An easy and simple vegan recipe for tofu bowls with rice and a zesty cilantro lime sauce. These cilantro lime tofu bowls come together quickly for a full meal-in-one that everyone will enjoy!
I’m a big believer that all people are capable of change. How do I know this? Because I used to hate cilantro…and now I love it. I know, I know there’s probably a lot of other convincing facts that would lead one to believe that we can all change but this is the one I’m going with. Because despite the commonly held belief that not liking cilantro is a genetic thing, I am case in point that you can beat even your own genes.
I don’t really know when it happened either. I’m pretty sure somewhere in the deep archives of THM you’ll find a blog post where I vilify cilantro, but somewhere along the way I just got tired of hating it. I try not to be a fussy eater and hate having to waste something because I’m not into the taste. It seemed easier to learn to enjoy cilantro than worry about it being sneakily added. And now, I’m kind of obsessed. It has officially become my favorite herb and probably the one you’ll most frequently find in our house. Which is how these cilantro lime tofu bowls were born.
You all know I’m a big lover of the bowl and these tofu bowls are not exception. I’ve been making a variation of this recipe for years because of how easy and simple it is. You can, of course, replace the cilantro with another herb you prefer but I encourage you to give it a try because guess what?! People can change!
What You Need:
- Extra Firm Tofu
- Brown Rice
- 1 Head Broccolini
- Fresh Cilantro
- Olive oil
- Lime (zest + juice)
- Maple syrup
- Spices: garlic powder, red pepper flakes, salt
- Pistachios (or other nuts + seeds)
How to Make These Cilantro Lime Tofu Bowls
STEP 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Make rice according to package instructions. Combine olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, maple syrup, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt together in a large bowl.
STEP 2: Press tofu to remove extra water and then chop into 1 inch cubes. Dip cubes into sauce to coat but allow any extra sauce to drip back off into the bowl. Place tofu on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet to bake for 20 minutes.
STEP 3: Remove tofu from oven and flip while also pushing all tofu to one side of the sheet (it will be crowded, this is fine!). Dip broccolini into sauce and let extra liquid drip back off into the bowl. Place broccolini on the other side of the baking sheet. Bake tofu + broccolini for 15 minutes or until edges of broccolini are crisp and tofu is golden brown.
STEP 4: Chop up cilantro and add half of it to your rice. For the remaining half chop up finely and add to the rest of your sauce liquid.
STEP 5: Divide rice between 4 bowls and top evenly with tofu and broccolini. Drizzle with remaining sauce and sprinkle with pistachios or other nuts and seeds for crunch.
Easy Substitutions + Storage
This recipe is super customizable. Here are a few substitutions you can easily make to make this recipe your own:
- Not into broccolini? Feel free to replace with other veggies such as: broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, squash etc…
- Replace brown rice with any other type of rice or grain. This recipe is particularly delicious with farro!
- The olive oil has a stronger taste in this recipe so if you don’t like it use a more neutral oil like grapeseed oil.
- Substitute maple syrup with honey if that’s all you have.
These cilantro lime tofu bowls make a great meal-prep meal. To store you can create 4 different glass Tupperware with rice and on the other side add the tofu and broccolini. Sprinkle with nuts or seeds. Keep the dressing in a glass jar in the fridge. Alternatively you can store the rice together and the veggies and tofu together.
Cilantro Lime Tofu Bowls
An easy and simple vegan recipe for tofu bowls with rice and a zesty cilantro lime sauce. These cilantro lime tofu bowls come together quickly for a full meal-in-one that everyone will enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Diet: Vegan
- 14 oz package extra firm tofu
- 2 cups uncooked brown rice
- 1 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 head broccolini (ends removed)
- 1/3 cup olive oil (or a more neutral oil like grapeseed oil)
- zest of 1 lime
- juice, 2 limes
- 1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt, to taste
- 1/3 cup of pistachios (or other nuts + seeds)
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Make rice according to package instructions.
- Combine olive oil, lime zest, lime juice, maple syrup, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and salt together in a large bowl.
- Press tofu to remove extra water and then chop into 1 inch cubes.
- Dip cubes into sauce to coat but allow any extra sauce to drip back off into the bowl. *
- Place tofu on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet to bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove tofu from oven and flip while also pushing all tofu to one side of the sheet (it will be crowded, this is fine!).
- Dip broccolini into sauce and let extra liquid drip back off into the bowl. Place broccolini on the other side of the baking sheet.
- Bake tofu + broccolini for 15 minutes or until edges of broccolini are crisp and tofu is golden brown.
- Chop up cilantro and add half of it to your rice.
- For the remaining half chop up finely and add to the rest of your sauce liquid.
- Divide rice between 4 bowls and top evenly with tofu and broccolini. Drizzle with remaining sauce and sprinkle with pistachios or other nuts and seeds for crunch.
*Make sure you’re not overcoating the tofu + broccolini as marinade is also used for sauce. If you don’t have enough sauce to drizzle on bowls you can add a couple more splashes of olive oil and lime juice to top it off.
Like this post? Here are a few other recipes you might enjoy:
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