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An easy and creamy tofu & vegetable stir-fry that makes for the perfect lunch or dinner. It is ready in about 30 minutes, requires simple ingredients, and is vegan & gluten-free. Plus, it uses a unique ingredient to bring it that perfect creaminess!
Who’s ready for the stir-fry of their dreams? If you’ve been following along with us for a while now, you already know we love to whip up a tasty stir-fry, so let’s get cookin’!
We love making stir fries because they are an easy way to get in your veggies, use up anything that is going bad in your fridge and are just so dang tasty.
We thought it would be fun to put a creamy twist on a classic dish and zest it up with some vegan cream cheese…You heard that right, cream cheese! You may think it sounds a bit strange, but we promise the flavor combination is to-die-for!
This creamy tofu & vegetable stir-fry recipe is part of our monthly Vegan Chopped Challenge series with our friend Caitlin Shoemaker, AKA @frommybowl. This month we were challenged to use rice noodles, zucchini, mushrooms, and you guessed it, vegan cream cheese. We are really excited about how this recipe turned out, and we can’t wait for you to make it!
If you are freaked out by the idea of using cream cheese in this dish, don’t be! It adds the perfect creamy texture to the dish. If you don’t have cream cheese, you can always sub it for a nut or seed butter of your choice.
Caitlin made some bomb Creamy Mushroom Dumplings shown above. They are absolute fire! Make sure you check out her recipe 🙂
PS: We wanted to share a behind the scenes shot for this recipe shoot. We get a lot of questions about our set up, so here it is! We use natural light (usually coming in on the right side), a Toile Blanche board, Linen Me towels, and sometimes use a reflector on the left side, but this time we opted not to. If you want to learn more, we have a FREE photography group on Facebook.
If you make this recipe, let us know what you think in the comments below! + If you post any photos on Instagram, make sure you tag us @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris so that we don’t miss it, we love seeing your photos!
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Creamy Tofu & Vegetable Stir Fry (Easy + Gluten-Free)
- Total Time: 34 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
Description
An easy and creamy tofu & vegetable stir-fry that makes for the perfect lunch or dinner. It is ready in about 30 minutes, requires simple ingredients, and it vegan & gluten-free. Plus, it uses a unique ingredient to bring it that perfect creaminess!
Ingredients
Tofu
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 block firm tofu, pressed and cut into 1/2″ cubes (learn how to press tofu here)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Noodles
- 8 oz. rice noodles
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
Sauce
- 1/4 cup tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons plain vegan cream cheese (or sub any nut butter of choice– we like peanut)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch (or flour of choice)
Veggies
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil*
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1 medium zucchini, cut into half-moons or fourths
- 1/2 cup broccoli florets
- 4 oz. baby Bella mushroom, sliced
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Top with
- Green onions, chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Instructions
- For the tofu: Heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in a medium pan. Once heated, add in the pressed and diced tofu and fry until browned and dried out, about 8-10 minutes. Mix occasionally to be sure it evenly cooks.
- For the noodles: Bring medium size pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling, add in the rice noodles and cook on medium heat according to packaging directions. If there are no directions, cook for about 2-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of noodles, or until barely tender. Drain, add the noodles back into the pot and stir in the sesame oil.
- For the sauce: Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until uniform. Set aside.
- For the veggies: In another large pan (or the same one as the tofu), heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil over medium-high heat. Add in the garlic and saute until fragrant and browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the ginger and cook for 1 minute more. Add in the remaining vegetables and sauté for 5-6 minutes, or until softened and cooked through. Add in the cooked noodles, sauce and tofu and stir until combined. Cook for 1 minute more and remove from heat.
- Serve topped with green onions, sesame seeds and cilantro.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Category: Entree, Lunch
- Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten-Free
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
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