So much protein in this edamame pasta with tofu and veggies! It's fast, it's delicious, and it costs about $4!
For a delicious and easy plant-based meal that is totally vegan and gluten-free, you can't do much better than this meal prep recipe for edamame pasta with tofu and veggies.
Every once in a while, we like to show you how to create a delicious, filling plant-based meal on a budget, as part of Recipe Redux theme: Budget-Friendly Eats! Check out how we created this meal for about $4 per serving.
Edamame Pasta With Tofu and Veggies Ingredients and Cost
- Explore Cuisine Organic Edamame Spaghetti (8 oz): $4.15
- PC Blue Menu Extra Firm Tofu (350 g): $1.99
- Garlic powder (1 tbsp): $0.08
- Onion powder (1 tbsp): $0.08
- Olive oil (2 tbsp)- $0.15
- 1 red pepper & 1 yellow pepper: $3.99
- Green onion: $1.50
- Pesto (½ cup): $2.00
Total recipe cost (4 servings): $13.93
Total cost per serving: $4.23
How to Make Edamame Pasta with Tofu and Veggies
For this protein-rich dish, you start by pressing the extra liquid out of the tofu, seasoning it, and then cooking it over medium heat. Cook the peppers and green onions while the pasta is cooking. Toss it all together and top it with pesto.
Note: You can make this with regular pesto with basil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil, or try the arugula pesto in this Vegan Arugula Pesto Pasta Meal Prep for something different!
How to Serve Edamame Pasta with Tofu and Veggies
This is pretty much an entire meal unto itself, so you won't likely need much more to serve it with. If for some reason you want to up the ante, cook a fried egg and serve it on top!
How to Store Edamame Pasta with Tofu and Veggies
Once this meal is prepped, it will keep for 4 to 5 days in sealed, airtight containers in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or in a hot skillet with a little bit of oil if need be.
We don't recommend freezing any dishes with tofu because it just gets way too waterlogged, and the texture suffers quite a bit when you defrost and try to reheat it.
Substitutions and Alterations
- Use another plant-based, gluten-free pasta if desired; you can find pasta with quinoa, red lentils, black beans, and chickpeas. It's up to you!
- If you're a meat eater, chicken, steak, or shrimp would work well in this dish. We like having a bag of frozen shrimp on hand at all times for meal emergencies and pasta works great.
- Not into peppers? No problem. Mushrooms are great (and relatively inexpensive), and broccoli, carrots, or cauliflower can be substituted here, too.
- If you wanted to go in a more Asian direction with this dish, drizzle the whole thing with a bit of sesame oil along with the sesame seeds.
- Toss in some frozen peas or edamame, removed from the pods, for more easy veggie action.
Tips for Cooking Tofu
It's so important to drain the tofu well before you cook it. Otherwise, it won't properly sear in the pan and it will stay soggy. There are a few ways to do this. For this recipe, we suggest pressing it out by wrapping it in a towel on a cutting board. Then, place something heavy on top such as a couple of cookbooks, a stack of cutting boards, or a few skillets you can nest one inside the other. Let the tofu sit for five or ten minutes and then remove your apparatus around it. Remove the dish towel and chances are, your tofu will feel drier to the touch. (It won't be completely dry, just won't feel as heavy with liquid).
(Recipe used with permission from Nicole Osinga)
READ MORE: More tofu, please! Firecracker Tofu Recipe! Crispy Sheet Pan Tofu!
Ingredients
- 1 package extra firm tofu
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ea red bell pepper diced
- 1 ea yellow bell pepper diced
- 2 ea green onions chopped
- 8 oz organic edamame spaghetti
- ½ cup pesto
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- To press tofu, wrap tofu in an absorbent towel on a cutting board. Weight it down with cookbooks, cutting boards, or something else heavy for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions while tofu presses.
- Remove the tofu from its towel wrap and cut into cubes. Toss in a small bowl with olive oil along with onion and garlic powders.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add coated tofu and fry until all sides are firm and starting to brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Cook the peppers and green onions in the skillet until tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Once pasta is cooked and tofu is fried, toss with peppers and onion in a large bowl. Top with pesto. Serve immediately, or portion into four servings in meal prep containers, and refrigerate.
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