This post is sponsored by Crock-Pot but all views are my own.
It should be no surprise that I love tofu. There are so many ways to prepare it and flavor it. Have you ever tried making tofu in a slow cooker? I used my Crock-Pot® 7-Qt. Cook & Carry™ Easy to Clean Slow Cooker to make this amazing tofu. All you have to do is put everything in the slow cooker and in an hour and a half you have a delicious meal! The flavors in the sauce are so much stronger and the tofu just absorbs all of it, leaving you with a delicious meal.
This dish was so easy to prepare and I really loved just putting everything in the Crock-Pot® 7-Qt. Cook & Carry™ Easy to Clean Slow Cooker. I was able to get so much work done while it cooked! The slow cooker is so easy to use, you either place it on a Low or High setting and set the timer. Once it is done cooking it automatically enters the Keep Warm mode which is lovely if you aren’t quite ready to eat when your food is done cooking.
The Crock-Pot® 7-Qt. Cook & Carry™ Easy to Clean Slow Cooker is also wonderful because once your food is all done cooking the clean up is very easy. You just remove the inner bowl where the food goes and since it is non-stick all the sauce and what not slides right off. It is also nice and light so it makes it great for transporting or storing places! If you don’t have one already I really cannot recommend getting one enough. You can find Crock-Pot® 7-Qt. Cook & Carry™ Easy to Clean Slow Cooker at Target. Especially with the busy holiday season coming up I know this is going to be a game changer.
I have never really made a proper General Tso’s sauce before and one of the key ingredients is hoisin sauce. You can get it at most food stores, an Asian market or online. The dried red chilis are also a fun addition but not necessary. If you can’t find them you can always use red pepper flakes. Combined with a few other staple ingredients like soy sauce, organic brown sugar, some ginger and garlic and you got yourself a winning dish
You can pair this with rice or veggies. You will have a lot of servings from this so it is great for meal prep. If you are gluten free just be sure to swap the soy sauce for tamari. If you are soy free you can use a hearty vegetable like broccoli, Brussel sprouts or seitan.
INGREDIENTS
General Tso’s Sauce
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce [60ml]|
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or minced
1 inch ginger, finely chopped or minced
1 tbsp rice vinegar [15ml]
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar [15ml]
1 tbsp hoisin sauce [15g]
1 tbsp sesame oil [15ml]
½ cup organic brown sugar
6-10 dried red chilis
*or more if you like it extra spicy
¼ cup low sodium vegetable broth [60ml]
Cornstarch slurry: 1 tbsp cornstarch [8g] + 1 tbsp water
Tofu
2 blocks extra firm or high protein tofu [28-32oz]
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp sesame oil
METHOD
- Cut the tofu into large cubes.
- Add the tofu into a bowl and coat with 3 tbsp of cornstarch.
- In a pan add 1 tbsp of sesame oil and cook tofu for 3-5 minutes minutes until golden, flipping occasionally.
- While the tofu cooks prepare the sauce by adding the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp of sesame oil, brown sugar and vegetable broth into a bowl.
- Prepare the cornstarch slurry by whisking together the cornstarch and water in a separate bowl. Then add it to the rest of the sauce.
- Pour about ¾ of the sauce into the Crock-Pot® 7-Qt. Cook & Carry™ Easy to Clean Slow Cooker.
- Then add in the tofu.
- Then add in the remaining amount of sauce. I like to add the sauce to the top and bottom to ensure everything gets coated in it nicely.
- Finally, add in the dried chilis and set on high for 1 and a ½ hours.
- Once it is done cooking the sauce should be thicker and coat the tofu nicely.
- Top with green onion and sesame seeds.
*this recipe has been created in collaboration with Crock-Pot®
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Amy Ensing
This was amazing! Definitely my new favorite tofu recipe! Thank you so much!
plantifullybased
Hi Amy! Oh yay I am so happy you enjoyed it, thank you so much for trying it and taking the time to leave a comment.
Brandi
This looks amazing! I don’t have a crockpot and was wondering what you’d recommend for stovetop preparation.
plantifullybased
thank you so much Brandi! so, you can cook the tofu the same of course. add all the sauce ingredients into a pot and whisk until they form a thick sauce. similar to my sesame tofu recipe and then add the sauce over the tofu! https://plantifullybasedblog.com/2018/01/24/sesame-tofu/ hope that helps!
Ruth E. Walton
I modified the ingredients slightly, (no chili peppers) and added carrots, broccoli, celery and mandarin oranges. Coated tofu. Nuked carrots 2 mins. Nuked broccoli 2 mins. Nuked Celery 2 mins. Then, threw everything in crockpot. Sauce last. (oranges put in later as well as frozen TJ brown rice.) Cooked 5 hours. Perfect!!
plantifullybased
I am so glad you enjoyed it!!
J
Did you cook the tofu in a pan or just straight to the crock pot?
plantifullybased
Hi! the tofu will first get cooked in a pan to get a nice cornstarch coating and then popping in the crockpot with the sauce.