Vegan Turkey
This Vegan Turkey is quick and easy because we are using Tofu! Perfect for a Simple Holiday Meal or in a Sandwich!
So this recipe is based of my popular Grilled Tofu Chick’n recipe, and as an easier option to my Seitan Turkey Roast. Both are great of course, but I wanted to make something that tasted more like turkey than the Tofu Chick’n and something much faster and easier than Seitan Roast.
And honestly, this might be my favorite new dish for a Holiday Meal since it’s so dang easy to make and so dang delicious to eat!
Unlike Seitan, it’s Gluten Free, it’s so much easier and faster, and there’s much less room for error!
You can let it marinate in the fridge until you want one and grill one at a time too! So it’s perfect for a quick and easy meal prep as well.
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 Vegan Turkey
- Marinade – The marinade is similar to my Grilled Tofu Chick’n, we’ll be using pantry staples like garlic and onion powder, smoked paprika, and some nutritional yeast or course!
- Herbs – But we’ll also be using some herbs as well! We’ve got Oregano, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme!
I recommend getting one of these poultry herbs packages so you don’t buy too much of each herb. You can also use dried, just use half of the fresh herb amount.
I actually used Dried Parsley and Oregano and it was fantastic in combination with the Fresh Herbs.
how to make Vegan Turkey
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 filet 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, adding any extra water to loosen it up if needed. Just make sure the marinade is still thick enough to cling to the tofu.
Dunk the filets in the marinade. You can cook them right away or store them in the fridge in an air tight container for later.
Get a pan up to medium high heat, add a little oil and then grill the filets for about 1 – 2 minutes. I recommend brushing the leftover marinade before and after you flip them. I’ll do this several times until they look good to me.
On the last flip, I like to brush the top one last time, but don’t flip it. That extra marinade will continue to cook on the tofu and create a nice thick layer of flavor!
If you want it sliced like I do for presentation, just slice it at a bias so you expose the interior and can stack them on top of each other.
Crispy Skin 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.
You can also wrap them in some rice paper that’s been rehydrated in water for about 15 – 20 seconds. Then fry in some hot oil until crispy!
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!
You can also store cooked ones and have a Leftovers Sandwich!
Other Recipes you’ll dig
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!
Vegan Turkey
Ingredients
- 16 oz Super Firm Tofu
Marinade
- 2 Tbsp Vegan Mayo
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- 2 tsp White Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Water (more as needed)
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 tsp Dried Parsley
- 1 tsp Fresh Chopped Thyme
- 1 tsp Fresh Chopped Rosemary
- 1 tsp Fresh Chopped Sage
Instructions
Marinade
- Simply mix and combine the ingredients with a whisk. If it feels too thick, add a little water until it's thinner. You want it thick enough to cling to the tofu.
- You can used dried herbs instead of fresh, just use half the amount (so 1/2 tsp of each instead of 1 tsp)
Tofu Filets
- Make sure to use Super Firm Tofu, the kind that's vacuum sealed and doesn't need pressing.
- Cut the block of tofu into 4 filets. Optional but recommended, carve each rectangular filet into a more turkey filet like shape.
- 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!
- Dunk the filets in the marinade. You can cook them right away or store them in the fridge in an air tight container for later. If storing for later, pour over the excess marinade, don’t throw it out, we’re gonna use it later!
- To cook them, get a pan up to medium heat, add a little oil and then grill the filets for about 1 – 2 minutes. I recommend brushing the leftover marinade before and after you flip them. I’ll do this several times until they look good to me.
- On the last flip, I like to brush the top one last time, but don’t flip it. That extra marinade will continue to cook on the tofu and create a nice thick layer of flavor!
- If you want it sliced like I do for presentation, just slice it at a bias so you expose the interior and can stack them on top of each other.
Crispy Skin Option
- Optionally, after grilling, you can dredge these in some flour and shallow fry these as well. I found that this gave them a nice “skin” like texture that stayed crispy.
