recipe will be part of my regular rotation now! Thanks for always giving such wonderful recipes!
We loved this! Nice and spicy! I added some bean shoots also!
Another home run. I was skeptical about tearing the tofu (cutting it seems faster?), but it totally did add texture. My meat loving husband said it was the best tofu I’ve made. Going in the rotation!
Amazing recipe! I used almond butter instead of peanut butter, and it turned out great. I will definitely make this again! Love it! Thank you.
Do you think this would go well with salmon?
I just discovered the wonderful flavors of gochujang and I totally love this vegetarian dish! The sauce uses up ingredients i already had in my pantry too which is always a win in my book!
This dish for Sticky Gochujang Tofu looks very good! I adore the blend of strong flavors and textures; the crunchy peanuts, fresh herbs, and spicy, sticky tofu seem like the ideal harmony. I can’t wait to try this at home because gochujang usually gives food a special depth. I appreciate you sharing this tasty and inventive dish!
Another amazing and delicious recipe! I loved how crispy the tofu turned out, I only had the regular extra firm tofu, but it was previously frozen, which I think contributed to the texture (like fried chicken, I swear!). The sauce was so flavourful and so easy to shake together, you introduced me to garlic powder and it has made cooking so much faster. Veggie wise we had roasted peppers and carrots plus the cucumbers on top. We absolutely loved it. Thanks for continuing to make such tasty yet simple recipes!
This is so easy and so delicious! My husband said it is the best tofu he’s ever had.