Smoked Tofu

Smoked tofu is amazing, but it’s also expensive to buy premade. The nice thing is it’s inexpensive and easy to do on a backyard grill. Above I have two, one pound blocks of tofu that have been cut into quarters and marinated, along with a seitan loaf made primarily out of the marinating liquid. The seitan hasn’t been boiled, it’s going to cook on the grill. The charcoal is in a charcoal basket, which keeps it to one side, and the grill grate is has a really awesome door that allows you to easily add soaked wood chips for smoking. It’s a fairly basic setup for indirect grilling and smoking, and the equipment came standard with the weber grill my sweetie bought me for father’s day last year.

The marinade is still under development, but the key pieces are soy sauce, sugar, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and vegetable stock. Another key is to marinade the tofu in the refrigerator for a very long time, a week if possible. Overnight simply isn’t long enough for the tofu to be fully infused with the marinade flavor. Also, when it comes to the smoke, more is not better. Tofu doesn’t have a strong flavor, so if you add too much smokiness you are going to end up with something that tastes like a forest fire.

Above is the tofu and seitan after being smoked for two hours at about 300 degrees (250 would have been better, but it was a hot day). The tofu started off dark because of the marinade, and the smoke has added to that. Let both the tofu and seitan rest for a while before digging in, which can be difficult but it’s worth it. The proteins in the tofu need to relax after all that heat, and if you let them the texture becomes amazing. The seitan was unfortunately a little undercooked, but still good. Raelene has been adding diced seitan it to things, and the toddler loves it as-is.

So tofu and seitan can easily be smoked on a standard backyard grill. The secrets to great smoked tofu are a nice, long marinate and to smoke the chunks gently for several hours.