Tofu Ground Beef
Turning TOFU into Vegan Ground Beef is Cheap, Easy and DELICIOUS! You can use this Tofu Ground Beef in just about any DISH!
Look, I love the convenience and taste of store-bought pre-made vegan ground beef. But to be honest, this super savory Vegan Tofu Ground Beef is just as good, it’s way CHEAPER and still packs in a good amount of protein too! In fact, I might say that this is even better than the store-bought stuff. Maybe I’m biased, but maybe I’m right!
Use in any dish you’d use ground beef in, except burger patties. It simply won’t bind together. But any sort of crumbled beef application, this stuff will absolutely shine in!
I’ve been enjoying it all week in Tacos, you can add it to a Bolognese, stir-fries over rice and in Sloppy Joes of course! The possibilities are pretty endless and you can really let your imagination go wild!
It’s a really simple recipe too that comes together relatively quickly!
And it makes for a great Meal Prep Protein as leftovers can be stored in the fridge and reheated in a matter of minutes for just about any dish you can think of.
INGREDIENTS FOR TOFU GROUND BEEF
For this vegan ground beef recipe, I highly recommend Super Firm tofu that’s vacuum sealed, and doesn’t need pressing.
You can use Extra Firm, but you’ll want to press it and / or bake it longer to dry it out in the oven (I’ll explain in more detail below).
seasonings / marinade
For the seasoning and marinade, we are packing a lot of UMAMI flavor with a variety of sources. A few of the ingredients have substitutions in the recipe, so use whatever you have access to.
The marinade employs staples like soy sauce (or use tamari for gluten-free), nutritional yeast and pantry essentials, If you can, use some Beefless Broth, Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet, or even Dark Soy Sauce for color.
However, you can also substitute with things like Steak Sauce, Vegan Worcestershire and Tomato Paste.
And of course feel free to add any other seasonings you might like! Add things like Chili Powder and make a Vegan Chili!
Or maybe some Taco Seasoning for some Nachos!
how to make Tofu ground beef
Remove tofu from packaging and pat dry. Crumble into a large bowl.
Make the marinade by combining all the ingredients.
Pour over the crumbled tofu (or crumble the tofu directly into the marinade as I did here) and combine with clean hands or some utensils.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper / cooking spray and spread out the tofu pieces in a single layer. Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the tofu is slightly dry and chewy.
Transfer the tofu to a large skillet over medium heat, and add 1 cup of liquid (water or veggie broth) and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then reduce most of the liquid.
This step is CRUCIAL so I don’t suggest skipping it. While dehydrating the tofu in the oven will give it a chewier texture, it will also dry it out. When we rehydrate it the tofu, it’s still chewy, but will also be JUICY now too!
Taste and adjust for seasoning. Your tofu ground beef is done!
After that, you can use it anyway you wish! If you want to make it in bulk to use over the week, 3 blocks of tofu seems to be a good enough amount and will fill up a 12 inch pan pretty well for rehydrating. That’s what I did and it worked out perfectly!
Quick & Easy Method!
Recently I’ve been skipping the baking step and just crumbling the tofu into a pan and cooking it in the marinade. While this won’t get you the chewy texture that baking does, it’s still pretty dang good and ready in a lot less time! Perfect for a quick meal!
Just cook the crumbled SUPER FIRM tofu in a pan for about 10 – 15 minutes to dry it out a bit more, and get a little golden brown.
Then add the marinade, toss to coat and cook for about 5 minutes until it gets some nice browning. Add in more water or broth if desired and enjoy!
use this recipe to make these!
Storage
Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container, and eat within 3 – 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Here’s a handy dandy video!
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!
