Grilled Tofu Chicken
Making a Grilled Tofu Chicken Filet is equally easy, fun, cheap and delicious! A super versatile vegan protein for any dish!
Before going vegan, I ate a ton of grilled chicken. It was my go to protein source when I was trying to eat leaner and lighter than my usual burger or fried chicken. Unfortunately, at the moment, there aren’t a ton of options for a grilled vegan chicken cutlet on the market.
They are usually breaded and fried. Which is great, but sometimes I want something lighter! So I took it into my own hands and developed this simple and easy recipe for a Grilled Tofu Chicken!
And I gotta say, I’m really stoked on this one! I’ve had it all week in a bunch of different meals and not only does it hit the spot, but it’s satiating but not heavy. It goes well in literally anything you can make with regular grilled chicken!
why you’ll dig grilled Tofu Chicken
Bottom line is these are super easy to make. They are relatively cheap since it’s just tofu and a bunch of pantry staples for the marinade or dry rub. You can customize it to your heart’s content!
And like I said, you can use it in any dish that would normally call for grilled chicken. Meal prep is an option too since you can make a bunch in advance.
It’s great with some Mashed Potatoes and Gravy!
Or just let them marinate in the fridge until you want one and grill one at a time! I can’t repeat this enough, but they are super easy and convenient!
But you can seriously make whatever you like with it! It works great in sandwiches, salads, tacos, literally anything!
What’s the best tofu for Vegan Turkey?
I highly recommend Super Firm Tofu as it has very little water and doesn’t need pressing, boiling or freezing. It really has the best texture so I would advise against anything softer.
I can find it at most major grocery stores out here in Southern California. Kroger, Sprouts and Trader Joe’s all have their own store brand as well, and a 1 pound block is usually around $3-$5 (Trader Joe’s is the cheapest in my experience).
Whole Foods has some Pressed Extra Firm Tofu, which is the same as Super Firm. Their blocks are wider so they are great for a bigger filet too!
ingredients for grilled tofu chicken
- Marinade – I wanted to keep the ingredients as common as possible. So the marinade is just things like soy sauce, nutritional yeast and pantry staple seasonings.
- Dry Rub – You can also use a dry rub instead of a marinade. Or you can use a combination of both!
I have a recipe for a dry rub, or you can use any store-bought seasoning blend that you like! Since tofu is super low in fat, I recommend coating the tofu filets in some oil before applying the dry rub as well.
how to make Grilled Tofu chicken
The process is quite simple! First we’ll slice our block of tofu into 4 fillets. The next step is optional. However I find that carving the filet into the shape of a chicken breast really sells the dish! The eyes eat first as they say!
If you want to get even more artistic, you can shave off the edges and make them a bit rounder and softer. Again, totally optional, but I like to do it! Save the scraps for another meal!
Whip up the marinade, I recommend blending for a better emulsion.
Marinade the filets for 30 minutes or overnight.
Get a pan up to medium high heat, add a little oil and then grill the filets for about 2-3 minutes per side. I recommend brushing the leftover marinade before and after you flip them. Feel free to flip as many times as you like, just don’t burn ’em!
Shallow fry option
Optionally, you can dredge and shallow fry these as well. I found that this gave them a nice “skin” like texture that stayed crispy even after being all sauced up.
storage
You can make these and store them in the fridge for 4 – 5 days. I’ve had a few of them marinating in the fridge all week, and then just pulling one out and grilling it real quick for an easy meal. I haven’t tried freezing them, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work!
more grilled “Chick’n” Recipes!
Recently I’ve been making Chick’n Caesar with them!
It’s also great in some Marry Me Tofu!
Or some Vegan Alfredo!
If you wanna skip the Filets, you can also just break them up into chunks like I do in my Marinated Tofu recipe!
handy dandy video here!
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, please leave a rating & review! It really helps out the blog and it makes my day, thank you!
Grilled Tofu Chicken
Ingredients
- 16 oz Super Firm Tofu *
Marinade
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 Tbsp Hot Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Mayo (or neutral oil)
- 1 Tbsp Water
- 1 tsp Vinegar (or lemon juice)
Dry Rub
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp White Pepper
- 1/4 tsp Citric Acid (optional)
Instructions
Marinade & Rub
- Simply mix and combine the ingredients respectively!
