Garlic Tofu Fries

Tofu is an everyday snack around these parts.  My girls like it any which way…but my 18 month old daughter Penelope loves it cold straight from the fridge cut up into little bite size pieces.  I fill her little snack bowl and she walks away happy only to return in a minute to get more.  Tofu.  Some people aren’t partial to it.  It really is bland and has almost no flavor on its own but if you add the right seasonings it can be really amazing.  I made some baked tofu fries a while back and shared a picture on Instagram and got a great response!  Gotta love Instagram.  This time around I added garlic, both powdered and fresh.  Garlic lovers will appreciate this fun and slightly more healthy version of garlic french fries.  They ended up reminding me a lot of the frozen garlic fries from Trader Joe’s.  Yum.

Garlic Tofu Fries

You’ll need:

• 1 16 oz. block of super firm tofu (my favorite is Trader Joe’s Organic Super Firm Tofu)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon flaked sea salt (I love Maldon and lately have become obsessed with their smoked version) plus more for sprinkling
• extra virgin olive oil
• spray olive oil (from Trader Joe’s…this really isn’t mandatory but I think it speeds up the browning process.)
• 4 cloves fresh garlic pushed through garlic press
• 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  First, cut up the block of tofu into thin fry-shaped strips.  Lay them all out flat on your cutting board and blot with a couple paper towels to get most of the moisture out.  In a shallow baking dish, mix together the bread crumbs, salt and garlic powder.  Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil across the tofu and kind of flip the fries around with your fingers to coat each side with oil.  Add a few fries at a time into the bread crumb mixture being careful not to break the fries.  Gently press bread crumbs on each side of each fry.  Place fries about 1 inch apart on a nonstick cookie sheet.  Spritz the fries with a little olive oil cooking spray (optional.)  Bake fries for 10 minutes then take them out and flip each fry to let the other side brown.  Cook an additional 5 to 8 minutes until each fry is golden.

While fries are baking, in a cold frying pan add a couple tablespoons olive oil, the pressed garlic and parsley.  Cook on very low heat just until your whole house smells like garlic.  You don’t really want to brown the garlic so watch it carefully.

When fries are finished baking, place on a plate and spoon a few spoonfuls of the garlic/parsley mixture onto the fries.  Toss fries around until they are pretty evenly coated (I used my hands once the fries cooled down a little.)  Sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.  Serve with ketchup or my personal favorite – sriracha ketchup (just a little sriracha mixed into some ketchup.)

I hope you guys enjoy!

so easy even kids can make these!