Make any of these silken tofu recipes for a tasty, high-protein dinner, dessert or breakfast.
Table of Contents
What is silken tofu?
Silken tofu is a type of tofu that is soft and smooth with a higher water content. While regular firm tofu is usually pan fried, grilled, or baked, silken tofu is best used blended in desserts, as a thickener for sauces, or as an egg replacer in baking.
To find more tasty vegan high protein recipes, see our tofu and high protein vegan meals roundups.
Breakfasts
For an omelette that’s better than you’ll find in any dinner along Route 66, try this vegan tofu omelette. Thanks to a little culinary sleight of hand, this hearty breakfast tastes like the real thing, but without the chicken seeds.
If your mornings consist of you trying to slap together breakfast while you have one hand on the blender and one foot in the running position, you’ll be grateful for this fruity break. Silken tofu and a frozen banana pair up to add a rich, creamy texture to your blueberry smoothie.
If the title of this breakfast staple sounds a bit too Asian Fusion for your taste, we say don’t knock it ‘til you try it. Thanks to the tofu, this recipe doesn’t miss the eggs, and you won’t miss the cholesterol. Instead, it’s just plain pancake comfort food through and through.
In the ‘80s, when a thick, delicious shake meant a taste like cardboard and dubious promises of slimming down, creamy, chocolatey protein drinks got a bad rap. But this drink changes all that, making that creamy, chocolate drink taste more like a milkshake and less like a diet in a jar.
If you thought going vegan meant going without sushi – in particular, going without those cute ‘lil rolled-up egglet thingies, think again. A dash of black salt and a little silken tofu bring back the taste you love on sushi night!
There’s a certain everything-but-the-kitchen-sink quality to your morning omelette that makes it such a go-to meal. A dash of turmeric makes this bad boy yellow, while a pinch of black salt makes it taste eggy. It’s up to you to add the kitchen sink part!
While the holes in waffles definitely up their cute factor, cuteness isn’t their only function. Being little cups of taste holders is their chief function, and with these sweet and crispy tofu oat waffles, you can make stacks and stacks of cute morning cups that’ll have cups that are small enough to hold fresh berries from the garden and large enough to soak up some of your homemade syrup.
You’ll become a barista extraordinaire when you learn to mix up one of these mocha protein frappuccinos. The drink foregoes the crushed ice and turns to silken tofu to add a bit of frothy goodness to your chilled morning java.
If you’re a banana bread fiend, then you’ll appreciate the portability of these banana pecan muffins. The bananas give them a sweet kick, while the silken tofu – the not-so-secret ingredient – adds just the right amount of moisture. Fresh pecans are the crisp that makes you appreciate the soft.
Quiche is one of the most versatile breakfasts around. It’s too bad you can’t eat it on a vegan diet, or can you? Why, yes, siree, you can with this mini quiche recipe. Silken tofu plus a little culinary magic give it the egg consistency without the egg cholesterol.
Soups & Stews
This stew combines the rich, earthy goodness of dried shiitake mushrooms and combines them with the spicy goodness of vegan kimchi and finishes it off with mouthfuls of soft tofu and slices of green onions. It’s an explosion of flavor in every bite.
Dishes like this spicy vegan mapo tofu bring simple goodness to dinner. With only two basic components, the spicy tofu and some steamed rice, it’s easier to savor each bite. It’s the perfect dish to end those days when everything in your life has gotten way too complicated, way too fast.
If you love the taste of garden-fresh vegetables, but you’re not feeling another salad, then toss together this tasty Chinese vegetable soup. In 10 minutes or less, you’ve got a meal that’s as healthy as a salad but as hearty as soup.
Spicy Steamed Tofu and Mushrooms
Add a little spicy zippety doo dah to your dinner with this spicy steamed tofu dish. Duo jiao salted chili peppers wrap silken tofu and meaty oyster mushrooms in a spicy embrace that won’t let go of your tastebuds until the last bite.
If you grew up loving midwestern corn chowder recipes, then you’ll love this twist on the classic. This Chinese corn soup has all the hardiness of the corn chowders you enjoyed as a kid, but with flavors like sake, ginger, white pepper, and an abundance of silken tofu, it offers a tasty Asian twist.