- Just cover them in a thin layer of flour. Add a layer of oil to a skillet, heat it up, and then shallow fry the filets until golden brown.
Rice Paper Skin
- After grilling, you can also wrap them in some rice paper that's been rehydrated in water for about 15 – 20 seconds. Then shallow fry in some hot oil until crispy!
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!
Looking forward to making this! In the UK we cook with several types of vinegar…malt, white, apple cider, red wine etc.. whi h is best for the marinade? Thanks
Hi, I used white vinegar!
Wow so easy and delicious. Seitán and store bought vegan meats gross me out so I was super excited for this recipe and it didn’t disappoint. I was lazy and used dried poultry seasoning for the fresh herbs. Will definitely repeat. Thank you so much!
Lazy or smart? haha glad you liked it, thank you!
Using poultry seasoning is such a great short cut! 🤌🏼
This recipe is totally delicious and has become a new staple for me. Super easy to prep and makes satisfying meals. I’ve subbed the vegan mayo for the Just brand vegan ranch, and for the Trader Joe’s brand vegan cream cheese, and both times it’s turned out yummy. Thank you!!
Oh that sounds so good with the ranch or cream cheese! Stoked you like it, thank you!
Cannot wait to try this. Does the marinade absorb into it well? Thoughts on freezing then thawing to absorb the marinade more? 😀
Hi, the marinade does not really penetrate into the tofu, but the outside is so flavorful it doesn’t matter (in my opinion, it’s better than most turkey I’ve had)
Freezing Super Firm won’t do much as it’s pretty dense and doesn’t have too much water. I’m not really a fan of the spongy texture from freezing tofu, hence why I like Super Firm! Hope that helps!
I did a variation of this and found that the texture was a bit more turkeyish (less smooth), and the flavor of my marinade soaked in a bit. I made a marinade with Better Than Bouillon no chicken base and the usual suspect Thanksgiving flavor herbs (sage, etc…). Added the leftover marinade, and some oil, into the pan for grilling and let it cook down. Then the rice paper wrap for the win.
We just had an early thanksgiving dinner with our daughter as she wasn’t going to be able to be here on thanksgiving.
We made the pan seared version of this recipe.
Have to say that everybody liked this one. The consensus was that we all preferred this to any of the store bought roasts that we have had in the past.
While we probably prefer the taste and texture of homemade seitan roasts to this. I have to say that when you factor in how easy this recipe was to make and how darn good it tastes, it’s pretty much unbeatable in a cost benefit analysis. In other words, I might prefer a homemade seitan roast but would choose to make this 9 times out of 10 just because of how quick, easy and good it is.
On a side note. I took the tofu trimmings left over from making cutlets. I crumbled them up, added some extra marinade to them, pan fried them and then added it to the stuffing…..
Makes a pretty darn good stuffing that way
Oh wow, I love this, thank you so much! I agree, it’s the best bang for your buck time-wise for sure! I think I’d prefer this for the ease of it too! And using the trimmings in stuffing, that is a genius move too!
Didn’t have tofu on hand but wanted to test out the recipe before thanksgiving. I opted for king oyster mushroom to sub for the tofu. The flavor was really good and the easiest vegan turkey i’ve made. I’m looking forward to trying it with tofu, but the mushroom texture might be hard to beat!
Oh wow, interesting, I never thought of using a mushroom! I’ll have to try it, glad you liked it, thank you!
This is brilliant! I can’t wait to try this tofu turkey for Thanksgiving this year. This really looks amazing and festive. Your Short Video is great! Thank you for sharing. I also love King Oyster mushrooms and can’t wait to try the marinade on them.
So easy and simple yet so delicious! 🤤
You’ve done it again – thank you! 🙏🏻💚
Glad you liked it, thank you!!
Would it be possible to cook them in the oven instead of pan-frying?
I haven’t tried that, and not sure I would recommend as a lot of the flavor comes from flipping it and basting it over and over. So that would be difficult / time consuming in the oven.
