Easy Barbecue Baked Tofu Slices (Vegan)

I have a confession to make: I grew up on fried SPAM sandwiches. Hey! I was a child of the ’60s and we all ate SPAM!

My mama would open a can of SPAM, slice it thinly and fry it up with barbecue sauce and feed our family of six using just one can of SPAM.

Another confession: I loved it! If you’re with me, but the idea of ingesting something that is filled with unreadable, unrecognizable, and unmentionable ingredients that are really bad for your heart and health fills you with horror, then I am here to help!

A few years ago, I came up with a way to get the SPAM experience, but do it in a way that supports good health.

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Allow me to introduce you to: Easy Barbecue Baked Tofu Slices.

Easy Barbecue Baked Tofu is:

• Comfort food
• Tasty
• Kid-approved
• Filling
• Versatile
• Easy
• Fast
• a Family Favorite

These barbecue tofu slices are incredibly versatile and can be used in main dish salads, pasta, wraps, or traditional sandwiches.

This recipe could, seriously, not be easier (or tastier). Begin with a 20-ounce package of tofu, which will cost you about $2.00.

This single package will yield twelve slices of delicious, flavorful, baked tofu. Just one slice is plenty per sandwich.

Even when you add in the cost of the bread and sandwich toppings, you still have a hearty lunch for about 38¢ per sandwich.

This recipe uses our own homemade barbecue sauce. If you’ve never made your own barbecue sauce, you are missing out.

My 16-year-old son, Daniel, created a super easy blender barbecue sauce recipe, which uses all natural ingredients and no oil. It goes together in, literally, minutes. It uses common, inexpensive ingredients, tastes delicious and (most importantly) you control the additives, salt, fat, and oil.

Win – win – win!

Ingredients

• 20 oz. package firm tofu
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1/2 cup Easy Spicy Blender Barbecue Sauce

Kitchen Equipment Needed

• Tofu Press (optional)
• Baking Pan
• Silicone Pan Liner (optional)

Instructions

Open the package of tofu, squeezing firmly to remove as much liquid as possible.

To achieve the best possible texture, you can use a tofu press if you would like, but here’s the truth: You can get most of the moisture out by squeezing the tofu and then wrapping it in paper towels or a clean, dry dish towel and placing a heavy bowl on top.

Leave for thirty minutes to allow liquid to drain from the tofu.

Place tofu slices in a shallow dish and cover with the orange juice and soy sauce. Place in fridge and marinate for at least two hours (up to overnight).

Remove tofu from marinade and place in a single layer on a baking pan which has been lined with a silicone baking mat. (I have the Amazon brand and love it. I have used mine heavily for two years and they have held up beautifully.)

Using a pastry brush, anoint the tops of each piece of tofu with the barbecue sauce. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Carefully turn over and brush the other side of the tofu slices with additional barbecue sauce. This way, both sides of each tofu slice will be coated with the barbecue sauce.

Bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven. The tofu should be dry-looking and resemble cooked SPAM. (Sorry. It’s the only visual I could come up with. Just close your eyes for few moments and glory in the fact that you aren’t actually eating SPAM. LOL!)

Serve on sandwiches, in main dish salads, pasta, or wraps.

Additional recipe notes

The slices will keep well in the fridge for up to a week. You can even freeze them – stacking them between pieces of wax paper. Eat them any time in the next six months. The best part is, you can thaw as many pieces as you need.

They are great on sandwiches. You can also slice them and roll up in corn or flour tortillas. Finally, you can cube the barbecue tofu slices and throw them in salads (just like you would pieces of ham.)

Need the recipe? (Of course you do!)

I got you covered! Click below and you can download a free PDF. Enjoy!

Did you make it?

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