If you’ve been putting off that diet because you know the meals will be so-yawn, then wait no longer. This delish veggie soup brings together ingredients like ginger, white pepper, seaweed, and sesame oil to give it an unforgettable flavor boost while silken tofu and spinach fill you up without making you feel uncomfortably stuffed.
Pasta Dishes
For most of us, mac and cheese lands on the top of the list for comfort foods. The problem is, once we went vegan, our favorite comfort food went the way of the dodo bird. Happily, this nut-free vegan mac recipe mimics the flavor of cheese so well that even your cheesy-mac-loving kids will eat it up!
This garlic mushroom pasta dish taste so much like the Old Country, you can almost taste the salt-infused air of the Mediterranean in each bite. The hints of Alfredo flavor that you taste come from blended silken tofu and nutritional yeast, while the meaty, earthy flavor comes straight from your garden-fresh mushrooms.
Creamy tomato sauce adds the comfort factor of cheese and the tangy, sweet acidity of tomatoes to your favorite pastas. In this dish’s case, a magical mix of fresh bell peppers, savory celery, sweet carrots, and nutritional yeast, plus a little silken tofu, come together to make this the kind of dish you want to eat in front of a toasty fire on a chilly fall night.
This spaghetti carbonara recipe gets its bacony smoke flavor from little chunks of smoked tofu. The melt-in-your-mouth creaminess that makes carbonara a go-to recipe comes from an easy mixture of silken tofu, secret spices, and some nutritional yeast. You’ll induce bacon envy in your friends without the bacon!
Side Dishes
Steamed Tofu in Soy Garlic Sauce
Sometimes, the dishes that pack the most punch are the dishes that are visually and texturally simple. So it is with this steamed tofu in soy garlic sauce. Thinly-sliced silken tofu cascades down the dish in a neat row, wearing only a swathe of soy garlic sauce garnished with sliced green onions. Its sheer simplicity invites you to taste uninterrupted flavor in every bite.
It happens to all of us – a total space-off of that summer barbecue we promised to attend. Fortunately, this appetizer works great in a pinch when you only have a few minutes to spare. It calls for a few slices of drained silken tofu and only a few minutes of sauteing to whip up the savory sauce. You and the barbecue are saved in 20 minutes or less.
It’s hard to imagine a salad without the tangy taste and creamy texture of ranch dressing. It’s also equally hard to imagine a vegan version of the recipe that tastes as good as our former favorite bottled version at the grocery store. But silken tofu plus a blend of spices adds the right flavor kick to this dressing. It gives that old store-bought brand a run for its money.
For many of us, a hearty sandwich filled with all the fixings isn’t the same without the tangy, sweet goodness of mayo. Unfortunately, vegan mayo can fall on the pricey side, making it tempting to forego our favorite sammies in lieu of lima beans. Fortunately, with this easy vegan tofu mayo may recipe, plant-based mayo is back in the budget and back on the table come lunchtime.
With these fried silken tofu pieces, you can enjoy all the finger-licking fun of recipes like chicken nuggets but without the guilt. Panko bread crumbs plus an array of spices dip ever-so-nicely in a homemade vegan sriracha dipping sauce. All in all, this dish is like chicken nuggets for grown-ups.
Desserts
Can you imagine something so sinfully good as chocolate pudding requiring only a few healthy ingredients? Guess what? It can and does, or at least this sweet chocolate pudding recipe does. Cocoa powder adds the chocolate kick, while silken tofu adds the thickness to make this a hit from the get-go.
Instead of going for one of those heavy, weigh-you-down desserts, why not try something that will pick you up instead? Tiramisu, which means “pick me up” in Italian, gets some matcha love in this vegan version of this refreshing dish. It’s one creamy pick-me-up bite of yum all the way through.
Baked Cheesecake with Strawberries
Strawberry cheesecake’s the kind of dessert you turn to when you need to create a memorable dessert from the first bite onward. This cheesecake recipe, with its Oreo and vegan butter crust, creamy vegan cream cheese filling, and layers of fresh strawberries, is its own kind of culinary mnemonic device.
Like any key lime pie recipe worth its salt, this one sits on a sweet graham cracker crust that juxtaposes nicely with the tangy cream goodness of the key lime pie. Add to that a cup of key lime juice plus chilled silken tofu to make this key lime pie that tastes like a cool sea breeze on a hot day.