- For the marinade, I found that vegan mayo is a better emulsifier than oil, but they both work great.
- For the dry rub, you can grind everything in a spice grinder if desired. It seems to intensify the flavors a bit more.
Tofu Filets
- Make sure to use super firm tofu, the kind that's vacuum sealed and doesn't need pressing. Otherwise, if you are using extra firm, you should press it for at least 30 minutes.
- Cut block of tofu into 4 filets. Optional but recommended, carve each rectangular filet into a more chicken breast like shape. You can also shave off the edges to make them smoother if you choose as well.
- Lightly score the filets on each side, but only score them one way (as opposed to cross hatch). This will help the marinade penetrate as well as create a more "shreddy" type of texture.
- Once the filets are looking good, you can either coat them in the marinade. Or alternatively, you can coat them in a little oil and then as much of the rub as you'd like. You can also marinade them and add some of the rub. Honestly, any option will work great, however I did prefer the marinade over just the rub as it was more flavorful!
- Marinade for at least 30 minutes to overnight or even longer.
- Get a pan up to medium high heat, add a little oil and then grill the filets for about 5 minutes per side. I recommend brushing the leftover marinade before and after you flip them. Seriously, season them and brush them with whatever you like, it'll be delicious! Once they are cooked to your liking remove from the heat.
- ENJOY!
As much as i love your videos (and that content other vegan creators put out), it would be about once in a blue moon when id actually make a recipe and even then itd only ever be once.
Since the video for this dropped, Ive made it three times now. I am so thankful for this; it may genuinely be the most versatile, least intimidating recipe ive ever made; vegan or omni
That’s awesome, I’m glad it made it into the rotation! I plan on using it for a lot of different recipes in the future!
Completely agree I was floored by how good & simple this one was!!
Great recipe! The marinade is delicious and is now apart of my regular rotation. I’ve even used it with tofu crumbles and it is bomb with tacos. Question: Do you think lime could be used instead of lemon juice/vinegar?
Awesome, and yes whatever acid you like will work!!
amazing, we loved it! Do you think the spices would burn if i baked the cutlets instead of ppan searing?
I think it should be fine, glad you liked it!
I love this recipe. I have shied away from using tofu as an alternative to grilled chicken in the past because I thought the sauce/marinade necessary to imitate grilled chicken would defeat the purpose of grilled chicken, which, to me, is to be mild and simple.
This proved me completely wrong. I tried it without the dry rub plus omitted the hot sauce. It is delicious, mild but also flavorful, evokes a “grilled chicken style” perfectly, and it’s simple and so versatile. I cannot wait to make coq au vin with this one. Thank you so much!
Excellent, so glad you tried it and liked it despite your skepticism! Chicken can be rather neutral in flavor without seasoning too, so that was my approach!
Wow this marinade is snip-snappin’! I made it along with a free-styled tofu cream sauce (charred peppers and tomatoes with garlic, shallots and nooch, real nice!) for pasta, the sauce was yummy and healthy but the toficken was the star! Along with the carving and the grill pan the presentation was amazing and the flavour was top tier!! Will definitely be making it again, the effort to deliciousness ratio is just how I like it too. 🙂
I’m giving five stars just for the amazingly yummy marinade! My husband made some seitan patties the other day, and I was looking for something to do with them. Found this marinade and made it. Out of the bowl it’s incredible. Can’t wait to have it cooked up!
Excellent, I need to try it with some Seitan! Thank you!
This is my go-to tofu marinade for all occasions now! The crispy chicken version is also fantastic.
Awesome, glad you dig it, I used it all the time too!
I’ve made this recipe multiple times at this point (and currently am prepping to make it tonight for my husband’s and my 9 year wedding anniversary)!
We absolutely LOVE this recipe! It always comes out so tender and full of flavor! We usually pair it with a baked potato, mac n cheese and some steamed veggies. I always make a lot more of the marinade too, to pour on top of the tofu and potatoes! It’s mouthwatering and our go-to for the ultimate in comfort food. It definitely deserves all the stars!!!
That makes me so happy, seriously! Thank you so much and I’m stoked that you both like it so much! Happy Anniversary!
