Love nachos, but want a change from seasoned meat? Try these tofu nachos for a meat free snack that’s just as messy and fun to eat as the other kind. A little time in the oven, some Mexican inspired seasoning and your favorite fixings are all you need for a plate that will have you licking your fingers!
Sliced, baked tofu is one of my favorite things to eat. I love the texture and that I can change the flavor by using a different marinade. When you bake crumbled tofu the texture changes into something resembling cooked ground meat. The smaller bits get darker with a little crunch while the larger ones remain tender but not mushy. It makes for a flavorful bite.
Nachos are another favorite thing, I love the crunch of the chip and the sloppiness of the toppings. I’ve made vegetarian tacos and burritos before with beans or lentils as the main filling so a tofu based filling isn’t much of a stretch.
Tofu nachos was inspired by a pin on my Vegan Before Six Friendly board. This board contains vegan and vegetarian recipes as well as those that could be veganized. I’ve referred to it a couple of times already during the monthly Pinterest challenge. Sam at It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken has a stylish vegan blog loaded with all sorts of innovative recipes that will suit anyone who wants to reduce the amount of meat and dairy in their diet. She’s also the author of Fuss Free Vegan: 101 Everyday Comfort Food Favorites, Veganized.
Ingredients
For the tofu crumbles
- 1 pack extra firm tofu drained
- 1 tablespoon neutral tasting oil I used sunflower oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce I used tamari
- 1 - 2 tablespoons taco seasoning use store bought or make your own
For the nachos
- salsa
- tortilla chips
- guacamole
- chopped onions, tomatoes, lettuce, jalapenos etc
- shredded cheese or store bought cheese dip
- sour cream
- hot sauce
- any other topping you like on your nachos
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Prepare a baking tray with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray (the parchment paper makes for an easy clean up)
- Mix the oil, soy sauce and taco seasoning in a bowl.
- Use your hands to crumble the tofu into the bowl and stir to coat with the seasoning blend
- Spread evenly onto the baking sheet, breaking up any super large chunks.
- Bake for 30 - 45 minutes, stirring every once in a while. The total time depends on your oven, how much moisture is in the tofu and how much is on the baking sheet. When the tofu starts to brown, check more frequently.
- When cooked to your liking, remove from the oven. At this point the crumbles can be stored in the fridge until needed.
- To make the nachos, place the desired amount of crumbles into a medium skillet. At this point you can add more seasoning, hot sauce, salsa, etc to make them more like taco meat. Heat through and allow the excess moisture to cook off.
- Arrange tortilla chips on a platter and top with the tofu, chopped veggies, sour cream and cheese.
Notes
My tofu nachos were vegetarian rather than vegan as I used sour cream and heated some cheesy chip dip I already had on hand. There are all sorts of dairy free alternatives you can use as substitutes if you prefer.
These recipe makes about 2 cups of crumbles, which is more or less equivalent to a pound of cooked ground beef. Feel free to experiment and use your crumbles to make tacos, burritos, spaghetti, soups and casseroles. Have fun experimenting!
This post is part of an on going Pinterest Challenge hosted by My Pinterventures. The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you too) to not just pin, but to make it happen!
Feel free to browse the link up below where you’ll find recipes, crafts, DIY projects and other things that have been inspired by Pinterest.
To join next month’s #pinterestchallenge, click here to sign-up ⇒ October Pinterest Challenge
Now let’s see what other things Pinterest inspired! Head over and visit the other hosts to see what they crafted, cooked, built, or tried!
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Joanne – Our Unschooling Journey • Laurie – My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies
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Marie – The Inspiration Vault • Kelley – Simply Inspired Meals
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Leslie – Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After
Lydia – Lydia’s Flexitarian Kitchen
These are the best we’ve had in a while! We’re from Texas, so, we are picky about TexMex!Anyway,these are goood and spicy. We make our own taco seasoning so, we can make it as spicy as we want it or with less seasoning for those in our family with stomach issues..
Hmmm…we eat a lot of tofu and have never used it in nachos. Sounds like a great meatless snack idea. Pinned.
I love the idea of tofu nachos! Really creative, and fun twist on a favorite recipe. Thanks! 🙂
Lydia, those look totally yum.
A neat alternative for those who want meatless. I could never go without the cheese or sour cream!
I totally understand. I don’t mind substituting Greek style yogurt for sour cream, but I haven’t come across a good cheese substitute where I live. Crumbled cashew cheese isn’t bad, though, just not grated and melty. That being said, the cheese dip I used is pretty loaded with processed stuff, so I wonder how much dairy is really in there. I’m happy with swapping out the meat and leaving the dairy intact.
Very creative, I never would have thought of using tofu in nachos.
Me either, to be honest. I was glad to come across the pin online.
Not a tofu fan but some family members are and I will try this recipe for our next game day get together for them
Great! It should be easy enough to make a batch with tofu and a separate batch with ground meat (or whatever you prefer). The spices and toppings are the same. I hope they enjoy it 🙂
This sounds like a nice change up for us! Thank you for the recipe! -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures
These look delicious! My mom used to be a big fan of tofu but I’ve never tried it.
I imagine you’d want to be careful not to stir up an inflammatory response, so I don’t blame you.
I love nachos. I have never had them with tofu but these do look so good.
That sounds tasty! I haven’t had tofu in years… pretty much ever since we had kids. Pinned.
Thanks for pinning. Tofu is interesting to work with. One of these days I’m going to try to use it in a dessert. I’ve seen so many good looking dairy free things on Pinterest that it would be worth a try.
I’ve never had tofu before but these nachos look yummy!
I was curious about tofu for a long time before I ever tried it. I saw bean curd pad thai listed on the menu of a favorite restaurant and ordered it. Since then I’ve come to enjoy it not as a meat substitute but as an ingredient all its own. Hope you give it a try sometime 🙂
They sounds pretty good!! Gotta give them a try!
Hope you enjoy them. They’re not much more difficult to make than standard tacos and the oven does all of the work 🙂