Vegan Tofu Scramble Recipe (vegan, gluten free, oil free)
Aug 06, 2018 • Updated Sep 19, 2023
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Vegan Tofu Scramble
Last week I shared a photo of my tofu scramble on toast on my Instagram stories, and you all asked for my recipe, so I took a moment while making it this morning to take note of how much of what was going into my scramble. Eggs were actually the most difficult thing for me to give up when I was first going vegan because they were my go-to for breakfast, so I’ve tried for a while to nail this dish.
Now, tofu scramble is one of my go to savoury breakfasts (as seen in this vlog), because as you can probably tell, I’m usually a big smoothie bowl girl with a gigantic sweet tooth. It’s also an incredible way to get some serious protein in first thing in the morning and goes great served on toast, as a side, in a nourish bowl, etc.
Truth be told, I rarely use measuring spoons or cups when I’m cooking because I think a big part of cooking is learning to adjust based on your personal taste preferences and everyone likes their scramble a little different. That being said, my scramble recipe has *drastically* improved since I first took a stab at making it when I first went vegan. Through trial and error, and also feeding it to my non-vegan friends and family and adjusting based on their reviews, I’ve come up with a couple tips and a base recipe to share with you. I’ll admit it has been years since I’ve eaten an egg, but it satisfied my breakfast egg desires when I first went vegan and has since become a staple.
My biggest tip (and this applies to almost any veganized dish), is to try and replicate both the seasoning and the cooking style of the original dish. For example, vegan meat substitutes should be cooked and seasoned the way you usually like it, reason being seasoning is 90% of what makes a dish taste good. So, if you typically season your eggs with salt and pepper, garlic, onion and on top of avocado toast (as I used to), then you should do the same with your tofu scramble.
Personally, I used to love cooking my eggs with salt, pepper and sometimes garlic. To add an extra savoury kick, I use nutritional yeast in this vegan version, and I find that adding garlic and onion powder enhance the savoury flavour too. Tofu alone doesn’t have too much flavour, so it’s a good idea to layer up with the seasonings. Tofu scramble also works really well when seasoned with tex-mex or southwest seasonings like a little cumin, smoked paprika, tomato and of course, throwing veggies into the mix always jazzes things up.
The biggest secret I can share with you is using Kala Namak, or Indian Black Salt. It has a sulfurous and eggy smell and taste to it. It’s best added at the very end of cooking, just before serving or eating and trust me–if you find black salt and you get a whiff, it will bring you back to your egg eating days. You can use regular salt too, but I find that the black salt is what really finishes the scramble right. Try out this base recipe, tasteit as you go and add more or less seasonings as you see fit!
Ingredients:
– 1/3 block of organic tofu
– 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional, for colour primarily)
– 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
– 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
– 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
– pinch of black pepper
– pinch of black salt (or season as you see fit)
other optional seasonings
– cayenne powder
– paprika
– cumin
– add on veggies
– chili flakes
Method:
– If you like your scramble a little drier and more dense, I recommend pressing your tofu a few hours before cooking, using a tofu press. Otherwise, give it a quick press wrapped in a dish towel to remove excess moisture.
– Start by crumbling tofu into a bowl, using either your hands or a fork. You can leave it chunky or more broken up, but remember it will break down a little more in the pan so leave it a little chunkier than your desired result.
– To a small dish, combine all of your seasonings (with the exception of the black salt) and mix.
– Add a teaspoon of water or neutral oil to a pan on medium heat and add the crumbled tofu to heat.
– Add your seasonings and stir tofu to coat evenly for about 2-3 minutes.
– Finally, sprinkle the black salt on top after removing the pan from the heat, or sprinkle on top while serving. I like to have mine on top of avocado toast with pea shoots, or sprouts!
Hope you enjoy this recipe!
If you try this recipe out, be sure to share it with me by tagging me on Instagram @veggiekins.
Love & scramble,
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