Tofu Ground Beef
Ingredients
Tofu Ground Beef
- 16 oz Super Firm Tofu
Marinade
- 1 tsp Vegan Beef Bouillon (or Veggie Bouillon)
- 2 – 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce (or Tamari)
- 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 2 Tbsp Neutral Oil (Vegetable, Canola etc)
- 2 Tbsp Water
Optional Ingredients
- 1 – 3 tsp Gravy Master, Kitchen Bouquet or Dark Soy Sauce (for color)
- 1 tsp Marmite (or 1 Tbsp Steak Sauce)
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Paste (for more UMAMI)
- 1 Tbsp Blackstrap Molasses
Instructions
- I highly recommend using Super Firm Tofu that's vacuum packed. Extra Firm should be pressed and it will need to bake longer to get chewy. Remove tofu from packaging and pat dry. Crumble into a mixing bowl.
- Make the marinade by combining everything in a bowl. Pour over the crumbled tofu. With clean hands or utensils, toss the crumbles and coat thoroughly in the marinade.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper / cooking spray and spread out the tofu pieces in a single layer. Bake at 350 F / 175 C for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the tofu is slightly dried out and chewy. Toss tofu about 20 minutes in and check it every 5 – 10 minutes and bake until it's slightly chewy.Extra Firm tofu may take up to an hour or more. I would suggest checking it every 15 minutes if you're unsure so you don't dry it out too much.
- Transfer the tofu to a 12 inch skillet, and add 1 cup of liquid (either water, broth, or a mixture, depending on how salty you want the tofu, I suggest tasting the tofu before adding any broth so it doesn't get too salty) and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then simmer until the liquid is mostly reduced. About 5 – 10 minutes or so. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
- Your tofu is done! Enjoy as you wish! Like I said it can be used in just about any application you would use regular ground beef!
Quick & Easy Method
- Recently I've been skipping the baking step and just crumbling the tofu into a pan and cooking it in the marinade. While this won't get you the chewy texture that baking does, it's still pretty dang good and ready in a lot less time! Perfect for a quick meal!Just cook the crumbled SUPER FIRM tofu in a pan for about 10 – 15 minutes over medium heat to dry it out a bit more, and to get it golden brown.
- Then add the marinade, toss to coat and cook for about 5 minutes until it gets some nice browning. Add in more water or broth if desired and enjoy!
This is a weekly staple in my household! We usually use it for either tacos or sloppy joes. One change I make is that I cut out the soy sauce just to reduce the sodium when feeding to my toddler. Even without though it’s still delicious 🙂
Awesome, glad you like it! Love having good staples!
DUUUUDE! Another winner! And I can make it with pantry staples which I love. I doubled this recipe, used 1/2 the oil, it was perfect for my taste. I hate the types of recipes that mix just tofu and soy sauce and claim it tastes just like ground beef. Bleh! Your seasoning blends are ALWAYS bang on, and this recipe is no exception. You always nail it! You’re still my favorite dirty vegan, you have this uncanny ability to make things taste exactly like their meaty counterparts, you rock!!
haha thank you! So glad you like it!!
This is the best recipe for tofu ground beef i’ve ever made! I added a little spicy taco sauce and imitation beef stock to the tofu crumble before baking! I also added the the imitation beef stock instead of water when cooking in skillet. Super yummy. Thanks!
Nice, those sound like some delicious upgrades!
Made this tonight and put it in spaghetti sauce and it was better than the sauce I recently made w meat in it. So much flavor! Thanks for a great recipe.
Heck yeah! Glad you dug it!
Would you suggest freezing before or after rehydrating?
After!
Omg I just found you on Youtube. I’m so psyched to try this recipe out. I’m trying to decrease the amount of meat I eat and increase my plant-based proteins so this is such a great find, thank you for sharing!!! Does this freeze well?
Hi, yes it freezes great! Thank you!
I’ve made this so often that I felt obliged to leave a comment to specifically thank you. Thank you!!!
Awesome, glad it’s in the rotation!!
Dude… I followed this my my second time ever cooking tofu. Just trying to change up my life. Put in a shepherd’s pie. I would of never knew better. If I would of not watched my self make it.
