This simple Green Bean & Tofu Stir Fry is easy to make, healthy, and delicious. It's vegan, gluten-free, and ready in about 20 minutes!
I've got a delicious dish for you today - my Simple Tofu Green Bean Stir Fry. It's easy to whip up in about 20 minutes and is a healthy meal the whole family will enjoy.
Now let's get cooking!
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What's in This Tofu Stir Fry
This recipe requires just 9 ingredients, many of which I'd bet you already have in the pantry. Here is everything you'll need to assemble:
A few things to consider about your ingredients:
- Green Beans - while I opted for regular green beans, you can easily sub in French haricots verts instead! While they can sometimes be a little harder to find and a bit pricier, you don't have to snip off any tough ends.
- Extra Firm Tofu - only have firm tofu on hand? You can totally make it work! Just press the firm tofu with paper towels in a tofu press or with a cookie sheet weighted down with heavy cans.
- Maple Syrup - maple is my sweetener of choice, but you can easily swap in agave syrup instead.
- Tamari or Soy Sauce - Tamari is a gluten-free version of soy sauce. If you are avoiding soy, feel free to use coconut aminos instead.
- Cornstarch - if you are avoiding corn for any reason, you can use half the amount of arrowroot powder (also known as arrowroot flour) in place of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
How to Make My Simple Tofu Green Bean Stir Fry
No matter how you choose to prep your tofu for this simple stir fry, you're going to need to get your green beans cooked first.
Step 1: Using a saute pan or pot with a steamer basket, steam green beans for 8-10 minutes, depending on how crisp you like them. If you don't have a steamer basket, feel free to blanch them in boiling water for 2-4 minutes.
Pan Fry Method
Step 2 (option 1): Heat oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add tofu cubes and cook (undisturbed) for 5 minutes. Flip tofu and cook for another 3-5 minutes until crispy.
Oven-Baked Method
Step 2 (option 2): Line a sheet pan with parchment for easy clean-up. Preheat the oven to 350F.
Toss your tofu and oil together, then spread out on the sheet pan in a single layer. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, flipping the tofu once halfway through.
Putting It All Together
Step 3: While the tofu is cooking, mix sauce ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
Step 4: If you went with the pan-frying method, add the sauce ingredients to the pan and cook while stirring continuously until thick.
If you opted for oven baked tofu, set a sauté pan over medium heat and add the sauce ingredients, stirring until thickened. Tip the tofu into the pan and stir to coat.
Step 5: Turn off the heat, add your cooked green beans, and stir until incorporated. Serve with some brown rice and enjoy!
Helpful Tips
- If prepping a bag of green beans seems like too much fuss for you, check out this informative post on how to get it done in (almost) no time. You can also opt for French haricots verts or use a bag of frozen green beans if you just don't wanna mess with it.
- We eat a lot of grains in my house, and so I find that it makes my life much easier if I prep large batches to last me throughout the week. Seriously, do the future you a favor and make a double portion of any grain (in this case, brown rice) so that you can whip up another fast meal on the fly. You can even freeze it if you're worried about using it in time!
Frequently Asked Questions
Heck yeah you can! Stir fries are such an easy way to add more veggies to your diet. I'm of the opinion THE MORE VEGGIES, THE BETTER!
While bell peppers and onions would play nicely with the green beans, you can get as creative as you like. Zucchini, summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, edamame and Brussels sprouts are all excellent stir fry veggies.
For sure! I love keeping frozen vegetables on hand as a general rule. They are picked and frozen at premium ripeness, and they maintain all of their nutritional value.
As an added bonus, many frozen veggies like onions, bell peppers and broccoli are already prepped in bite sized pieces. Fewer dishes AND less prep? That's a big HECK YEAH for me!
I'm using cornstarch as the primary thickening agent for the sauce. If you're avoiding corn, simply swap a smaller amount of arrowroot powder.
Other Plant-Based Protein Recipes
If you need some more super yummy ideas for tofu, tempeh or soy curls, check out these recipes:
If you make this recipe and LOVE IT, please give it 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!
