I am madly in love with New Orleans, and it is actually not a long drive from where I live! My husband and I took our daughter to New Orleans a few months ago, and we had an amazing time. I had some amazing food, but couldn’t find a lot of Cajun food that was vegan. I was pretty jealous of all the spicy goodness my husband had. So here we are. Cajun spiced tofu and creamy grits with some super garlicky kale! This whole recipe is so quick and easy! The perfect weeknight meal!
I made my own Cajun seasoning, and I will put the recipe below for you, however, if you don’t feel like doing that, a store bought premixed spice is totally fine. The smell of the spice alone will make your mouth water. I decided to make this Cajun tofu super crispy using my baking method. Healthy, quick, crispy, spicy tofu. Absolute perfection! The contrast of the spicy crisp tofu and the super creamy grits makes me feel like I am definitely not missing out on anything!
I used what some would call an excessive amount of garlic for the greens, but I am garlic obsessed! I used about 6 cloves, but you can dial it back a bit if you want. However, I recommend going full garlic. For sure! The beauty of all this flavor working together so harmoniously is amazing. One bite with grits, tofu and greens all together is pure bliss. Get a huge mouth full of everything, you will be super happy, I promise!
I love Southern cooking! I feel super comfortable with cooking it and all the flavors. I am going to be working on a lot more Southern fare soon. Stay tuned for some fried green tomatoes! That will be happening in the coming weeks! The South and especially New Orleans has a special place in my heart. The South will always be home, no matter where I go! I hope ya’ll enjoy!
- 1 Block extra firm tofu
- 1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp. Cajun seasoning(store bought, or homemade-recipe below), depending on how spicy you want it.
- 1 C. Grits, old fashioned
- 4 C. Water
- 2 tsp. Salt
- 2 Tbsp. Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 3 C. Greens, I used Kale and Dandelion greens
- 4-6 Cloves of Garlic
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 tsp. Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. Onion powder
- 1 tsp. Oregano
- 1 tsp. Thyme
- 1 tsp. Black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 2 tsp. Paprika
- 1/2 tsp. Red pepper flakes
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Press your tofu a bit to get some of the water out. Cut into small cubes.
- Toss in a bowl with the Cajun seasoning(make sure you are just using 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the Cajun seasoning). Place in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet. Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes until nice and crispy, flipping half way through.
- While the tofu is baking, start the grits, bring the water to a boil, add the grits, reduce to a simmer and cook covered for about 20 minutes.
- Once you have the tofu and grits going, you can saute the greens. Heat a saute pan with the olive oil, add the garlic and greens. Cook on medium high until the greens are wilted and cooked through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off heat.
- Once the grits are done, add salt and vegan butter and stir.
- When everything is ready, the tofu, grits and greens, serve immediately all together with extra hot sauce if you want!
- I have had some notes about it being too salty, however I think people may be using the entire Cajun seasoning recipe. The recipe says just to use 1-1 1/2 Tbsp of seasoning. I put the recipe below in case you can't find cajun seasoning or you just want to make your own.
I’m one of *those* people who totally bastardizes a recipe, so I ended up making a slightly different Cajun tofu on the stove, and paired it with polenta and spinach because that’s what I had on hand. So yeah, I took your recipe and made something almost entirely different, but the idea of the recipe isn’t one I would’ve thought of on my own. My if-you-squint-it-looks-kinda-similar version was delicious, so thank you for the inspiration!
That is totally awesome! I love when people make it their own! So glad you liked it!
P.S. I do the same thing, I have a hard time following recipes exactly!
I dont see the actual recipe anywhere is the link broken?
Sorry about that, I switched from http to https today, and there were a few casualties. I fixed it so you should be able to see the recipe now!
Thanks again for this recipe. It’s one of my favorite comfort food dishes. I do tend to cook the tofu on the stove because it’s faster, and I use polenta (as that’s what I keep on hand). Bell pepper sautes up nicely with the tofu, if you want to add color and more veggies. The one thing I always do is I add a bit of (canned) coconut milk to the grits/polenta. It doesn’t need a lot — 1 to 2 TB/serving — but it is magic.
Hi! What kind of little peppers or veggies are sliced up on top? I’m a junk food vegan so a lot of veggies are unknown to me haha. Also I made your sesame tofu dumplings last week and they were AMAZING!!
They are just some sweet mini peppers. You certainly don’t need to use them though.
This is one of my favorite dishes to make. So good. I use my air fryer for the tofu. I love garlic also and always add more than the recipe calls for. Thanks for sharing
I made this recipe by using white and yellow corn meal, more like a polenta than grits, and added some sugar to the cajun spice. it was very good will probably do it again sometime.
Made this last night to celebrate Mardi Gras. YUM! So delicious and very easy. The timing was perfect so everything came together at once. Really good!
Which brand and type of grits did you use? I’m in the UK and grits are hard to find – we have polenta here. I can use polenta, but I’ve used before and so I’m interested in making the more authentic grits for this recipe. Thanks in advance! 🙂
Hello!
Just wanted to stop by and let you know how much I LOVE this recipe. It’s a repeat at my house. Making it tonight 😋
Hi. I made this and have made the blackened tofu several times. It’s delicious but the tofu never comes out crispy. Maybe it’s my oven?
Could be. Many ovens run low. You could try turning the oven up a bit, or just try leaving it in until it gets crispy and just keep your eye on it!