This recipe is so simple yet SUCH a game changer! I’ve made it once a week almost this whole month and I’m so excited to have this in my rotation for the new year… and beyond!
Awesome to hear, thank you! I use it a lot too, my favorite vegan chick’n these days (well tied with soy curls when I want something shredded)
not gonna lie, I was so surprised by how easy and good this turned out! seriously the marinade is everything 👍 all I had was ex. firm on hand, and still turned out great! will definitely be trying with super firm as you stated for that firmer texture. Thank you for another great recipe!
Glad you like it, and yes I think it’s even better with super firm, so try that next!
Made this for the vegan chicken Caesar salad recipe on the site last night and it was really good. The marinade had a ton of flavor! I sauteed the tofu in a skillet with a little olive oil and brushed on the marinade during the cooking process. Marinaded the tofu for a few days (may have forgotten it was in the fridge) and the flavor was great!
Awesome to hear! Yes, I will sometimes make a big batch and let them hang out in the fridge for a few days and they do get more flavorful for sure!
This is now one of my favorite ways to prepare tofu!! It’s so easy to make and works well in practically any dish. A game changer for adding protein to my salads! Thanks for the recipe! I love it!
Awesome, so glad you like it! It’s one of my staples at our house too!
This is such a good recipe to have around for those days when you have ‘nothing to eat’ at home, but you DO have some tofu and basic pantry staples! It is so low effort but tasty. The vegan mayo in the marinade is genius and adds some nice subtle flavour. Thanks for this recipe!
Thank you! I agree, love having these marinating in the fridge and grabbing for a quick meal!
Just made this to top some salads with and it was delicious! Def gonna make it often for more salads or sandwiches or anything really!
Excellent!! Thank you!
We loved this as a “grilled” chicken sandwich, although I did pan fry it. It was so much more tasty than I had imagined. Took leftovers to school for lunch. My daughter loved it too
Awesome, glad it worked out for you both!
Would it be possible to pre-make a big batch of the marinade to store for future use? Or is it the kind of thing that would turn pretty quick if left over time? Not that it takes a long time to whip together, sometimes I just don’t want to have to think that hard haha
Hey there! You could make it a few days in advance, but not sure how good it’ll be after that, it might go bad after like 4 – 5 days I would think. Or just lose flavor or get not so great haha
I’ve never left a review for a recipe before, but I just wanted to shout out that this has been a game-changer. My spouse and I have been vegan for about 5 years now, and ever since I discovered this recipe, it’s been a staple in our meals. It’s so versatile and really scratches the itch for a fork and knife protein. Thanks, Dude. I’ve also had so many non-vegan friends even ask for the recipe. It really shakes up some people’s idea of what tofu can do. All your recipes are bomb, but this one takes the cake.
Dang, this is one of my favorite kind of comments! So glad, it’s a staple here too, thank you!
I’ve made this marinade many times and it is delicious. In fact, this is the first time I’ve marinated the whole block of tofu with cuts across to let the marinade sink in. It is indeed very much like chicken and I really like it! I think it will be perfect in a recipe like your marry me tofu, which I’m going to make soon. However, normally I marinate tofu slices and the taste is very intense, very pronounced. I love it and am using such tofu slices almost in sandwiches. This recipe is in my top three tofu marinade recipes – the other two being your tofu bahn me and a korean style tofu with gochugaru from a Polish website. I can’t wait to make your tofu chicken salad recipes! Thank you for your brilliant work!
I meant “almost daily”!
Awesome, I love this one too, so glad to hear it, thank you!!
I really liked it, but my family and I found that there was wayyyy to much salt in it. Next time I’ll just add a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon.😊
I’m going to start using this every time I need a vegetarian chicken substitute. Much better and cheaper than buying the premade stuff, which isn’t always easy to find. I can almost always find tofu in the grocery store, though!
Awesome! Love to hear this kind of comment, thank you!!
Awesome!
Made this today and it was beyond delicious! Such excellent flavor! I used both the rub and the marinade.
Love to hear this, thank you!
It tastes incredible
Glad you liked it!!
This is my favorite marinade for tofu, and it’s easy to make. All the ingredients are things we always have on hand. Great savory flavor.