Crisp Tofu Katsu With Lemon-Tahini Sauce

By Kay Chun

Total Time: 45 minutes
Rating: 4(1,374)
Notes: Read community notes

Katsu, the Japanese-style fried cutlet dish, is made just a bit healthier in this version prepared with tofu slabs. Here, the slabs are dredged in seasoned bread crumbs, baked, not deep-fried, and paired with quinoa, making it full, protein-dense meal. Note, too, that the leftover katsu here reheats nicely: Simply put it in your oven at 400 degrees, and bake for 10 minutes.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

For the Tofu Katsu

5tablespoons safflower or canola oil, plus more for greasing
⅓cup cornstarch, plus more as needed
2large eggs, beaten
1½cups panko bread crumbs
2¼teaspoons granulated onion
Kosher salt and black pepper
1pound firm tofu, cut about ¼-inch thick, into 12 equal slices
12ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced ½-inch thick (4 packed cups)

For the Quinoa

¾cup red quinoa, rinsed well and drained
¼cup plus 2 tablespoons tahini
¼cup plus 2 tablespoons safflower or canola oil
¼cup lemon juice
2tablespoons Dijon mustard
2teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
¾teaspoon grated garlic (about 1 large clove)
8ounces cauliflower florets, thinly sliced (2 heaping cups)
½cup chopped parsley
Lemon wedges, for serving (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Make the katsu: Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 2 large rimmed baking sheets with the oil. Put cornstarch, eggs and bread crumbs in three separate shallow bowls, and add ¾ teaspoon of the granulated onion to each bowl. Season all with salt and pepper and mix well. Add 3 tablespoons oil to the bread crumbs and mix well.
Step 2
Working with one piece at a time, dust tofu in cornstarch, then dredge in egg, shaking off excess. Press in bread crumbs to evenly coat. Arrange on one baking sheet, and transfer to oven. Bake until golden and crisp, 15 minutes.
Step 3
Place mushrooms on second baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Bake until golden, 12 minutes.
Step 4
Make the quinoa: Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine quinoa with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and cook until the quinoa is tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, then return quinoa to the pan. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes; fluff into a large bowl.
Step 5
In a small bowl, combine tahini, oil, lemon juice, mustard, soy sauce, garlic and ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons of water. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper.
Step 6
To the quinoa, add mushrooms, cauliflower, parsley and 1 cup of the dressing and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
Step 7
Divide quinoa in bowls and top with tofu. Serve with remaining sauce for drizzling on tofu and lemon wedges, if desired.

Ratings

4 out of 5

1,374 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

Leah Macpherson5 years ago

So the cauliflower goes into the dish raw?

Christina5 years ago

▫️Roast the cauliflower until golden and crisped on the edges. ▫️Fry the pads of tofu after breading until golden and crunchy ▫️sauté mushrooms until golden and fragrant ▫️1/2 water for sauce is plenty ▫️little extra lemon and tahini, watch- garlic is potent

Tim5 years ago

Certainly the nutrition information is not correct? 66 grams fat?

Ann Robinson5 years ago

I made this tonight. Roasted the cauliflower with the mushrooms. I did not have anchovy paste and couldn't find shiitakes, so used regular mushrooms. Even, so, it was so delicious. The lemon and soy with garlic really gave the whole thing a bright flavor, and the panko crumbs added texture. I can't wait to try it with the anchovy paste and shiitakes !

Anonymous5 years ago

Easy to veganize this recipe by replacing the egg with a dip made with 1/2 cup Soy combined with a teaspoon of mustard. The mustard will curdle the soy milk, yielding a buttermilk-textured liquid for dipping the tofu.

Rachel 5 years ago

I was shocked at the nutritional value of this vegan recipe...for 1000 calories I’d just as soon eat pork tonkatsu. But the recipe looked interesting so I used cooking spray to roast the mushrooms, cauliflower (seemed strange to keep it raw), cut back the bread crumbs to 1/2 cup, used the recommended amount of tahini but just 1 T of oil for the dressing. It’s delicious! Tofu is wonderfully flavored and I could stick to my healthy eating plan.

Max5 years ago

We’re gluten free as well. Our go to substitute for pinko is crushed white corn tortilla chips.

silvia rennie5 years ago

Are the cauliflower florets to be used raw?

