Brown Sugar Glazed Tofu Roast

This tofu roast is loaded with sweet and smoky flavor! Made with whole blocks of tofu marinated, baked and glazed to perfection, it’s the perfect main dish for everything from weeknight dinners to holidays and special occasions.

I’ve tried making many vegan roast recipes over the history of this website, but so far I’ve never been able to come up with anything I’m happy with. I think the problem was that I was using ingredients like seitan in an attempt to make a roast that tasted like meat. That doesn’t always work.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of recipe development, it’s that sometimes you have to let your ingredients be what they are instead of trying to disguise them as meat.

This method worked for my vegan meatloaf, which is made with chickpeas (and certainly isn’t fooling anyone into thinking they’re eating meat). So I tried to do the same when making a vegan roast recipe, this time using tofu.

This tofu roast isn’t pretending to be anything it’s not. what is it is A delicious block of baked tofu. It’s full of smoky flavor and smothered in a crisp brown sugar glaze. It also looks pretty, making a great vegetarian main dish for holiday celebrations.

Jump:

Ingredients you will need

• I am Willow Both liquid aminos and tamari can be substituted to keep this recipe gluten-free.
• Orange juice. Check the ingredients if using bottled juice, as many brands use non-vegan ingredients such as animal-derived vitamin D3.
• Maple syrup.
• spices. You will need smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, ground cloves and optionally whole cloves.
• tofu Extra-firm tofu is your best bet for this recipe (and what I usually recommend for baked-tofu recipes). Firm tofu will work. I do not recommend using super-firm tofu, as it is too dense and will not absorb the marinade as well as other varieties.
• Brown sugar. Be sure to buy organic brown sugar, as conventional brown sugar can be processed using animal bone meal.
• Vegan butter. You can find it near regular butter in the supermarket. Earth Balance and Miyoko are a few popular brands to look for.
• Dijon mustard.

How is it made?

Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. If you want to skip the recipe, scroll all the way down!

Start by pressing your tofu. Do this for at least 20 minutes, but the longer the better, up to about an hour.

While the tofu is pressing, stir together your marinade ingredients: soy sauce, orange juice, maple syrup, smoked paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Score the top and bottom of your tofu block. Do this by cutting about 4 parallel slices, evenly spaced, then 4 more slices on the opposite side. I like to make my slices on a diagonal, as shown above, but feel free to cut any pattern you want. A deeper cut allows the tofu to penetrate more of the marinade, but be careful not to cut too deeply or your block will fall apart. ¼ to ⅛ inch is perfect.

Place the tofu in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over it. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes, but up to 24 hours. Make sure to cover and refrigerate the tofu if you let it marinate for longer than 2 hours.

After marinating, place the tofu on a baking sheet or baking dish and pop in the oven. Keep the extra marinade and use it to baste your tofu every 15 minutes or so.

Make the glaze while the tofu bakes. Combine brown sugar, vegan butter, orange juice, Dijon mustard, cinnamon, and ground cloves in a saucepan. Boil the mixture for 6 to 8 minutes, then let it cool slightly.

After the tofu has baked for about 45 minutes, remove from the oven and pour the glaze over it. You can also press some whole cloves on top if you like. Return it to the oven to bake for another 10 minutes.

Let the tofu roast sit for a few minutes after coming out of the oven. It will harden a bit as it cools.

Slice it up and enjoy!

Remaining and storage

Store any leftover tofu roast in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leftovers make excellent sandwich ingredients!

More vegan staples

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