Made the pan grilled version as a test run for the upcoming holiday. I doubled the marinade because I always prefer to have extra. I was skeptical, but this recipe is truly outstanding! Simple ingredients, easy to make, outstanding flavor.
Definitely my new go to! Can’t thank you enough!
Oh I’m glad you’re a convert haha! Thank you, happy you enjoyed it!
I had been looking for a simple vegan sliced turkey recipe and am glad I found this one. I made all of it right after coating the slices in the marinade and will reheat what I did not have for dinner over the next few days. I do suggest that you change the photo at the top of the page, which is of a roast and not the slices made in this recipe.
Hey glad you liked it! Not sure what you mean, the photos are of this recipe, I just sliced a couple of the filets and arranged them for a photo!
I would love to see how you get 4 cutlets out of one block of tofu – the photos look so thick. And is there something else I can use for vegan mayonnaise? I just don’t like it. Thanks so much!!!
Susan
Hi, you can use some oil instead of mayo, but you may wanna blend the marinade. As for the thickness, I simply cut it in half and then each half in half. The slices look thick because I cut them at a strong bias. I mention that in the recipe!
Just made this for the whole family, absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for the recipe, it was perfection!!!
Yay, love to hear this, thank you, so glad y’all liked it!
Made these last night and we loved loved the flavor. I will definitely be making these more often. The thick marinade really makes the difference. 😀
Heck yes, happy to hear it, the marinade is so good I can eat it with a spoon! Glad you like it, thank you!
This looks amazing, I’m planning on making it for Thanksgiving next week! Just to clarify, for the flour dredged one you cook it first without flour and then a second time with flour?
Correct, cook it like the recipe says, then dredge in flour and fry to get a crispier outer layer.
Really good recipe. I went with the rice paper crispy skin method and it was very good. Not a common texture I get anymore so that was a real pleasure for me!
Nice, glad you got to get some crispiness in there! Thank you!
Made this for my gluten-free friend. Using super firm tofu is an absolute must. I had to substitute soy sauce with Worchestershire sauce and it still came out well. The most difficult part was using the rice paper wrapping.
All-in-all a great recipe that I would like to try to master.
Glad you liked it! The rice paper can be tricky, sometimes you just gotta brute force it! Thank you!
Hi, how long can it stay in the fridge marinated before cooking?
Thanks
I’d recommend no longer than 2 – 3 days.
Thanks
Great looking recipe. Do you think you could slice cuts in the tofu —not the whole way through—before marinading, frying and basting so that the flavours go through the tofu?
Thank you, you can, but I used to do that on my Tofu Grilled Chick’n recipe and recently found that it doesn’t do too much and makes the filet a bit more delicate too.
Totally awesome recipe!! So much flavor. I only had extra tofu on hand, so I used that instead (apologies). Still turned out great.
Glad it still worked, no apologies necessary! Thank you!!
This just tasted like flavored tofu. But I’m not complaining because I LOVE tofu. I have to admit, this is the first time I’ve ever had tofu in a non-Asian dish. Very tasty, I think I used rice vinegar because that’s what I had on hand. Also, I did use extra firm tofu and pressed it with my life changing TofuBud but it still seems pretty soft. Maybe it’s because I had it marinating for 21hrs. 🤔 Thank you!
Glad you still liked it! Yes it is definitely still tofu for sure, I do think it was soft because of the extra firm tofu, super firm is hard to beat, thank you!
While mine looked a little ugly and not as beautiful as yours looked in the pictures, which I blame myself for preparing multiple dishes for thanksgiving, this was a delicious recipe! The scraps I cut off , i just marinated with it and cooked it all in the same pan. The small pieces cooked faster so I took them out the pan and in a bowl, I turned around and my 4 year old was chowing down saying mmmm this is delicious! I normally buy a roast for thanksgiving and wanted to try something new and I’m so glad I found this and many of your other delicious recipes I’ve tried!