We make this all the time now, it’s unbelievably good and really simple. I have to make it a minimum of 3 bricks of tofu because I literally cannot stop eating it while I’m checking for doneness.
I always use extra-firm tofu and press it for a bit but it does take quite a bit longer to dry out in the oven – like 1hr + 🙂
Awesome! So glad you dig it!
Making this the second time this week! it’s so good thank you for sharing. Can this be frozen?
Awesome! Yes absolutely can be frozen!
Could I put the tofu in a dehydrator after marinating? I’d like to meal prep and freeze the tofu ground beef in bulk.
Yes yes yes! So delicious. My non vegan husband loves it. ( slowly transitioning him into a vegan) hehe
Excellent!!
I have regular Brer Rabbit brand “full flavor” unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap. Do you think this would be too sweet?
Thanks! Linda
Hi, yeah I wouldn’t suggest using sweet molasses!
Thanks! I’ve never tasted blackstrap, so wasn’t sure of the difference.
Thanks for all the great recipes!
Dude… this was another slam dunk. Had it two nights in a row. First night with rigatoni and homemade pasta sauce made with our garden tomatoes, second night as enchilada filling along with some garden squash and peppers. This was the missing ingredient! You have brought a lot of happiness to our household!
That makes my day, so glad y’all are digging it!!
I just finished making this and upon tasting, I’m kind of surprised by how not-salty it is. That’s okay though. I can season further as needed. It would be neat to experiment a little to try and create a chorizo flavored ground tofu. Or maybe add something like methylcellulose to make patties out of it for tofu burgers.
I found this yesterday and hey I had a pack of super firm tofu in the fridge so I tried it. Wow it tastes so good!! I made tacos for lunch with it and they tasted great. So thrilled I found this, it’s a lot cheaper than the pea protein meats I’ve been buying, plus the ingredients are a lot better too. Thank you!!!
Awesome, thank you for the feedback! Glad you liked it!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 Star recipe & my favorite go to for healthy & cost effective ground “meat”! Thank you Thee Burger Dude!!!
Heck yes, thank you!
Well, Dumbalina here accidentally ordered 12 lbs of soy beans. SO I learned to make my own soy milk, and tofu. Now I’m on fire I know what to do with it all. I don’t eat meat so this is a big win for me. Thanks
L😍VE THIS!!!
Thank you for the substitutions: marmite and browning sauce are not things I’ve ever purchased, but I certainly have steak sauce and vegan Worcestershire sauce. I really appreciate not having to come up with my own subs. Also, I already know this will be too salty for my husband so next time I will add Dr. Greger’s umami sauce for the soy sauce. Quite tasty crumbles…thank you!
Awesome, glad you liked it and the subs worked!!
I usually freeze my tofu then press it the heck out of it, marinade and cook. Would this allow me to skip the baking step to dry out in your opinion?
I haven’t tried that out but if that’s what you usually do then I think it should totally work! Just use whatever tofu you normally use as super firm doesn’t really benefit much from freezing.
Thee Burger Dude, Thank-you so much for this recipe!!! Best ground beef substitute I’ve tried. Works great in everything. Tacos, sloppy joes, lasagna we’ve even used it for enchiladas. Usually make a double batch on the weekend to use during the week. Again Thank-you.
Awesome, it’s great for meal prepping! Glad you like it!!
Super excited to try this, especially after all the rave reviews. I do have a question though. If I am going to add this to a vegetarian chili, wouldn’t it rehydrate then? Even if I add it at the end, if there are leftovers, does it still resemble ground beef?
Thank you!
Hi, I haven’t tried this, but in theory I see no reason why it wouldn’t work, so I’d say go for it!
Dear Burger Dude… This recipe is soooo good. A huge hit here in our house! We have been making our own tofu from Hemp hearts. You just blend the hearts 1 cup to 3.5 cups water. Strain , and then heat up the resulting milk. When it starts to boil it begins curdling…no coagulant required. The resulting tofu works perfectly with your recipe. I’m making some again tonight! We did your Bolgnese , the Sloppy Joes and tonight it’s Hemp tofu tacos. Thanks so much Dude. Appreciated big time. Alan.
