Name: Crumbled Tofu
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 tub (16 oz.) Extra firm tofu; 1 1/4 cups water; 1 1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet® Browning Sauce

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Prepare your crumbled tofu by cooking it first and it will make all of the difference in the world. You can also use it in place of mashed tofu. This extremely versatile crumbled tofu is both vegan and gluten-free (V-GF).

Makes about 1½ cups

Crumbled tofu

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Vegan Tofu Crumbles:

This technique for making crumbled tofu will keep the results of your hard work from becoming too soggy, a natural outcome when using fresh tofu. Ordinarily, pressing tofu to remove some of the excess moisture can be very time consuming. By cooking the tofu first, you are able to press out even more of the water. It also removes some of the raw soybean flavor associated with fresh tofu.
I first learned how to make crumbled tofu from The Book of Tofu by William Shurtleff when it was first published in about 1976. This recipe is a slight variation on his instructions. If you would like to make tofu from scratch or need some inspiration for cooking with tofu, I highly recommend this book. It is a classic.

Crumbled Tofu Recipes:

Crumbled Tofu is frequently used as a substitute for ground beef in vegetarian recipes. As a result, we add Kitchen Bouquet® to give it some color and flavor. That is really all of the seasoning that you need. For the most part, the tofu will absorb the flavors of the dish that it is being added to. Crumbled Tofu is the foundation for making Tofu Burgers, Tofu Meatloaf, and Tofu Italian Meatballs. Its most useful function is to make “Ground Beef” Tofu which will be featured in the next post. “Ground Beef” Tofu is crumbled tofu that has been fried in olive oil. This gives it a meatier texture and more flavor than the basic Crumbled Tofu. If you would like to avoid the oil, you can also bake the crumbled tofu instead of frying it. The Ground Beef Tofu plays a major role in our Vegan Chili.

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz.) tub extra firm tofu
or 1 lb. of homemade tofu.
1-1/4 cups water
1-1/2 teaspoons Kitchen
Bouquet® Browning Sauce

Ingredients for making crumbled tofu.

Start With Mashed Tofu:

Instructions:

1. To begin with, drain the 16 oz. tub of tofu and place in a 2-quart saucepan. Mash with a potato masher until the tofu is the consistency of mashed potatoes. You should have about 2 cups of mashed tofu.
2. Add the 1-1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet® to 1-1/4 cups of water in a measuring cup. Stir the water mixture into the tofu until well blended.
3. Cook the tofu over medium-high heat until it begins to simmer gently. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir the tofu frequently to help keep it from sticking to the pan.
4. Let it simmer slowly for 2 to 3 minutes. If you boil it too hard it is sure to splatter and make a terrible mess.You just want to make sure that the tofu is heated evenly all of the way through.

1 - Place the drained tofu in a 2-quart pot and mash with a potato masher.

Adding water and Kitchen Bouqet to mashed tofu in saucepan.

2 - Combine water and Kitchen Bouquet® and add to pot.

Mashed tofu being stirred with wooden spoon in saucepan.

3 - Stir gently and bring to a simmer.

4 - Let simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Next, place a colander in the sink and line the colander with a pressing cloth or clean dishtowel. Pour the tofu mixture into the cloth-lined colander.

6. Join the four corners of the cloth together above the tofu and twist closed. Squeeze and press with a potato masher to remove as much liquid as possible.
7. Finally, remove the tofu from the pressing cloth and place in a bowl.
8. Mash again until it resembles cottage cheese. What you should have now is about 1-1/2 cups of crumbled tofu.

Tofu being poured into a cloth lined colander.

5 - Pour the tofu mixture into a cloth lined colander.

Join four corners of cloth and twist closed and press in colander to remove moisture.

6 - Join four corners together, twist closed, and press out as much liquid as possible.

7 - Place the tofu from the pressing cloth in a large bowl.

8 - Mash the tofu with a potato masher to produce your crumbled tofu.

How to Use Crumbled Tofu:

Crumbled Tofu can be used immediately in other recipes or covered and stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. It is the main ingredient for making Fried “Ground Beef” Tofu, Vegan Chili, and Tofu Burgers (“Copycat” Grillers by MorningStar Farms®).

If you would like to use this Perfect Crumbled Tofu in recipes that call for mashed tofu, then you can omit the Kitchen Bouquet® Browning Sauce which gives it a tan color.

Bowl of crumbled tofu.

Notes: By the way, this recipe calls for extra firm tofu. You can use firm tofu if you like, but the resulting crumbled tofu will have smaller curds creating a finer texture which may or may not be a problem for you.

Crumbled Tofu

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword crumbled, gluten-free, ground beef, kitchen bouquet, meat substitute, pressing, tofu, vegan, vegetarian

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 6 1/4 cups

Calories 62 kcal

Ingredients

1 tub (16 oz.) Extra firm tofu
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet® Browning Sauce

Instructions

Drain the 16 oz. tub of tofu and place in a 2-quart saucepan. Mash with a potato masher until the tofu is the consistency of mashed potatoes. You should have about 2 cups of mashed tofu.
Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons Kitchen Bouquet® to 1 1/4 cups of water in a measuring cup. Stir the water mixture into the tofu until well blended.
Cook the tofu over medium-high heat until it begins to simmer gently. This will take about 10 minutes. Stir the tofu frequently to help keep it from sticking to the pan.
Let it simmer slowly for 2 to 3 minutes. If you boil it too hard it is sure to splatter and make a terrible mess.You just want to make sure that the tofu is heated evenly all of the way through.
Next, place a colander in the sink and line the colander with a pressing cloth or clean dishtowel. Pour the tofu mixture into the cloth-lined colander.
Join the four corners of the cloth together above the tofu and twist closed. Squeeze and press with a potato masher to remove as much liquid as possible.
Finally, remove the tofu from the pressing cloth and place in a bowl.
Mash again until it resembles cottage cheese. What you should have now is about 1½ cups of crumbled tofu.