• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Oh My Veggies logo

  • Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Vegan Recipes
    • Vegetarian Main Dishes
    • Vegetarian Appetizers
    • Vegetarian Breakfast Recipes
    • Vegetarian Side Dishes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Snack Recipes
    • Drinks
    • Sauces, Spreads and Condiments
    • Holiday Recipes
    • From our Readers
  • Cooking Tips & Hints
    • Cooking Tips
    • Plant-Based Nutrition
    • Product Reviews
  • Shop Cookbooks
  • About Us
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Find Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • About Us
  • Freebies!
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Find Recipes
    • Cookbooks
    • About Us
    • Freebies!
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Oh My Veggies » Vegan Recipes » Vegan Main Dishes

    Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls with Veggies and Quinoa

    Published: Jan 28, 2019 · by Nicole · Updated: Sep 15, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

    This recipe is full of fresh veggies, quinoa, and tofu, making these Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls a complete vegan meal in a convenient bowl.

    Making Your Own Recipes

    When I first got into cooking years ago, I followed recipes to a T and never deviated from them. Then, I started making changes as I began to get a sense of what worked and what didn't. Once I became comfortable with that, I took the leap into developing my own recipes. One of the tools that helped me to do that is The Flavor Bible. I recommend it to everyone who loves to cook and wants to experiment more in the kitchen.

    People like to think there are no rules when it comes to cooking, but there are rules. There are flavors that go together and flavors that don't—when you don't respect that, you end up with recipes for red velvet jalapeño cupcakes filled with truffle-scented chocolate ganache topped with frizzled leeks and candied kumquat rind. Using 20 different mismatched flavors in a recipe doesn't make you gourmet, it makes you a bad cook.

    When I first started developing recipes, that was the kind of recipe I felt like I had to make. It was The Flavor Bible that helped me rein myself in—it made me realize that by working within a set of guidelines, I could be even more creative and develop stronger recipes. It's much harder to develop a solid 8-ingredient dish than something with 40 ingredients and 3 hours prep time. No book gets more use in my kitchen than this one, so when I found out Karen Page came out with The Vegetarian Flavor Bible, I was thrilled.

    Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls with Stir-Fried Veggies & QuinoaThe Vegetarian Flavor Bible

    If you're vegetarian and you love to experiment in the kitchen and you could only purchase one cookbook for yourself this year, it should be this one. It's more of a reference than a cookbook and you will find yourself referring to it constantly. The book starts with a timeline of vegetarian history and a write-up about vegetarian cooking (which includes a very useful "If you are craving this, try this instead" chart), but the "meat" of the book is the flavor matchmaking list section. The former librarian in me gets very excited about these lists! Don't know what to do with the daikon radish you picked up at the Japanese market? The Vegetarian Flavor Bible suggests baking, braising and roasting, among other methods, and pairing it with mirin, lime, maple syrup and other root vegetables like carrots and potatoes.

    About the Recipe

    If you look up tofu, you see that it pairs well with garlic, ginger, rice vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce, Korean cuisine, red bell peppers and zucchini, which brings us to this Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowl. It might not be frizzled leeks on a cupcake, but the flavors work together in a way that's bound to make your belly happy. I adapted the sauce from a recipe on the Cooking Channel website and a tip I saw in Cooking Light that suggested substituting miso and sriracha in recipes that called for gochujang, which I didn't have on hand. I paired the barbecue tofu with a simple stir fry, quinoa and fresh cabbage—feel free to substitute your favorite vegetables in the stir fry and any grain you like for the quinoa.