Amazing, glad that worked out!
Is using just firm tofu out of the question? It’s all I have on hand if it’s a matter of longer drying time I don’t mind. Would there be another reason?
Yeah you may just need to bake it for longer. I would press it overnight too if possible before baking.
Hiya, i just wanted to say thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
i’ve been wanting to vegetarian for a while now, but bc of food intolerances i can’t eat most store bought substitutions. This recipe has been a game changer! it’s easy to follow and tastes absolutely amazing
Awesome, glad to help!!
Your recipe is delicious! It’s definitely a keeper! I want to try your other recipes from your channel, thanks!
Thank you, hope you enjoy the others!
I just had vegan tacos tonight and they were everything I hoped (and dreamed) they would be. I’m going to have them for lunch tomorrow too. Thank you so much for developing and sharing this recipe. <3
Awesome so glad you dug em!!
Turned out great. I used passato to moisten.
Excellent idea!
I’m making this tonight for the first time. Already looks amazing.
Hope you enjoy!
I make the non-fancy version of this because I can’t get my hands on things like marmite locally. I make this every week now. It goes in everything. Even the kids devour it. Hands down better than any meat I’ve tasted. Can’t thank you enough!
Oh nice, so glad it still works out, marmite is indeed expensive in the US! So glad the kids like it too!
Dude! So freaking good. I almost can’t stop eating it right off the baking sheet. I always double the recipe for this very reason. You are the master!
That’s awesome to hear! Yeah, whenever I find myself constantly “testing” and snacking I know it’s a good recipe, so glad you dug it!
My husband and I are just starting to go vegan. Our son and his wife went vegan about two years ago, and he has been encouraging us to follow him. Today I cooked tofu for the first time. My husband who hates tofu loved this. I made a total plant based 7 layer bean dip with the tofu as the meat layer. Huge hit. Thank you for helping me have a home run on the 1st try.
Nice, so glad to hear it worked out!!
This has become my go-to beef substitute.
Excellent, glad you like it!
I’m trying to cut down on red meat so I made this for a lasagna. Now I have real texture issues with tofu, and it always has an underlying aftertaste that I don’t care for. But this weird combination of flavors WORKS. I am not vegetarian, so I used beef Better than Bouillon, Worcestershire sauce instead of the steak sauce because I didn’t have the latter, and real parmagiano-reggiano instead of the nutritional yeast. I would probably leave it in the oven a bit longer (I used pressed extra-firm tofu) next time to get that firm chewiness of ground beef, but holy cow, did this amaze me. So worth the extra work.
This is fantastic-thank you so much! I did kind of cheat; I used extra firm, unpressed, and baked it for 45 minutes and truly, it was fine as it was. I will do it the ‘right’ way at some point but since I don’t know what I’m missing so far we’ll go with this for now.
I can tell you, I will be making this by the boatload and freezing it.
Oh, and I did use half regular soy and half dark soy for color. Worked great
3 weeks ago I had never had tofu, now I’m buying a few packs a week. This recipe is amazing! I had to buy most of the ingredients to make it but it was well worth the initial cost and annoyance trying to find the ingredients. It’s very salty to me so I do a reduced amount of soy sauce. I’ve made tacos, chili and sloppy Joe’s so far. Lasagne next I think! Thank you so much!
Awesome, glad you like tofu now!!
