Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos

Crumbled tofu is baked with spices to become the filling in these Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos that are low-carb, low-glycemic, vegan, dairy-free, and  gluten-free; we loved them with avocado-tomato salsa. Use Lettuce Wraps to find more recipes like this one.

Click here to PIN Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos!

When I went to Kenya and Istanbul with my blogging friend Donna earlier this year, one of the nights in Nairobi we cooked a Mexican food dinner for a bunch of ex-pats who were friends of Donna’s daughter Kate and her husband Neil. Apparently good Mexican food is impossible to get in Kenya, and we made a huge Mexican feast for the crowd.

Donna is not only a good traveling companion and a very creative food blogger, but she’s also a prolific cookbook author, and for the vegetarians attending the dinner she made amazing tofu tacos using a recipe from the book 101 Things to do with Tofu that she wrote with her daughter Anne. I was intrigued by the process that turned extra-firm tofu into taco filling that really did taste great, and I liked the tofu tacos so much I got permission from Donna to share the recipe with my readers.

I actually made these Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos in early June, shortly after Donna and I returned from our trip, but the crumbled tofu has to be baked for nearly an hour, and I didn’t think a recipe like that would be a hit in the summer! So I’ve been waiting eagerly to share this recipe with you.

And even though I am kind of known for never following a recipe the way it’s written, I didn’t change Donna’s ground tofu filling recipe much at all. I have a few favorite tofu recipes, but overall I’m not a very experienced tofu cook, so I can’t wait to try some of the other ones from Donna’s book.Of course these Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos are my Meatless Monday suggestion for this week. For more ideas for meatless dinners, use the Recipes-by-Photo Index Page for Meatless Monday or check my Pinterest boards for Meatless Monday Recipes and Best Meatless Main Dishes.

You will need 14-16 ounces of extra firm tofu, which has to be frozen and thawed to use in this recipe. Then press the tofu to remove most of the water (we used a heavy cast-iron pan to press out the water.) Crumble the pressed tofu, and mix together the softened peanut butter, soy sauce, ground cumin, garlic powder, Ancho chile powder, and Cholula.

Put the crumbled tofu into the bowl with the sauce and stir until all the tofu is coated. Brush a baking sheet with oil, spread out the crumbled seasoned tofu, and bake about 50 minutes (or slightly longer if you’re using a small baking sheet to fit into a toaster oven like I was. I recommend using a large baking sheet!)

While the tofu bakes, prepare the lettuce cups and combine avocado, lime juice, diced tomato, green onions, olive oil and a pinch of ground cumin to make the avocado-tomato salsa.

Fill the lettuce cup with a scoop of the tofu mixture and top with the salsa. Jake and I gobbled these up at the end of a long day of recipe testing when we weren’t even that hungry! For more tasty dinners with lettuce wraps, check out Delicious Low-Carb and Keto Wraps with Lettuce, Collards, or Cabbage.

More Delicious Recipes with Tofu from Kalyn, Donna, and Anne:

Spicy Vegan Peanut Butter Tofu with Sriracha ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Tamarind Glazed Grilled Tofu ~ Apron Strings
Easy Baked Tofu with Sesame and Soy Sauce ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Eggless Low-Carb Tofu Scramble ~ Apron Strings
Vegan Red Cabbage Bowl with Tofu and Peanut-Sriracha Sauce ~ Kalyn’s Kitchen
Tofu au Vin ~ Apron Strings

Print Recipe

Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos

Yield: 6 Tofu Taco Lettuce Wraps

Total Time: 80-90 minutes

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 50-60 minutes

Crumbled tofu is baked with spices to become the filling in these Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos.

Ingredients:

Ground Tofu Filling Ingredients:

• 14-16 oz. extra firm tofu, frozen and thawed
• 1 T creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce (gluten-free if needed)
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. ground Ancho chile (or use any medium-spicy ground chile or chili powder you have)
• 2 tsp. Cholula Hot Sauce or other hot sauce of your choice (optional but good)
• olive oil, for brushing baking sheet

Taco and Avocado-Tomato Salsa Ingredients:

• 2 heads iceberg lettuce
• 2 avocados
• 1 T + 1 T lime juice
• 1 cup diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin (or less if you’re not a big cumin fan)

Directions:

1. Tofu must be frozen and thawed for this recipe, so plan ahead for that.
2. Cut the thawed tofu crosswise into 2 thin pieces, arrange tofu pieces on several layers of paper towel, top with more towels, and put something heavy on the towel to press out the water.
3. You might need to do this more than once if the tofu is pretty wet. (Here’s more about How to Press Tofu if you haven’t ever done it.)
4. While tofu is pressing preheat oven to 350F/175C.
5. Brush a large baking sheet with olive oil.
6. Put the peanut butter into a medium-sized bowl and microwave for a few seconds to soften, then stir in the soy sauce, ground cumin, garlic powder, ground Ancho chile or chili powder, and Cholula or other hot sauce.
7. When the tofu is mostly dry from being pressed, crumble into pieces with your fingers and mix with the sauce.
8. Spread out the seasoned tofu crumbles on the baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, then turn tofu over and spread out again.
9. Bake 20 minutes more, then turn tofu again.
10. Bake 10-20 minutes more, or until all the liquid has evaporated and the tofu is slightly browned.
11. While tofu bakes, remove core from lettuce and cut heads in half, then peel off several layers at a time to make large cups to fill with the tofu mixture.
12. Chop the avocado into small chunks, put in a small bowl, and toss with 1 T lime juice.
13. Add the diced tomato, sliced green onion, other 1 T lime juice, olive oil, and ground cumin and gently stir together to make the salsa.
14. When tofu is dried out and slightly browned, fill each lettuce cup with a scoop of the tofu mixture, top with a scoop of salsa, and serve.

Notes:

This ground tofu filling recipe is from 101 Things to do with Tofu, written by my friend Donna and her daughter Anne.

All images and text ©Kalyn Denny for Kalyn's Kitchen.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Tofu is a good Low-Carb choice that’s recommended for all phases of the South Beach Diet and Spicy Tofu Lettuce Wrap Tacos should be suitable for most low-carb eating plans.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use the Recipes by Diet Type photo index pages to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information?
If you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into this nutrition analyzer, which will calculate it for you. Or if you’re a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.