Don5 years ago

Perhaps a little more information will help people make up their own minds about canola oil:https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/oil-of-oleacute/

Paige5 years ago

Canola oil is just fine for you in the amounts you would use it for cooking. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/oil-of-oleacute/

patrice5 years ago

You've ruined the recipe by using canola oil. This oil has no place in the new healthy recipe lexicon

JEnny Schmidt5 years ago

Instead of calling the tofu 'slabs', can we call it 'fillets'?

Gail5 years ago

The serving size appears to be "four servings," which implies that the nutritional info is for the entire dish. Per serving, it would be 16.5 grams of fat.

Robin5 years ago

Would it be better to blot the sliced tofu with paper towels? I often do this to get rid of excess water. Haven't made the dish yet, but will soon!

Don5 years ago

Made as instructed. The quinoa salad is very tasty. The sauce/dressing does not really need as much of the oil as called for. And next time I would increase the tahini and reduce the dijon a couple of teaspoons each. Be careful with the tofu, as it can (and did) dry out in the oven; I will fry it next time.

Erin5 months ago

This is a good method for tofu katsu, and it’s quick. I seasoned the tofu with s&p and garlic powder before all of the dipping steps and added some soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil to the eggs, because I had a feeling it would need something extra. I made the tonkatsu sauce from the nytimes chicken katsu recipe.

Eb5 months ago

We weren't big fans of the sauce...I was hoping for more of a sweet sesame dressing taste and it is definitely lemon forward, kind of bitter and tangy. But the texture of the crispy tofu was amazing, will be adapting to abetter sauce. Also I roasted the cauli really quick after a toss in olive oil and garlic salt.

Tess5 months ago

Made this with a few tweaks (roasted the cauliflower, pan-fried the tofu so it didn’t dry out, and served the sauce and tahini separately) and it was delicious! And for everybody worried about the calories or fat: leave out the tahini.

Deborah5 months ago

What could I use instead of eggs? I'm vegan.

Ruth's notes5 months ago

Has anyone made just the quinoa without mushrooms and cauliflower? I am looking for an easy quinoa dish that is flavorful but not much prep work.

Melissa5 months ago

One of my all time favorites. I love using pearl couscous instead of quinoa and always cook the cauliflower.

Richard5 months ago

Is there a viable substitute for cornstarch, such as flour or something else? Thanks.

Ray Furse5 months ago

Can we make an effort to reduce the jargon in cookery?, like oddly naming this dish a variant katsu, which is simply the shortened Japanese term for cutlet (full form katsuretsu, カツレツ) from the French côtelette, which in any case is always meat and deep-fried. This dish is just slices of tofu prepared and served in an interesting but totally non-Japanese way.

Patricia Fisher5 months ago

If you toast that panko (after tossing it with the oil) on the stove for a couple of minutes, your resulting tofu katsu will have more of the toasty flavor of deep-fried. This trick comes from Nami, the mastermind behind "Just One Cook." Also, if you bake the breaded tofu on a baking rack, both sides will get toasty with no effort and no flipping.

D10 months ago

About to make this for the first time and the recipe doesn't say anything about pressing the tofu first - i'd love some guidance for next time!

Suz in Portland1 year ago

Excellent! Family said it was a nice change of pace. As recommended, I roasted the mushrooms and cauliflower together. I used a mix of of three types of mushrooms and pressed the water out of the tofu. To the dressing I added about two tablespoons of white miso. Sesame oil would be a nice touch. Start cooking the quinoa about 10 minutes before everything goes in the oven. Lemon juice is a must. This is time-consuming to make but worth the effort. Next time I may do the veggie prep a day ahead.

Esther1 year ago

The sauce feels unbalanced, overly sour, too much water.

Madeline2 years ago

I made 2 modifications and had enjoyable recipe. First I substituted the Just Egg vegan product (egg allergy). I also had the plain off-white quinoa so I balanced the colors in this recipe by using steamed baby carrots instead of cauliflower. I think it add a nice sweetness to the dish.

Neonata2 years ago

I left out the cauliflower and definitely didn’t miss it. Used baby-Bella’s ‘regular’ quinoa that’s what we had and it was fantastic. I freeze my tofu (buy it in bulk) which makes it much spongier and it worked beautifully in this recipe- very crispy. We even copied the tofu method for another dish the same week.

Katie2 years ago

Does it really take only 15 minutes to make the tofu? Tofu has always taken me 25-30 in the oven at 425

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