Chili Tofu recipe with step by step photos. No-fry Chili Tofu is a spinoff of Chili Paneer. All the deliciousness minus the fat and calories.
What is Indo-Chinese cuisine?
Indo-Chinese is also known as Indian Chinese cuisine is widely popular in India. So what is it? It’s basically Indian and Chinese flavors with Chinese cooking style. Unlike Chinese cuisine, Indo-Chinese cuisine offers a variety of vegetarian options. One of my very favorites is Chili Paneer. The spicy, sweet, and sour flavors is what make Indo-Chinese cuisine so delectable.
What is Chili Paneer / Chili Tofu?
Traditionally, this dish is made with paneer, however for health reasons I opted to use tofu. Furthermore, Chili Paneer is generally fried, my version is sauteed. Alternatively, if you own an air-fryer, you can certainly prepare the tofu in the air-fryer.
How to serve Chili Tofu?
Chili Tofu can be served as an appetizer or main course. I enjoyed this dish as my main course with a side of brown rice. This dish can be consumed with white rice, brown rice, quinoa, or even Veg Fried Rice (coming soon).
You can also serve Chili Tofu with Vegetable Hakka Noodles.
Chili Tofu is:
A spinoff Chili Paneer
Scrumptious
No-Fry
Flavorsome
Indo-Chinese
Vegan
Gluten-Free option (skip flour, use cornstarch; skip soy sauce, use GF soy sauce)
How to make Chili Tofu recipe step by step?
Saute the Tofu
1. Make a paste with wheat durum flour (Indian atta), cornstarch, Kashmiri chili powder, salt, and water.
2. Squeeze out excess water from the tofu by wrapping it in a paper towel and placing a heavy pan over it. Add cubed tofu to the paste and coat it well.
3. Heat a nonstick wok ( I love Ballarini ) on medium heat, once hot, add oil.
4. Add the tofu, try and place the pieces slightly far apart so they don’t stick together. Mine is a little close. Cook on one side for about 3 minutes.
5. Flip. Notice how the tofu gets crispy. Cook for about 4 minutes until the other side gets nice and crispy.
6. Set aside.
Prepare Chili Tofu – Work Quick
1. Chop the ginger and garlic. Cube the onion, red and green bell peppers into 1-inch cubes. Set aside the Cornstarch Slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup water).
2. Heat up the same wok on medium heat, once hot, add oil. Add ginger, garlic, and dry red chilies. Saute for 30 seconds.
3. Add the onion, red & green bell peppers. Saute for 1-minute max.
4. Now add ketchup.
5. Add dark soy sauce. For gluten-free, use gluten-free soy sauce/tamari.
6. Add the cornstarch slurry.
7. Stir fry for about 30 seconds. The sauce should slightly thicken and become glossy.
8. Add the crispy tofu. Stir for about 30 seconds.
9. Add rice wine vinegar.
10. Add scallions. Stir. Turn off the stove.
Garnish with scallions! Enjoy!
Chili Tofu (no fry, vegan, lightened up, GF option)
Equipment
Ingredients
for the Tofu Saute
- 1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp durum wheat flour (Indian atta)* or all-purpose white flour
- Water - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 8 ounces firm tofu
for Cornstarch Slurry
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
for making Chili Tofu
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 inch piece ginger chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3-4 dry red chilies broken
- 1/2 medium red onion 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 medium red bell pepper 1 inch cube
- 1/2 medium green bell pepper 1 inch cube
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce* or regular or gluten-free soy sauce
- add cornstarch slurry
- 2 tsp rice wine vinegar
- add cooked tofu
- 1/2 cup scallions chopped
Instructions
Saute the Tofu
- Make a paste with wheat durum flour (Indian atta), cornstarch, Kashmiri chili powder, salt, and water.
- Squeeze out excess water from the tofu by wrapping it in a paper towel and placing a heavy pan over it. Add cubed tofu to the paste and coat it well.
- Heat a nonstick wok ( I love Ballarini ) on medium heat, once hot, add oil.
- Add the tofu, try and place the pieces slightly far apart so they don't stick together. Mine is a little close. Cook on one side for about 3 minutes.
- Flip. Notice how the tofu gets crispy. Cook for about 4 minutes until the other side gets nice and crispy.
- Set aside.
Prepare Chili Tofu - Work Quick
- Chop the ginger and garlic. Cube the onion, red and green bell peppers into 1-inch cubes. Set aside the Cornstarch Slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup water).