    Photos by Emily Caruso

    Recipe

    Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls with Stir-Fried Veggies & Quinoa

    Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls with Veggies and Quinoa

    A satisfying vegetarian meal bowl made with tofu, stir-fried vegetables, quinoa and a homemade Korean barbecue sauce. Sauce recipe adapted from Cooking Channel's
    Korean BBQ Sauce.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Email Recipe
    Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: American, Asian
    Diet: Vegetarian
    Keyword: Korean Barbecue Tofu Bowls with Veggies and Quinoa, tofu bowls, vegetarian meal bowl
    Servings: 4 servings
    Calories: 275kcal
    Author: Oh My Veggies

    Ingredients

    For the sauce:

    • ½ cup ketchup
    • ½ cup rice vinegar
    • ¼ cup tamari or soy sauce
    • 1 ½ tbsp white sugar (organic for vegan-friendly)
    • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
    • 2 tsp yellow miso
    • 1 tsp sriracha
    • ¼ tsp black pepper
    • 2 green onions thinly sliced
    • 1 clove garlic minced
    • 1 1-inch piece ginger, grated
    • 2 tsp toasted sesame oil

    For the bowls:

    • 2 tbsp sesame oil or any neutral flavored, high-heat cooking oil, divided
    • 1 crown broccoli broken into florets
    • 1 tbsp water
    • 1 medium zucchini sliced into half moons
    • 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
    • 1 red pepper cored and sliced
    • 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
    • 1 15 oz package extra-firm tofu, pressed for 30 minutes and cut into 1-inch cubes
    • cooked quinoa shredded red cabbage, sliced green onions, and sesame seeds, for serving
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    To make the sauce:

    • Whisk together all of the ingredients except the sesame oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
    • When the mixture comes to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until slightly thickened—it should be thinner than regular barbecue sauce, but thicker than teriyaki sauce.
    • Stir in the oil and set aside.

    To make the bowls:

    • Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
    • Add the broccoli and stir fry for 1 minute.
    • Carefully add the water to the skillet and cover; let the broccoli steam for about 2 minutes, until bright green and tender.
    • Add the zucchini, pineapple, red pepper and soy sauce to the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, 3–5 minutes more, or until all the vegetables are tender-crisp.
    • Divide the vegetables into 4 bowls and wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel.
    • Return the skillet to medium-high heat. Add the remaining sesame oil and swirl to coat, then add the tofu. Cook the tofu until lightly browned and crisp on all sides, turning occasionally, 8–10 minutes.
    • Pour ½ cup of the sauce over the tofu and toss to coat; cook 2 minutes more, until sauce has thickened and the tofu is coated.
    • Divide the tofu into the bowls, then add the quinoa and red cabbage. Drizzle with the remaining sauce and garnish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 275kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 9gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gSodium: 1530mgPotassium: 925mgFiber: 7gSugar: 25gVitamin A: 2225IUVitamin C: 191mgCalcium: 129mgIron: 3mg
    Craving more veg-friendly recipes? Shop our collection of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, including our new Vegan Thanksgiving and Vegan Christmas cookbooks!

    Disclosure: I received a copy of The Vegetarian Flavor Bible to review. The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links.

    « Vegan Meal Prep - Recipes, Tips & Tricks
    20-Minute Vegan Stir-Fry »

    Vegan Main Dishes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Main Dishes, Vegetarian Recipes

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. entdeckerin says

      June 17, 2015 at 3:58 am

      OMG, it was so super jummy. Used brown mushroms instead of red cabbage, because i didn't get one. Next time I will take some more tofu but the recipe was perfekt. Love that special BBQ sauce, I love asian food in general but I have never eaten a sauce that tastes like that one. Even my meat-eatin boyfriend loved the spices! 😀

      Reply
      • Michelle Krysinski says

        January 08, 2019 at 2:51 pm

        what does it mean to press tofu and how do u do it and why

        Reply
    2. Hezzi-D says

      February 20, 2016 at 5:25 pm

      Thank you so much for an awesome tofu recipe! We've been in a tofu rut lately and I've been rotating the same 3 recipes. I made this on Wednesday and it was so good we're having it again this week! I think we'll try it with rice this time but otherwise 2 big thumbs up!