Haha I love that! So happy it turned out, and sometimes food don’t look pretty but it’s still tasty haha!
Simple ingredients and so easy to make. Absolutely delicious! My non-vegan family members tried this after dinner and the comments were “wow, this is amazing! The taste is just like turkey!” Very cool that this even impressed the non-vegans. Thank you for the recipe – it’s a keeper and I will absolutely be sharing this recipe as well as trying others on your page!
heck yes, my favorite kind of review!! Thank you so much, makes my day to hear!
This was my first time trying one of your recipes and this was so good! It very much gives turkey. I changed the marinade slightly to use what I had on hand (no soy sauce, and apple cider vinegar instead of white). The only thing I’d do differently is marinate the tofu over night so the flavors can soak in better (an option you do give). The center turns out slightly bland because the marinade doesn’t really reach it. I will be adding this to my repertoire for sure!!!
Oh glad you liked it! The marinade won’t really penetrate that much. If you’d like to flavor the inside you can saute each slice in some seasoning after slicing.
What a fabulous recipe! This was my first time having Tofu at Thanksgiving! We hosted a few family members who are vegetarians, and I wanted to have a vegan protein option. The tofu was flavorful and saucy. Would even make for meal prep. yum!
Excellent, so happy it worked out, and you’re a good one for providing for the veggie folks! Thank you!
Wow! From the first bite my husband and I stared at each other! Incredibly simple to make and the flavor was outstanding. I cut up the ends of the tofu and tossed them in our salad. Excellent recipe- a keeper!😋
Glad you liked it, thank you!
Perfect.
Made my Quorn chickenless patties so delicious.
Recipe worth repeating.
Thank you.
Dianne
Best thing I’ve made for replacement of meat . Tastier and more succulent than any turkey ! The marinade is so delicious
Nice, love to hear this, thank you, so happy you dug it!
It wasn’t bad. We roasted it instead of pan frying it and it turned out pretty good. We may do a twice cooked tofu next time instead to allow the marinade to penetrate into the tofu better, but the flavour is on point. We also did the whole rice paper thing around it for a crispy skin and it turned out great. Thanks for sharing. Very tasty.
This marinade is delicious and the recipe is so quick! In Canada, we don’t have super firm tofu —though I am open to anyone correcting me — so I needed to use extra firm. It didn’t grill up the way I’d hoped and I suspect that’s because of the extra water. If you only have extra firm, would freezing and thawing help? I know this is not your preferred approach but if you’re stuck with extra firm, is this a way to manage the extra water content so that it grills up nicely?
Oh no! Yeah Freezing and Thawing will get a lot of water out of it. A lot of folks will boil it in salted water but I haven’t had much luck with that so I need to try it some more before I can advise on it! Thank you!
Very simple and super delicious!
Glad you liked it, thank you!
Amazing! I made this for Thanksgiving this year and it will now be my go to Thanksgiving main. I’ve made it several times since just for sandwiches.
Excellent, I plan on making a bunch of different sandwiches with it this year, thank you!
I made this recipe for my Christmas dinner. I’m the only vegan in my family and look for recipes that are easy but delicious. This one was super easy and also delicious. I will definitely make it again!
Awesome, so glad it worked out for Xmas, I was thinking of folks like you on this one since making a seitan roast for one person is a bit of work, thank you!
Thank you! This recipe was perfect for Thanksgiving. As the only vegetarian at the table it was great to have an alternative that I looked forward to having leftovers of. I will definitely be making this again and will be trying more of your recipes.
Nice, so glad you liked it! Thank you!
So good, with rich flavours. My favourite version is the one wrapped in rice paper. It allows you to lock in some extra marinade inside the turkey, making it even more flavourful. Once it’s wrapped, no marinade drips off while frying, and the process stays super clean. Great to make ahead.
Awesome, so glad you liked it! The Rice Paper is so cool too! Thanks!!