Crispy, crunchy, and ridiculously easy, these tofu chicken nuggets are made with simple ingredients and baked in the oven. Plus, the best part? There’s no batter or breading required! Just mix the ingredients, brush with oil, bake, and enjoy.
I love recipes that are easy, minimal ingredient, and tasty! Don’t we all?! Well, these tofu nuggets check off all three boxes. Besides being made with just a few ingredients, they’re also incredibly crispy without having to make a marinade or breading. That’s right…no extra work required for these nuggets! Plus, you don’t even need to fry them.
While I love crispy tofu with breading, I always have the hardest time getting breading to successfully stick to my tofu without creating a mess. So, my goal with these nuggets was to create a crispy tofu recipe that resembled chicken nuggets but required no batter and no breading.
While I don’t mind frying tofu, I prefer to bake it since it’s hands off. Thus, this chicken nugget-esque tofu without breading and without frying was created.
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WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
Minimal Ingredients – To make these baked tofu nuggets all you need is extra-firm tofu, oat flour (or flour of choice), nutritional yeast, baking powder, spices, and a bit of oil.
Easy to Make – This recipe is super beginner-friendly, so if you’re new to the world of tofu, I have no doubt you can make this recipe with ease.
Perfect for Meal Prep – You can easily store these nuggets in the fridge and reheat in the air fryer or oven when ready to enjoy! That is if you don’t eat them all immediately…they’re hard to resist.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (WITH SUBSTITUTIONS)
These “chicken” style tofu nuggets are made with just a few ingredients (most of them seasonings!).
Extra-Firm Tofu – The main ingredient is of course, tofu. Extra-firm tofu is key for this recipe as it has a lower water content. Any brand of tofu works, but I always recommend Nasoya or 365 extra-firm tofu.
Oat Flour – Oat flour sucks up any extra moisture in the tofu and creates a denser texture. You can substitute with regular all-purpose flour or a 1:1 gluten-free flour replacement.
Nutritional Yeast – Nutritional yeast adds a flavor boost, slight cheesy taste, and helps create a crunchy, crispy exterior.
Baking Powder – While baking powder may seem like an odd ingredient to include, it helps with the browning and crispiness of the tofu exterior.
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, & Paprika – These spices add flavor to the tofu chicken nuggets. Feel free to get creative with the spices you add!
For spicy tofu nuggets, you can add a pinch of cayenne.
Flaky Sea Salt & Black Pepper – A pinch of sea salt and black pepper enhances the flavor. Since tofu is pretty bland on it’s own, seasonings help give these nuggets additional flavor.
Neutral Oil – While you don’t need to brush oil onto these tofu nuggets, I highly recommend it for the best crispy, chewy texture. You can use any neutral oil, such as avocado oil or olive oil.
HOW TO MAKE
These easy tofu nuggets are super simple to prepare. For full instructions and ingredients, see the recipe card below.
Step One: Preheat oven to 400F and prepare a lined baking sheet.
Step Two: Drain all of the water from the tofu. My favorite method to do this is by placing the tofu in a cheesecloth and squeezing out ALL the excess water.
If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can press the tofu as you normally would, then use a paper towel to squeeze out any extra liquid.
Step Three: Mash the tofu using a fork, potato masher, or your hands until the tofu is broken down into fine crumbles.
Step Four: Mix together the seasonings, oat flour, and nutritional yeast. Then, add to a mixing bowl with the tofu. Mix everything together until well incorporated. You can do this with a fork, your hands, or even with a food processor. If using a food processor, just be sure not to over mix.
Step Five: Mold the tofu into an oval shape (or get creative, up to you!). The tofu should be easy to mold into any shapes at this point, if it’s not add a bit more flour. If it’s too dry, add a splash of non-dairy milk.
Step Six: Brush both sides with a bit of oil and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step Seven: Bake for 15 minutes, flip, then bake for an additional 15 minutes.
Step Eight: Let cool and serve with your favorite dipping sauce.
DIPPING IDEAS
Don’t get me wrong, these tofu “chicken” nuggets are great…but, the best part? The dipping sauce! There’s just something about crispy, chewy tofu with a sauce that makes it so much better.
P.S. These tofu chicken bites are designed to go with a sauce, so if you are not planning on dipping it in anything I would add more seasoning.
BBQ Sauce – One of my favorite ways to enjoy these homemade vegan nuggets is with a side of barbecue sauce. Add a bit of vegan mayo to make it even tastier.
Vegan ‘Honey’ Mustard – Mix together 1/3 cup dijon mustard, 1/4 cup vegan mayo, 3 tbsp agave (or maple syrup) and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.
Fry Sauce – Mix together equal parts ketchup and vegan mayo for a delicious creamy, tangy sauce.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
To press tofu, place your tofu on a plate with a paper towel on top. Place a heavy item on top of the tofu, such as a canned good. Let sit for 20-30 minutes, or until most of the water has been drained.
For this recipe, after pressing the tofu, make sure to take the extra step of removing any excess water by squeezing in a paper towel. This yields the best tofu nugget texture!
These vegan nuggets are a great, healthy alternative to chicken nuggets. They’re mainly made from tofu which is high in protein, fiber, and has essential amino acids.
Plus, they’re gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and vegan.
Yes! If you don’t want to bake these nuggets you can air fry them. Preheat your air fryer to 375F and set the timer for 10 minutes, flip, and air fry for another 10 minutes.
STORAGE & REHEATING
These vegan chicken nuggets are fridge and freezer-friendly! After baking, let the tofu cool. Then, place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Or, place in the freezer for 2-3 weeks. When ready to enjoy place in the air fryer or oven to reheat. To prevent the tofu nuggets from sticking together, line the nuggets on a plate in a single layer and freeze for 30 minutes. Then transfer to a freezer-safe container.
OTHER TOFU RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
If you decide to try this recipe out, let me know! I love seeing your recreations tagged on Instagram @nourishedwithnatalie.
Tofu Chicken Nuggets (Baked)
Ingredients
- 1 14 oz package extra-firm tofu
- ¼ cup oat flour
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Add the tofu to a cheesecloth, twist the top, and press out as much water as possible. Or, press the tofu as normal, then use a paper towel to squeeze out any excess water. It's important to get as much water out of the tofu as possible.
- Mash the tofu with a potato masher, food processor, or your hands until the tofu is small, crumb size pieces.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (oat flour, nutritional yeast, baking powder, and seasonings).
- Add the dry ingredients to the tofu and mix until well combined. You can do this with your hands, a food processor, or a fork.
- Form the tofu into 15-20 oval-shaped pieces. The tofu should be easy to mold. If it's too wet, add a bit more flour. If it's too dry, add a splash of milk.
- Brush the tofu with a bit of oil on each side.
- Place the tofu nuggets on a prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Remove from the oven, let cool, and serve with your favorite dipping sauce!
I was hopeful, yet skeptical, of this recipe, but they turned out bomb! I did add a bit of dried ginger powder to enhance the chicken-like flavor, sooo good!
So happy to hear you enjoyed. Adding dried ginger is a great idea!
Can’t put off writing a review for this easy and delicious tofu recipe. I try many online recipes but rarely write a review😊
Wow! Thank you Helen. This made my day! So happy to hear you enjoyed 🙂
These were so easy to make! Will probably be my new go to way to make tofu. Thanks for the recipe!
Woo! So happy you loved it as much as I do 🙂