      Reply
      • Kiersten says

        March 01, 2016 at 8:43 am

        I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It's one of my favorites too. 🙂

        Reply
    3. Marla says

      May 19, 2016 at 10:52 pm

      This was really yummy! I used a broccoli slaw for the veggies because I was too lazy to chop;). Thank you for the recipe!!

      Reply
    4. Lynn says

      January 04, 2017 at 11:03 am

      Do you have the nutritional information for any of your bowls? I may have missed it. They all sound yummy.

      Reply
    5. Theresa "Sam" Houghton says

      January 19, 2017 at 11:34 am

      I have ghost pepper ketchup gifted to me by my cousin for Christmas. Methinks it would be DELICIOUS in this dish. Just reading the recipe is certainly enough to make me say, "OH MY VEGGIES!"

      Thanks for sharing! 😀 Love your blog.

      Reply
    6. Lisette templin says

      January 27, 2017 at 3:07 pm

      HI Kiersten,

      I am putting together a "Buddha Bowl Project" for my nutrition part of my corporate wellness package.
      I would like to use your bowl with the posts and story and pictures giving you all credit. How would you feel about that?

      Lisette

      Reply
    7. Shannon M says

      April 01, 2017 at 9:26 am

      This Veggie Bowl was delicious! I ate it warm for dinner then my husband took it for lunch the next day and ate it cold. Amazing both ways, thank you for such a great recipe!

      Reply
    8. meal5 says

      May 10, 2017 at 10:12 pm

      Thank you for the recipe!!I may have missed it. They all sound yummy.

      Reply
    9. Jess says

      October 27, 2017 at 12:28 am

      I've never left a review for a recipe before until now. I made this tonight and it was INCREDIBLE. I've had three bowls of it over the last three hours. Seriously 10/10 amazing. Like, I genuinely hope that you read these reviews because you deserve endless amounts of praise over this. Thank you for bringing such overwhelming joy into my life.

      Reply
      • Katie Trant says

        October 27, 2017 at 3:05 am

        Wow, Jess! Thanks so much for your kind words - and we're so glad you love this dish as much as we do!

        Reply
    10. SeVa says

      December 03, 2017 at 4:29 am

      Hi. Nice recipe! But I'm afraid the print link doesn't work. At least with me. Can you help me out?

      Reply
      • Katie Trant says

        December 03, 2017 at 11:42 pm

        Hey SeVa, this is a problem we're working on solving! Hopefully our recipes will all be migrated over to a new recipe card with a working print button shortly!

        Reply
    11. Hayley says

      January 30, 2019 at 9:48 pm

      Could I substitute anything for miso in the sauce recipe or leave it out?

      Reply
    12. Grace says

      March 07, 2019 at 4:24 pm

      5 stars
      So delicious! We've made this twice and have since shared with various veggie friends. We'll definitely eat it again!

      Reply
    13. Ellie says

      December 09, 2019 at 11:13 pm

      5 stars
      This looks great! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    14. Ellie says

      December 10, 2019 at 6:35 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious! I made a few substitutions, such as adding less vinegar and more soy sauce, using Gochujang instead of the miso blend, and dubbing some vegetables. I also omitted the quinoa and made them into lettuce wraps. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    « Older Comments
    4.88 from 8 votes (5 ratings without comment)

    Something to say? Leave a comment. Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    image of the author

    Nicole is a life long vegetarian and the author of the popular vegan cookbook, Weeknight One Pot Vegan Cooking. She loves sharing her recipes and showing the world just how easy and delicious meatless meals can be!
    Learn more here.

    signature of author

    get a free 5 day vegetarian meal plan

    shop our vegetarian and vegan cookbooks

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    • Shop Cookbooks
    • About Us
    • Work with Me
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Still hungry? Check out our delicious family of blogs.

    veg kitchen
    step away from the carbs
    all she cooks
    midlife rambler
    wandertooth logo

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 Hook & Porter Media

    1.1K shares

    Rate This Recipe

    Your vote:




    A rating is required
    A name is required
    An email is required

    Recipe Ratings without Comment

    Something went wrong. Please try again.