Crispy oven baked tofu parmigiana cutlets topped with spicy cheesy flavor packed tomato sauce makes a perfect high protein vegetarian meal.
I have been finding many different ways to make tofu more flavorful, fun and a complete meal. You can see many tofu recipes on my blog. And many of them are asian flavored tofu recipes. I think this is one of the first once that is with Italian flavors. I hear people rave about chicken parm all the time and I am like what is there that I am missing out on. So here is an outcome of my curiosity, and to be honest a darn good outcome!
Tofu is very blend by itself, it does not really have much flavors. However this spongy goodie can soak in any flavors you want. This crispy baked tofu cutlets are loaded with amazing Italian flavors with a touch of spice. Think of an arrabiata flavored sauce, which is spicy and garlicky. I personally love arrabiata sauce for my pasta so thought I would bring the same flavor palette to this crispy protein source.
This super simple and minimal ingredient recipe comes together in no time. You simply coat tofu slices with first corn starch, then pasta sauce and then herby breadcrumbs mixed with parmasan cheese. I like to use pasta sauce instead of eggs because I personally cannot stand the smell of eggs even though I do eat eggs. Using pasta sauce for coating tofu brings lot of flavors to these cutlets and helps breadcrumbs to stick well to it.
Then simply bake the tofu cutlets and then comes the best part. Usually these cutlets, whether they are chicken cutlets or tofu cutlets, are baked with sauce and cheese placed on them. I think that way the cutlets get soggy. I like mine crispy with plenty of cheesy sauce on top. And to achieve that perfect texture I like to make cheesy sauce separately and then top it over crispy cutlets. Trust the process and thank me later!
This is hands down one my absolute favorite ways to eat tofu. I know many people are skeptical about tofu taste, but take my words for it. Just follow the below recipe to the T and you will be amazed at the final results. I like to pair it with lemony arugula salad but you can simply add some delicious pasta on side to add that much needed carbs along with protein and fats! Try making my Garlic and Olive Oil Spaghetti with Roasted Broccoli to go with this Baked Tofu Parmigiana!
This Baked Tofu Parmigiana truly is a complete meal when paired with side of salad and yummy pasta. Vegetarian foods do not have to be boring or malnutrition, and this is truly a great example of that. If you are to make it, please leave me a comment below or tag me on Instagram @myvegetarianroots. I would love to get your feedback on my recipes!
Happy and Healthy Eating!
Baked Tofu Parmigiana
Ingredients
Tofu Cutlet Ingredients
- 16 oz High Protein Extra Firm Tofu I used one from trader joes
- ¼ cup Corn Starch
- 1 cup Choice of pasta sauce Preferably arrabbiata sauce
- ¾ cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs I used 4C Seasoned Bread Crumbs
- ½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan cheese BelGioioso Vegetarian Parmesan & Organic Valley Shredded Parmesan have no animal rennet
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Dry Oregano
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
Garlicky Spicy Sauce Ingredients
- 1½ cup Choice of pasta sauce Preferably arrabbiata sauce
- 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 5 cloves Garlic, sliced
- 1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper Powder
- ½ tsp Dry Oregano
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Onion Powder
- 1 large Jalapeno, Sliced
- 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- ½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan cheese BelGioioso Vegetarian Parmesan & Organic Valley Shredded Parmesan have no animal rennet
Instructions
Baked tofu cutlets
- Press tofu to remove as much water as possible, once done pat dry and make 5 even 5 slices. I mentioned 5 because the Trader joes high protein tofu block is 5 servings. This recipe ingredients are measured based on 5 decent sized slices.
- Place ¼ cup of corn starch in one wide bowl or plate and place 1 cup of pasta sauce in one wide bowl or plate.
- Mix ¾ cup of breadcrumbs, ½ cup of parmasan cheese, ½ tsp of salt, ¼ tsp of black pepper powder, 1 tsp of chili flakes, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1½ tsp of onion powder, ½ tsp of dry oregano in one wide bowl or plate.
- So far you should have 3 bowl/plates ready to prepare sliced tofu cutlets.
- Preheat oven on 425℉ and start preparing one tofu cutlet at time. Dust a tofu slice first with corn starch, then coat it with tomato sauce then coat it very well with breadcrumb mix. Then place it on a greased baking tray.
- You should have 5 big tofu slices coated and laid down in single layer on a greased baking tray by now. Once the oven is preheated, bake tofu cutlets on one side for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, flip them and bake the other side for 10 minutes.
Prepare spicy sauce
- NOTE: To keep the cutlets crispy, we are going to prepare (steps below) cheesy sauce in a wide shallow pan/skillet with cheese melted on top, so that you have a thin layer of cheesy sauce ready to spread on crispy cutlets, Instead of baking the cutlets with sauce which makes them kinda soggy.
- In a wide shallow pan/skillet heat up 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Once warm, add in sliced garlic with 1 tsp of red chili flakes. Saute on ,medium heat until raw smell of garlic is gone. The garlic slices should start to turn golden NOT BROWN.
- Once the garlic is ready, pour in 1½ cup of pasta sauce along with ¼ tsp of salt, ¼ tsp of black pepper powder, ¼ tsp of garlic powder, ¼ tsp of onion powder and ½ tsp of dry oregano. Mix well and bring it to simmer.
- Once simmering, bring the heat down and sprinkle a mix of 1 cup shredded mozzarella and ½ cup of shredded parmasan cheese. Top it with sliced jalapenos and cover it for cheese to melt.
- Once cheese is melted very well, take the cover off, turn the heat off and now the cheesy sauce is ready to be poured on top of crispy tofu cutlets.
- Pour/place decent amount of cheesy sauce on each cutlet evenly. Simply serve it with choice of pasta and/or crispy lemony arugula salad!