- Heat up the same wok on medium heat, once hot, add oil. Add ginger, garlic, and dry red chilies. Saute for 30 seconds.
- Add the onion, red & green bell peppers. Saute for 1-minute max.
- Now add ketchup.
- Add dark soy sauce. For gluten-free, use gluten-free soy sauce/tamari.
- Add the cornstarch slurry.
- Stir fry for about 30 seconds. The sauce should slightly thicken and become glossy.
- Add the crispy tofu. Stir for about 30 seconds.
- Add rice wine vinegar.
- Add scallions. Stir. Turn off the stove.
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Love that this recipe is vegan and the fresh ingredients
Great flavors and very quick to make!
This recipe looks so awesome and easy! Can I use regular soy sauce? What’s the difference between that and dark soy sauce? How do you prep the tofu? Do you squeeze out the water and let it dry or do you just cut it and marinate it? Can’t wait to try! Thanks!
HI Neha – Yes, you may use regular soy sauce. The difference is in the color and saltiness – so the dish will be slightly reddish-brown as opposed to dark. That’s okay. I’ve tried it both ways and it tastes great. Yes, from the tofu I did squeeze out the excess water – I just updated the recipe instructions for the tofu. Hope this helps! 🙂
Recipe was really easy to follow. I didn’t have all the Ingredients (corn starch, left that out completely) and the sauce was still nice and thick, coated the tofu nicely.
The next day the tofu was soooo good, the peppers really had time to sit and Marry the other Ingredients, making the dish nice & spicy.
This turned out soo good. I doubled up the recipe with 16 oz tofu. Will def make again!!
SO DELICIOUS
I don’t have an Indo-Chinese resto near me and so its something I miss and crave often. But this recipe is just perfect.
I halved the spices for my hubby (and chopped up some chilies on the side). Can be made with paneer too.
Serve it with the veg brown recipe Nisha shares and you’ve got yourself a yum dinner.
Easiest Chili Tofu recipe i ever came across. So easy and fast. Loved it. Served it with Cauliflower fried rice. Also, added some sriracha sauce since we like it spicy hot! Nisha, your recipes are always on point with detailed instructions. LOVE IT!
Absolutely delicious! I baked the tofu and just tossed in the flour and starch + spices (no water). The dish was incredible and restaurant quality. The tofu was crispy, the sauce was thick and savory, and it was perfect served with hakka noodles.
Recipe is easy to follow and the pictures helped a lot as I was working through it! It tasted yumm and my nine year old daughter who usually hates Tofu loved it!
Overall the flavors were good but I doubled the recipe to use up the whole tofu and it ended up being wayyy too spicy. I have a good spice tolerance but this was incredibly spicy. Would put less chili next time. Also my tofu didn’t turn out crispy. Will have to try a different method next time.
Hi Vidhi. I’m sorry you found this recipe spicy. I’m assuming if you doubled the recipe, you used 6-8 dry red chilies?
Since you doubled the recipe, did you cook the tofu in batches? Or did you cook it all at once? I would cook the tofu in batches and make sure they’re nicely coated with all purpose flour (or atta) and cornstarch. Hope that helps!
Wow! Chili tofu was absolutely delicious. Recipe was super easy and turned out perfectly. The tofu was crispy on the outside and soft inside. Flavors were amazing. Hubby approved!
Nisha does it again with a delicious recipe that is easy and simple especially with the step by step instructions. The marinade for the tofu was amazing…crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I doubled the tofu and the marinade but kept the veggies and sauce as instructed and it came out perfect! Thank you Nisha! 🙂
Absolutely love this- tastes like restaurant quality! Air fried the tofu instead and it turned out perfectly. Can’t wait to make it again.
Super delicious recipe 🙂
This recipe was prob the easiest one to follow and make! It tasted just so amazing that it became an Instant Family Fav! Served it over a choice of Brown Rice or Cauliflower Rice!🤤🤤
Nisha… girl, your recipes are so awesome and easy to follow and absolutely the Most Delicious… thank you thank you thank you for taking so much effort in making them so Perfect! ❤️❣️❤️
Awww.. thank you so much Sandy for your sweet comment. You made my evening! Thank you!!! xoxo
I have been trying so many recipes to match the one I eat at Sakonis restaurant (Wembley, UK), and finally after 2 decades of searching……… your is the one im going to make going forward.
What a dish. This is tasty, the only substitution I did was clear vinegar and it was brilliant. Next time I’ll use the correct vinegar. Thank you and I am so very grateful