Crispy sesame tofu with zucchini noodles is the perfect healthy, vegetarian meal prep. It's low carb, vegan, and gluten free too! These meal prep lunches are served with crispy sesame tofu on a bed of zucchini noodles and a delicious peanut sauce to go with!
If one of your goals for 2024 is to meal prep more, then this cripsy sesame tofu with zucchini noodles is just perfect! It's light, it's filling, it's healthy, and absolutely delicious! And my favourite part about eating this dish is that there is absolutely no post-lunch sleepiness - a problem I often struggle with after a heavy meal.
I often prepare a large batch of this crispy sesame tofu with zucchini noodles over the weekend, especially when I know I am going to have a hectic week, and it's easily one of my favorite meal prep recipes ever.
Quick Walk Through: Crispy Sesame Tofu
Peanut Sauce
The sauce is a very important part of this recipe. It's a super easy blender sauce made with peanut butter, vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, maple syrup and water. This sauce is incredibly delicious and versatile, and I love using it in my salads and bowls. In fact, I have permanent space set aside for this sauce in the refrigerator now.
How to make zucchini noodles
Even though zucchini noodles are available at stores now, they aren't always the easiest to find. Plus using store-bought noodles can be expensive. Therefore, I find making my own noodles so much easier. Apart from it being cheaper, making it at home ensures it's fresher. I use my good, old mandoline to make zucchini noodles at home. It's the most convenient option in my opinion, but it's not the only way. Here are 5 different ways you can make fresh zucchini noodles at home.
Top Tips To Make The Best Crispy Sesame Tofu with Zucchini Noodles
- You can store the sauce in these little sauce container, and the zucchini noodles in these glass meal prep containers and you are good to go!
- Make sure to store the sauce separately and pour it over right before eating. This will keep the noodles crunchy till you are ready to eat.
How to eat crispy sesame tofu with zucchini noodle meal prep lunches
- You can either eat this cold like a salad. I basically toss everything in the sauce and eat it straight from the refrigerator, This way the zucchini noodles stay crunchy and its great for afternoons
- Or you can pour the sauce over the tofu and microwave the meal prep container. Toss everything and it's a delicious hot meal. The zucchini noodles do leave a little water when you microwave, and when you toss everything together, it gets a little soupy but still stays crunchy and delicious.
Once you make this, you'll realise that weekday lunching has never been this easy or this delicious! Even though this meal is vegan, you can easily replace the tofu with the tofu with protein of your choice like paneer or chicken.
Crispy Sesame Tofu with Zucchini Noodle (Vegetarian Meal Prep)
Ingredients
Sesame Peanut Sauce
- ยฝ cup Peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons Sesame Oil
- ยผ cup Light low sodium Soy Sauce
- ยผ cup Rice Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Chilli Flakes
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup or Honey
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves roughly chopped
- 1 knob Ginger peeled and roughly chopped
Other Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Oil
- 350 gms Firm Tofu cut into small pieces
- Zucchinis spiralized
- Sesame Seeds and Green Onions for topping
Instructions
- In a blender or add all the ingredients for the sauce along with a splash of water and blend till smooth. Set aside ยผ cup sauce and divide the rest in the mini sauce containers. You might be left with a little extra sauce which you can reserve for later - it works really well as a salad dressing!
- Heat oil in a pan and add the tofu. As soon as the tofu is a very light brown, add ยผ cup sauce to the pan and toss the tofu in it. Cook everything on low heat. In some time, the sauce will start to evaporate and slowly it will start turning into golden brown and sticking to the pan and tofu. Things will become crispy and you finally you'll be left with crispy browned bits of tofu in the pan.
- To assemble the meal prep containers, divide zucchini noodles in the containers. Divide the tofu amongst the containers and place the mini sauce containers on one side. Place the lid and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Two ways to eat:
- You can either eat these cold like a salad. I basically toss everything in the sauce and eat it straight from the refrigerator, This way the zucchini noodles stay crunchy and its great for afternoons
- Or you can pour the sauce over the tofu and microwave the meal prep container. Toss everything and it's a delicious hot meal. The zucchini noodles do leave a little water when you microwave, and when you toss everything together, it gets a little soupy but still stays crunchy and delicious.