This strawberry lemon snack cake tastes a good deal like strawberry shortcake but with the plump, juicy strawberries baked right into the cake. The tartness of the lemon complements the berries, much like the black keys on the piano complement the white ones. Once you try those two flavors together, it’s music to your mouth.
Rumor has it that the original chocolate chip recipe was an accident. A housewife wanted to know what would happen to chocolate cookies if she didn’t melt the chocolate but rather just dumped the chocolate chunks right into the batter. Well, these chocolate chip cookies taste e’ery bit as yummy as that first batch, but there’s no culinary accident here. They taste 100% delish on purpose!
This light and refreshing mango pineapple mouse tastes like tropical summer in a glass. Sweet, succulent strawberries top a mouse made of cool mangoes and seasonal pineapple to bring the taste of the tropics to your kitchen.
Japanese Silken Tofu with Mango
Talk about easy peasy. This Japanese dessert pairs wholesome sliced silken tofu with a drizzle of fresh mango sauce to top it off. It’ll take you more time to eat this dessert than it does to make it.
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
This is pretty much peanut butter cups on a plate, topped by dollops of vegan-friendly whipped cream for good measure. A drizzle of chocolate syrup plus some nuts and chocolate chips makes it a peanut buttery taste explosion to remember.
As your childhood memories will remind you, the best part of making homemade cookies didn’t come when the oven timer went “Ding!” Rather, it was all that yummy cookie dough. With this high-protein cookie dough recipe, you can skip the baking part and head straight into the eating part.
Banana cream pie is one of the best desserts you see in the pie case at a roadside diner on a long road trip. It’s sweet and tasty to eat and a little intimidating to make. When you whip up this vegan version of the dessert, you skip the intimidation factor and the pie tin. Dollops of it, along with layers of real fruit in a chilled dessert cup, make this one worth staying home for.
If you love the vanilla-y creaminess of Mexican flan but can’t stand the thought of going sans crust, then you’ll love every bite of this baked vegan custard tart. It’s light and refreshing and so filled with vanilla flavor you’ll swear you’ve bit into a vanilla bean.
Snickerdoodles are like the cookie equivalent of the giggles. It’s difficult not to giggle after each bite of these chewy discs of cinnamony goodness. But go ahead. Bite into one or two or 10 and giggle away. They’ll tickle your taste buds and your funny bone!
If you’re the kind of donut eater who mourns the thought of all those lost donut holes, take heart. These tofu donut balls bring those sweet bites of yumminess back to your donut-eating experience with all the taste and deep-friend naughtiness you’d expect from the belly buttons of your favorite treat!
This vegan ice cream is as tasty as the fresh scoops of frozen creamy custards you find on the boardwalk of some East Coast city, but without all the stuff, like dairy and eggs, that does your tummy wrong. Instead, it calls on the natural sweetness of bananas and the creamy richness of silken tofu to make a cool dessert that’s as easy on the taste buds as it is on the tummy.
What are your favorite vegan silken tofu recipes?
Leave a comment below!
FAQ
While you can cook silken tofu in a pan it will melt or crumble easily while cooking. Some recipes call for silken tofu since it will hold its shape once breaded and in the oil, but it’s best (and easiest) to use medium, firm, or extra firm tofu when pan frying.
No, silken tofu is not an appropriate substitute for firm tofu in most recipes since it will not hold its shape well during the cooking process. However, it may work in recipes where the tofu is served raw or added to a pot of soup.
Yes, you can eat silken tofu raw. In many vegan dessert recipes like pudding or mousse, the tofu is blended and served raw. Silken tofu can also be used as a base for dips, sauces, or dressings that don’t require cooking.
No, you don’t need to press silken tofu because it will become mushy and not hold its shape. While regular firm tofu is packaged in water and needs to be pressed, silken tofu is packaged in an aseptic package and is ready to use.
40+ Silken Tofu Recipes (High-Protein, Delicious)
Ingredients
- silken tofu
- soy sauce
- garlic
- scallions
Instructions
- Choose your favorite meal from the list.
- Click on the name to get to the recipe.
- Get to cooking!
I make the silken tofu smoothie everyday, it’s very tasty