This recipe was sponsored by EZ Tofu Press. All opinions are 100% my own.
Bake up a panful of Creamy Balsamic Tofu with savory tomatoes to spoon over your favorite pasta for a simple-yet-fancy meal.
Balsamic Tofu
I adapted the recipe for this baked balsamic tofu from my Spinach Artichoke Dip, if you can believe it. The creamy sauce that you slather over your balsamic tofu before baking is a basil-balsamic cashew cream, and it bakes up like a dream.
What I love about this recipe - besides its deliciousness factor - is its lazy pace. No need to hustle while you're making your Creamy Balsamic Tofu!
Once you're done pressing your tofu tofu, just slice, marinate, and bake with cherry tomatoes in that creamy blender sauce.
Here's the game plan:
- Whisk together the 3-ingredient marinade while your tofu is pressing.
- While the tofu marinates, you have more than enough time to soak your raw cashews and blend up the sauce.
- Once you put the Creamy Balsamic Tofu in the oven, you can make the pasta while you sip on a glass of wine.
You can even prep this dish in advance, if you want to save some cooking time day-of.
The tofu is fine to marinate overnight, and you can make the cream sauce ahead, as well. Just pull the sauce out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you start cooking, so it has time to come to room temperature.
Press that Tofu, Y'all.
Pressing your tofu is the key to getting the toothsome texture and deep flavor we're going for here. If you've followed my site for a while, you know that my go-to for pressing tofu is my EZ Tofu Press.
Of course, it's possible to press tofu without a gadget, but I never do anymore. The EZ Tofu Press gets SO much water out - 1/2 cup, on average. That leaves your tofu block thirsty for the flavorful marinade in this recipe.
Getting out that much water also means you end up with dense, restaurant-style tofu, which is going to rock everyone's socks.
Really, that's all you need to know about this recipe, so let's get to it!
Creamy Balsamic Tofu with Cherry Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 1 block extra firm tofu - pressed and sliced into 8 cutlets (see video)
For the Balsamic Marinade
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
For the Basil-Balsamic Cream Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews - soaked in hot water for 10 minutes. Please soak, even if you have a high-speed blender. The cashews will take on moisture, which is important for the texture of this recipe.
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup loosely-packed fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
For the Tofu Bake
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
To Serve
- 4 servings pasta - cooked according to package directions (I used penne.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. You can wait to do this until there are 15 minutes of marinating time left, if you want.
Make the marinade.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients.
- Arrange the tofu cutlets in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the tofu. Marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
Make the Basil-Balsamic Cream Sauce
- While the tofu marinates, toss all of your Basil-Balsamic Cream Sauce ingredients into your blender, and puree until completely smooth. This will take about 1 minute in a high speed blender. You can do this in a regular blender, just keep blending until you have a totally smooth sauce.
Make the Balsamic Tofu
- Spread about 1/2 cup of the Basil-Balsamic Cream Sauce into the bottom of an 8"x8" glass pan. Arrange the tofu in a single layer, then spread the rest of the sauce no top. Add the cherry tomatoes on top of the sauce, then spray lightly with olive oil.
- Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. This is a good time to cook the pasta.
To Serve
- Divide the cooked pasta between your plates, and serve two tofu cutlets with sauce and tomatoes on top.
Have a question? Tried this recipe? Share your thoughts!