Slow Cooker Smoked Tofu {Vegan}

Day 302.

I’m really enjoying Kathy Hester’s cookbook The Vegan Slow Cooker and I’m super excited to try her Smoked Tofu and Stars Soup tomorrow. In order to do that, I’m making up a batch of Tea-Scented Tofu today. This is an ingenious recipe that allows you to make your own smoked tofu at home in your slow cooker. Smoked tofu really is becoming hard to come by in the stores and, really, why pay someone to smoke it for you when you can do it at home this easily? Kathy suggests that your favorite marinade ingredients can be used to design your own flavors and I certainly plan on trying a few variations in the future. The best part of this recipe is the soup only requires 3/4 of the batch. So, for dinner tonight we had one of my all-time simple favorites with a twist: Brown rice and tea-scented smoked tofu. Yum.

Definitely check out Kathy’s cookbook The Vegan Slow Cooker for more yummy recipes. And, bonus, for international readers: Kathy has all her recipes in metric measurements as well.

From The Vegan Slow Cooker.

Ingredients

Drain the tofu (I froze and thawed mine first for a meatier texture, but that’s not a critical step) and cut the block in half widthwise. Now cut each half into 3 pieces for 6 total pieces. Press tofu wrapped in a towel under a heavy weight for at least 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add two layers of foil to cover the inside of your crock (I used a 4-quart). The foil is necessary to keep the burning sugar from ruining your crock. Place smoking ingredients on top of foil. Place tofu, in a single layer if possible, into a metal or silicone strainer or steamer basket.

Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours, then cook on LOW for 6-10 more hours, flipping the tofu about halfway through. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze for up to 2 months.

Wow, the texture on this is fantastic. And with no frying whatsoever! Perfect. It was remarkably simple and the results were definitely worth the wait for the 8 hours of crockpot cooking. I think, with the right smoke mix, this could be delicious in just about any dish.

This post is shared with What’s for Lunch Wednesday , Gallery of Favorites, Simply Delish and Muffin Tin Monday.

Note: I received no compensation for this post; however, I did receive a free promotional copy of The Vegan Slow Cooker.