This recipe is sponsored by EZ Tofu Press. All opinions are 100% my own.
What I love about a tofu scramble is its versatility! Make this basic tofu scramble as-is, or try one of the four flavor variations!
Y'all, my family loves a tofu scramble. We make one most weekends, then eat it in the living room while we watch old episodes of DuckTales with our kid.
It's a weekend tradition that I am excited to share with you!
Table of Contents
Preparing the tofu
The key to a good scramble is very firm tofu. That's why I start my tofu scrambles by pressing my tofu in my EZ Tofu Press.
Pressing the tofu gets the extra water out, which gives your scramble an "eggier" texture.
The EZ Tofu Press is easy to use and easy to clean. It's also super efficient. In just 10-15 minutes, it gets an average of ½ cup of water out of your block of tofu!
While the tofu presses, you have plenty of time to chop whatever vegetables you are adding to your scramble.
Once the tofu is pressed and you have chopped the veggies, it's time to cook!
Cooking the scramble
I'm going to walk you through how to cook a generic tofu scramble, so you can pick and choose your own add-ins, if you like.
If you prefer not to do any guesswork, don't worry! The recipe card below is for a spinach, onion, and vegan cheese scramble, which is a delight.
Making a tofu scramble basically involves four steps:
- Press your tofu.
- Saute any hard vegetables in olive oil on medium-high heat. Hard vegetables include: onions, bell peppers, and carrots. Vegetables that take a relatively long time to cook in the pan.
- Crumble the tofu into the pan, then add turmeric (for color), garlic powder, onion powder, and black salt. I'll talk more about the turmeric and black salt in the next section.
- Add any soft vegetables, and cook until those are done.
- Add vegan cheese, if you're using it, after you turn off the heat. The ambient heat from the tofu and veggies will melt it as you stir it in.
About the turmeric and black salt
Turmeric in a scramble might seem weird, but don't panic! This ingredient is mainly there for color. If you don't care about your tofu scramble looking like an egg scramble, you can omit the turmeric.
Black salt (aka kala namak) is actually pink in color. It has a mild sulphurous flavor which brings an eggy taste to the tofu.
If you can't find black salt, no worries! Just use table salt instead. Your scramble won't taste egg-like, but it will still be delicious.
Variations
Is spinach and onion not your jam? That's okay! Here are some additional mix-in ideas:
- southwest scramble: ½ cup diced onion, ½ cup diced bell pepper, 1 small zucchini (diced), and ½ cup fresh or frozen corn
- broccoli cheese: 2 cups small broccoli florets and 1 cup vegan cheddar shreds
- mushroom and tomato: ½ cup diced onion, 1 cup sliced button mushrooms, and 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- florentine-style: ½ cup diced onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 4 slices of minced vegan bacon or vegan ham, 2 cups baby spinach, ¼ cup vegan Parmesan cheese
How to serve and store
We love to serve this scramble straight up with toast or grits on the side. It's great dished up as the main event for breakfast, just like an egg-based scramble.
Or, you can also use it as the base for a vegan breakfast casserole.
A tofu scramble is also lovely stuffed into small tortillas for breakfast tacos or rolled into large tortillas for breakfast burritos. I sometimes serve it with a side of breakfast potatoes or air fryer sweet potatoes.
Got leftovers? Your tofu scramble will keep for two to three days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat it in the microwave or in a frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat.
📖 Recipe
Basic tofu scramble recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup sweet onion diced
- 1 block extra firm tofu pressed
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon black salt or table salt, if you can't find black salt
- 2 cups baby spinach or 1 cup frozen spinach (no need to thaw)
- 1 cup vegan cheese shreds optional
Instructions
- Heat the oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Add the onion, and cook until the onion turns translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Crumble the tofu into the pan, and add the turmeric, garlic powder, onion powder, and black salt. Cook, stirring, until the tofu gets a nice, even, yellow color. This should only take a few minutes. Add the spinach, and cook, stirring constantly, until it wilts or thaws.
- Turn off the heat, and stir in the optional vegan cheese until it melts.
Video
📝 Notes
Variations
Want to mix things up? Follow the recipe as written above, making these substitutions:- southwest scramble: Replace the onion in step 1 with ½ cup diced onion, ½ cup diced bell pepper, and 1 small zucchini (diced). Add in ½ cup fresh or frozen corn in step 2, and make sure the corn is warmed through before moving on to step 3.
- broccoli cheese: Add in 2 cups small broccoli florets in step 2 and and 1 cup vegan cheddar shreds in step 3, stirring to melt it into the tofu.
- mushroom and tomato: Replace the onion in step 1 with ½ cup diced onion and 1 cup sliced button mushrooms. Add in 1 cup halved grape tomatoes in step 2.
- florentine-style: Replace the onion in step 1 with ½ cup diced onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 4 slices of minced vegan bacon or vegan ham. Add in ¼ cup vegan Parmesan cheese in step 3.
Got a question? Tried this recipe? Leave a reply!