- It's best to store the sauce separately till you are ready to eat so that the zoodles stay crunchy.
- ย You can easily swap the zoodles for noodles if you like because these taste great both ways!
Karen Arnold says
First time I have cooked with tofu. Had it hot with soba noodles cooked in remaining sauce I loved it and my husband was checking we had enough ingredients to do it again!
Richa says
Haha you are the best. Thanks Karen!
Brandi says
Do you have nutrition facts for this?
Danielle Nutting says
Is there another sauce that I could use if I am allergic to peanuts?
Richa says
Hey Danielle, you can substitute peanuts for tahini which is a sesame paste. It tastes fabulous!
Kelly says
I could eat this peanut sauce by itself with a spoon it's so good.
What type of spiralizer do you recommend?
Richa says
Hey Kelly, that peanut sauce is so amazing! I'm always licking the back of the spoon when I'm done making it. I have a paderno spiralizer but I've really good things about the inspiralizer too.
Julia says
This looks so great!!! Does the tofu stay crispy throughout the week?
Richa says
Hey Julia, unfortunately with time it won't be as crispy. If you want, you can always put it back on the pan for a few minutes with a little oil to crisp it up
sara says
I don't usually comment on recipes - but this was so good, I just had to! I just made it and it was delicious. I sautรฉed the zucchini a tiny bit. I'm new to cooking with tofu and this was easy to follow. I'm going to hang on to this one for when we have company!
Richa says
So glad you liked it Sara! Thanks for the thumbsup
Laura says
How many zucchinis do you use in this recipe?
Richa says
I used two large zucchinis which was enough for us.
Jue says
What consistency should the sauce be
Richa says
Hey Jue, the sauce should have the consistency of thin cream. It is definitely pourable consistency. You can adjust the amount of water to your taste.
Stephanie Ducheteau says
Hi, I'm very new to tofu cooking and this sounds amazing.
Do you press the tofu first for this? Is that just something that is a given when cooking with tofu? Some recipes call for it and others don't.
Richa says
Hey Stephanie! I didn't press tofu because I've used firm tofu, which doesn't need to be pressed.
Jessica says
I've just started to cook with tofu, do you have tips on how to prep it so it doesn't stick to the pan while cooking?
Richa says
Hey Jessica, I usually use a non stick pan while cooking tofu and it never sticks.
Diya says
can you please tell us know to make the zuccini noodles?? Is that only zuccini or is there some noodles as well added. sorry if this seems like a silly question.
Richa says
Hey Diya - no question is stupid. Yes its only Zucchini which is spiralized into noodles using a spiralizer. You can use a peeler and just peel the whole zucchini into ribbons or use regular noodles if you like.
Misti says
I love this recipe and truly anything with peanut butter makes me super happy. However I can only limit myself with the amount of peanuts or peanut butter consumed. I altered the recipe just a touch and used sunflower butter, great nutty flavor and approved for my particular diet. As I have recently been diagnosed with elevated LDLโs and a fatty liver this recipe is friendly and makes me feel great. My five year old also agrees she will only eat zucchini when itโs crunchy. Plus we both love tofu itโs a staple in our home. Thank you for this recipe Iโll be following for more delicious recipes in the future.
Richa says
Thank you so much for sharing ๐
Tara says
Just made it! SOOOOO good! Thank you so much for sharing this!!
Richa says
Soo glad you liked it Tara!
mira says
These will be perfect for a clean start of the new year! Love them!
Richa says
Thanks Mira!
Liz says
Wow, that crispy tofu looks amazing!! What a nice, healthy lunch!
Richa says
Thanks Liz!
maynuddin says
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the study iq says
thank u so much sir