Crispy Tofu Pasta with tomato sauce recipe made with crispy pan-fried tofu, pasta, tomato sauce, fresh basil, and creamy parmesan cheese. One of the best meat-free pasta recipes that you can whip up everything in 30 minutes! Simple, humble pasta dish, packed with flavour!
We love to cook quick and easy pasta dishes that we can use up whatever we have in our pantry and fridge. Last week we shared our 20-minute Creamy Salmon and Prawn Pasta recipe and it was a great hit.
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Why you would love this pasta recipe
- It's ready in less than 30 minutes! So fast to prepare and easy to clean up.
- Perfect as a quick weekday meal or busy day dinner, with no complicated cooking steps.
- Customizable pasta recipe that you can add any of your favourite protein, vegan meat, and vegetables that you have on hand.
- Affordable pasta recipe the whole family can enjoy. Great dish for vegetarians and vegans with a balanced diet of healthy protein, carbohydrates, and delicious tomato sauce.
Essential Ingredients
- Pasta: Feel free to add your favourite long pasta or short pasta. We usually love to cook this dish with spaghetti, linguine, or tagliatelle. Penne or fusilli goes well too!
- Tofu: I love to cook pasta with tofu for the days that I don't want to have any meaty meals. Use firm tofu or extra-frim tofu, and press it gently with a clean cloth or paper towel to remove excess moisture. Then and cut it into small cubes.
- Tomato: Use tomato passata or freshly chopped vine-ripened tomatoes.
- Garlic: Add a good amount of fresh garlic cloves and finely chop them to release the fragrance.
- Dry herbs: I used dry Italian herbs mix, which contains oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.
- Basil: Basil leaves bring a fresh, sweet flavour combination. Add your favourite fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, or thyme.
- Hard cheese: Add freshly grated Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Grana Padano, or choice of hard cheese. Parmesan cheese contains animal rennet and is not vegetarian. If you are cooking a vegetarian, vegan, or halal meal, use vegetarian/vegan cheese.
- Seasonings: To bring more umami flavour to the tomato sauce, I added one cube of vegetable stock, salt, pepper, and sugar.
3 Simple Steps to Make Tofu Pasta
1. Cook The Pasta
Fill the large pot with enough water and bring it to a boil. Season the water with a good amount of salt. ( I added about 1 tbsp salt. ) Cook the pasta for 8-12 minutes, according to the packet instructions. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining the water out. Meanwhile, the pasta is cooking, you can prepare the tofu and tomato sauce.
2. Prepare the tofu:
Place the paper towel both under and over the tofu blocks. Gently press and pat dry the tofu to remove excess water. Cut the tofu into the same-size small cubes. Heat the pan over medium heat and drizzle oil and saute the tofu cubes for 2-3 minutes by flipping the sides. Once the tofu cubes are brown and crisp on the outside, remove them from the pan and set them aside.
3. Cook with tomato sauce:
In the remaining pan, drizzle more oil if needed, saute the freshly chopped garlic for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the tomato passata and season with vegetable stock cube, salt, sugar, and black pepper to taste. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, then pour the reserved pasta water. Bring it to simmer for 3-4 minutes. Stir in dry Italian herbs.
Place the cooked pasta and pan-fried tofu cubes in the tomato sauce. Finish with grated parmesan and basil leaves. Gently combine everything well and coat the pasta well with the sauce. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with grated parmesan and fresh basil leaves. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- If you love the extra crispy tofu coating texture, toss the tofu cubes in the corn starch before you pan fry them. Corn starch coating creates a super crispy coating.
- Recommend adding vegetable/chicken/beef stock cube or broth to balance the sweet and savoury umami taste.
- Tofu can be easily stuck in the bottom pan and hard to flip. Use a non-stick pan to pan-fry tofu cubes or add a generous amount of oil if you are using a regular pan.
- Recommend to use good quality of passata sauce. If the sauce is a bit sour, you can adjust the taste by adding sugar to your liking.
Variations
- Protein choice for vegetarians and vegans - Instead of tofu, you can use tempeh, paneer, Quorn meat, mushroom, or your choice of plant-based protein.
- For non-vegetarians - Feel free to add your choice of extra meat, minced meat, meatballs, or seafood.