I love this stuff, is there a way to make it ahead and keep n the fridge? Sometimes I want it for dinner but I like to prep ahead as much as I can
Yep! Storage – Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container, and eat within 3 – 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
I’ve made this so often I feel I have to leave a 5-star comment. I found the recipe almost two years ago, and it’s been in my rotation ever since. And it’s fantastic as written — I’ve used it for so much — including snacking on it while cooking and als in tacos, in quesadillas, as a topping for a baked potato or alongside mashed potatoes, in pasta sauces, on ramen, and so forth — so flexible! Most recently it was my “beef” in a cottage/shepherd’s pie, and my non-vegan guests gave it great reviews. For me, though, if I’ve had one, not complaint, rather observation it was that the final product, after the skillet step at the end, came out more mushy than I kept expecting. So more recently I’ve just extended my baking time by 10 minutes or so, so the tofu has a crisp to it but also has soft spots too — and that’s it — that’s where I stop. The resulting “ground beef” is exactly the texture I like! Spectacular! Thanks!
Glad it’s a staple! And yeah, tofu really varies on how much moisture it has, even Super Firm, so it’s best to over bake them and then just rehydrate them than underbake and have them come out mushed. Glad you got it to work!
Funny story: I immediately messed up by mixing the uncooked tofu with the marinade and sticking it in the oven, plus forgetting a timer. Then, I read a comment that it was a good idea to cook the tofu before marinating it, said oops, kept stirring it around in the oven until I thought it was a good texture. Then I did some micromarinating on the stove top. I popped it in the oven on a low broil for a few minutes before throwing it on my viral Turkish pasta. This will be my new veggie ground recipe. I’ll do it right next time, though. This is a full proof recipe even if you mess it up a little. 🙂
Oh no! Glad it still worked out! I have a newer recipe for a Tofu Taco Meat where I skip the oven step. I’m gonna update this recipe to include those set of instructions as well!
I have tried the tvp and other recipes from other vegan websites.
The tofu one is the best; I usually buy extra firm and grate it but now have the super firm. The only thing I omitted was the molasses. the first time I made this I was estatic; better than the other vegan meats that come in packages and it is great on everything that needs a ground meat. I have made it at least 4 more times and it is my go to for ground meat. I control my sodium and sugar with this. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
That makes me so happy to hear, so glad you like it, thank you!
Dude! I made tostadas tonight and formulated my own taco meat recipe. Wow. Just delicious. I’m going to make my mother’s slumgullion next! Thanks for this recipe, You knocked it out out of the park.
Nice, never heard of slumgullion! I’ll have to check it out, thank you!
I’ve made two variations of this recipe, one with soy tofu and the other with fava bean tofu. The difference between the two is simply *astounding*. Given, I didn’t have a press nor did I think to press the extra firm soy tofu beforehand, but it still came out great. But, Watson…when I tell you that the fava bean tofu variant was the MEATIEST vegan ground ever…it is so good. This is now my go-to and my most FAVORITE variation of the tofu ground. Thank you for sharing this recipe, for I’ve found a staple whenever I want pasta, chili, or any meal calling for tofu ground!
So glad you dug it! I’ll have to try the fava bean tofu, I’ve never seen it I don’t think! I’ll look for it, thanks!
Have made this about 3 times and always comes out delicious!
Glad it’s in the rotation, thank you!
Hello! I recently bought tofu on sale from Costco (our first time ever having it at home) I stumbled upon this recipe & this one is a game changer! All the flavor & texture of beef without much of the guilt lol
Nice so glad to hear that! I need to go to Costco!
i’m pretty cynical about food blogs these days, but i just tried this recipe and it’s delicious! i’ve been looking for a ground beef substitute for a long time, and this works even better than tvp (which my partner can’t eat).
my only suggestions are to freeze and thaw the tofu for a more hearty texture and watch the salt level of the marinade. i’m using it for tacos tonight and added taco seasoning to the water during rehydration.
Glad you liked it!! Thanks for the tips!
This recipe is amazing and really simple. It’s the best tofu I have tried. It’s so meaty in flavor and texture you can add it to anything. Thank you so much. I also added a tablespoon or so of vegan Worcestershire sauce to the marinade. I also made the stroganoff recipe that includes this ground and it was so flavorful also!
Happy to hear this! I love it in the stroganoff too, thank you!