Craving something fragrant, spicy, savory, and delicious? My Vegan Thai Basil Fried Rice with Baked Tofu can deliver authentic Thai flavor to your kitchen!
Howdy, friends!
Have you ever had Thai basil fried rice? It is like a Drunken Noodle in fried rice form. Yesss, it is delicious. I have Chicken Thai Basil Fried Rice recipe on my blog and also have a vegetarian version of Thai Basil Fried Rice. My Vegetarian Thai Basil Fried Rice has been one of the popular recipes. The difference between this Vegan Thai Basil Fried Rice with Baked Tofu recipe from my vegetarian version is the sauce.
I've noticed that not many people have sweet soy sauce in their pantry. So I came up with the sauce that uses soy sauce and vegetarian oyster sauce. Vegetarian oyster sauce is something I recommend to keep in your pantry. You can use this sauce in many stir fry dishes to deepen the flavor.
Other key ingredients to this dish are of course Thai basil and ...... garlic! When you fry minced garlic in oil, the smell alone is intoxicating. The nutty and savory flavor from fried garlic is an absolute flavor bomb.
Traditionally, drunken noodles and Thai basil fried rice dishes are both spicy. But if you are not a big fan of spicy, go ahead and skip the chili garlic sauce. You will still get tons of flavor from garlic and Thai basil.
To bulk up my dish, I added baked tofu. Baked tofu is a very simple and clean flavor protein source that I've been adding to my meal since I became a vegetarian. I personally love the flavor of tofu so this simple baked tofu works great for me. If you don't like the natural tofu taste and want something more savory and flavorful, I've recently found a great recipe on Pinterest that goes very well with this dish. It's called "Baked Tofu Bites" from It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken.
There you have it! I hope my Vegan Thai Basil Fried Rice with Baked Tofu can spice up your kitchen tonight.
Happy eating, my friends.
Vegan Thai Basil Fried Rice with Baked Tofu
Fragrant, spicy, savory, and delicious fried rice that's full of authentic Thai flavor!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Fried Rice
- Method: Stir fried
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
Baked Tofu
- ½ block of extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into cubes (about 1 inch)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic chili sauce (optional, * see note)
Fried Rice
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 7-8 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 1 cup finely chopped bell pepper
- 2 and ½ cup cooked rice (such as Jasmine rice or short-grain rice/sushi rice)
- ½ cup to 1 cup loosely packed Thai basil (** see note)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Lay the cubed tofu on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, flipping the tofu halfway. Set them aside.
- While you are baking your tofu, mix all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl, and set it aside.
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat grapeseed oil and add minced garlic.
- Cook minced garlic until it is light brown in color, about 1-2 minutes.
- As soon as the garlic turn light brown in color, add the onion and pepper. Cook them until the onion is translucent.
- Add the rice and pour the prepared sauce on top.
- Reduce the heat to low-medium and mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Turn off the heat and fold in the Thai basil and baked tofu.
Notes
* If you like spicy food, this will add great flavor to your dish but if you are not a fan of spicy food, you can skip this ingredient.
** Thai basil can be found in your local Asian grocery store. If you can't find Thai basil, you can substitute it with regular basil. It won't have the same floral note and flavor as the Thai basil but it will do in a pinch.
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