📖 Recipe
Tofu Green Bean Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 4 cups green beans trimmed
- 14 oz organic firm or extra tofu in water drained and pressed (for at least 15 mins) and cut into cubes
- 1 TB extra virgin olive oil
Sauce Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegetable broth or water
- 3 TB tamari or soy sauce if not gluten-free
- 1 TB maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 TB cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
Instructions
- Using a saute pan or pot with a steamer basket, steam green beans for 8-10 minutes, depending on how crisp you like them.*
- Meanwhile, add oil to a nonstick pan over medium heat and cook tofu on one side for 5 minutes.
- While the tofu is cooking, whisk sauce ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
- Flip tofu and cook for another 3-5 minutes until crispy.
- Add sauce to the tofu and stir continuously until it is thickened.
- Turn off heat, add cooked green beans, and stir until incorporated.
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Feel free to blanch green beans in boiling water if you do not have a steamer.
- Tamari is a gluten free version of soy sauce. If you are avoiding soy altogether, opt for coconut aminos.
- Cornstarch can be swapped for arrowroot powder.
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional information data is computer generated and only an estimate so it should be used only as a guide.
Mary Ellen Valverde MS, CNS, LDN is a Licensed Nutritionist and Certified Nutrition Specialist who empowers vegans to feel clear and confident about what is uniquely nourishing to them. Mary Ellen's recipes and nutrition information have been featured on Yahoo News, Parade, VegNews, LIVESTRONG, Dr. Axe, Greatist, LIVEKINDLY, Brit+Co, Well+Good, and more.
Gerry says
Made this recipe for our dinner last night and we really enjoyed it. Thank so much.
Alysta says
As advertised, easy to make with pantry staples on hand. Very tasty, and this is the easiest way to get crispy tofu that I've tried. Excellent directions for the tofu. This is the second time I've made it and a family-pleaser for kids who are typically very hard to please.
Juliet says
Great recipe. Most Asian stir fries require a long list of exotic ingredients that are expensive and hard to find. This recipe gets the same results with simple, inexpensive ingredients that most of us already have in our pantries. My only suggestion would be to reduce the onion powder and throw in a few sliced onions to get the onion flavor with fresh ingredients.
Mary Ellen Valverde | VNutrition says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Juliet! Fresh onions in there sound delicious! 🙂
Thanks for coming back and leaving a review.
DinnerTime says
Easy to make and tasty. Next time I will crumble the tofu instead of cubes so it sops up more of the sauce. I put less than 1 tsp of the onion powder in at first because of my kids, but tasted it before I served and ended up adding almost the correct amount - it's necessary. Nice way to use up huge bag of Costco green beans, and I like the way to toast the tofu so it's not so mushy. Thanks!
Mary Ellen says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for coming back and leaving a review! 🙂
Linda Harrison says
I''m so glad to find this recipe. It's our favorite dish at our Cambodian restaurant. A few strips of red bell pepper will brighten this dish and I love to sprinkle some Thai basil on top. This will be a go-to dish for us.
Mary Ellen says
So happy you're enjoying it, Linda! I love the idea of some red bell pepper. 🙂
Fran says
This recipe is yummy! I've been hesitant to cook with tofu, but this was easy. Your photos helped put me at ease. I was a little heavy handed with the cornstarch, but I was able to "rinse" off some of the tofu. 😂 Fried tofu is resilient, so the rinsing didn't hurt it and tastes great! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Mary Ellen says
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Fran! And I'm so happy the photos helped. I added those not too long ago and was hoping they would. 🙂
Thanks so much for coming back and leaving a review!
Shannon says
I just made this and it was wonderful! I was a bit confused about where the veggie broth came into okay though and I think I learned the hard way it was supposed to be added to the sauce? When I poured the sauce onto the tofu it clumped up so I tried to add the broth to declump but the damage was done. Despite this it was very delicious and I’m so glad I found your website!!
Mary Ellen says
Hi Shannon, I'm sorry, I didn't specify that all the ingredients besides the tofu and green beans were sauce ingredients. I'm going to fix that now.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it even though the directions were confusing. Thank you so much for coming back to rate and review!
Nancy says
This recipe is great. I've been looking for the perfect brown sauce for 'Chinese' recipes and I've finally found one. Only think I did differently was to add some powder to the sauce. Really tasty! Thank you!
Mary Ellen says
So glad to help with the recipe, Nancy! What kind of powder did you add?