- You can add 3-4 tbsp of white wine after sauteeing the garlic, let it reduce for a couple of minutes, then add your tomatoes. Adding wine enhances the flavour of the dish. Pinot Gioco, unoaked chardonnay, saubury blanc, etc are popular wines that are great for cooking.
- If you love tofu pasta with creamy tomato sauce, add 200 ml double cream ( heavy cream ) to the tomato sauce. Let it reduce to the desired consistency.
FAQ
Tofu is made from soybeans and is also known as bean curd. It is made by curdling and pressing fresh soy milk into bean curds. Rich is protein and is a great source of protein for vegetarians and vegans. You can buy at the supermarket fridge section or Chinese, Korean, or Oriental Asian grocery stores. It comes in
It tastes best when freshly cooked. Do not recommend freezing this pasta recipe. As the pasta noodle can be tasteless and get mushy when you freeze and reheat them. You can store it in an air-tight container in the fridge for a couple of days and reheat it in the microwave or over the stovetop. Add a splash of water to loosen up the sauce before reheating.
Tofu pasta goes well on its own with a glass of cold drink or pair it with garlic bread, caesar salad, breadstick, crispy roasted potatoes, or choice of salad.
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📖 Recipe
Tofu Pasta with Tomato Sauce
Equipment
- Large pot to boil pasta
- Large non-stick pan or skillet
Ingredients
- 300 gram Firm tofu About 10.5 oz, drained and cut small dices.
- 150 gram Pasta Spaghetti, linguine, penne, or choice of pasta
- 300 gram Tomato passata Or freshly chopped tomatoes
- 3 clove Garlic Finely chopped
- 2-3 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 cube Vegetable stock cube About 5 gram
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Black pepper
- 1 tbsp Sugar (Optional)
- 1 tbsp Italian herbs Dried Italian herbs mix
- 20 gram Parmesan Freshly grated parmesan or choice of hard cheese
- handful Basil leaves Or parsley
Instructions
- Fill the large pot with enough water and bring it to a boil. Add a good amount of salt to season the water. Cook the pasta by the packet instructions. Reserve one cup of pasta water for later use. Prepare the tofu and tomato sauce, meanwhile the pasta is cooking.
- Place the tofu blocks over the paper towel or clean cloth and place more paper towel on top. Press down gently to remove excess water. Then cut it into small same-size cubes.
- Over medium heat, pan fry the tofu cubes with olive oil, until all sides are brown and crisp. Remove from pan and set them aside.
- In the same pan drizzle more oil if needed. Add chopped garlic and saute for a few seconds until fragrant. Add tomato passata, vegetable stock, salt, pepper, sugar, and black pepper to taste. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.
- Then pour the reserved pasta water and bring it to simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add Italian herbs and stir it well.
- Add the cooked, drained pasta and fried tofu in the sauce. Combine well with the sauce and finish with grated parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves. Gently toss everything to combine everything evenly with the sauce.
- Transfer to serving plate and garnish with grated cheese and fresh basil. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- What type of tofu to use? Use extra firm or firm tofu and make sure to remove the excess moisture with paper towels.
- Tofu frying tips: Use a non-stick pan to pan fry the tofu cubes or add a good amount of oil as the tofu can be stuck at the bottom of the pan.
- Tofu substitutes: Add your choice of plant-based protein like tempeh, vegan meat, mushroom, broccoli, etc. If you are cooking for non-vegetarians, you can add your choice of meat or seafood.
- What type of pasta to use? Use tagliatelle, linguine, fettuccine, spaghetti or choice of pasta, long or short. Pasta cooking time can be varied by the different brands and thickness of pasta. Always check the packet instructions for cooking time.
- Tomato passata - Instead of tomato passata you can use finely chopped ripe tomatoes. Sugar might be needed depend on the quality of passata sauce.
- Dry Italian herbs - Add your favourite Italian herbs dry or fresh. I used mixed Italian herbs ( oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram).
- Parmesan - Parmesan is not vegetarian. Use vegetarian parmesan, if you are cooking for vegetarian.
Pat says
Ingredient list is missing the tomato Passata
Khin says
Edited on the recipe card. Thank you, Pat.