Veggie Packed Pineapple Tofu Salad

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Each and every week we create over 2-3 new recipes for our Plant-based meal plan memberships and sometimes, we get a bit addicted and attached to one specific recipe. This is one of those! It’s not always easy to take photos with two little toddlers running around, but lucky for you, Martin had a night shift this day and was able to take some photos of the cooking preparation! He was even able to snag some photos of Alessandro helping me to whip up the dressing and pour it all over this amazing meal. Enjoy!

Let’s get this party started with this amazing Veggie Packed Pineapple Tofu Salad!

Benefits of this Beautiful Salad

Tofu

• An excellent source of amino acids, iron, calcium, and other micro-nutrients.
• Good source of protein and contains all nine essential amino acids.
• A valuable plant source of iron and calcium and the minerals manganese, selenium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, zinc and vitamin B1.

Pineapple

• Pineapples are packed with a variety of vitamins and minerals. They are especially rich in vitamin C and manganese.
• Pineapples are a good source of antioxidants, which may reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
• They contain a wide variety of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes like bromelain that may collectively boost immunity and suppress inflammation
• Good source of fiber, vitamin C, Manganese, Vitamin b6, copper, thiamin, folate, potassium, magnesium, and niacin.

Tahini

• Full of healthy fats and nutrients
• Just 1 tablespoon contains more than 10% of your daily value of the following nutrients: thiamine, vitamin b6, phosphorus, and manganese.
• Tahini is full of antioxidants, including the lignan sesamin
• Consuming sesame seeds may decrease your risk of certain conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Doing so may also lower your risk factors for heart disease, including high cholesterol and triglyceride levels

So now that we have talked about some of our amazing ingredients, let’s get dicing and whisking!

Start by pressing the tofu if need be. Interestingly enough, I have only ever had to press my tofu in the states. All the tofu in Europe is already pressed! If you are new to pressing tofu, I highly suggest purchasing a tofu press like this one.

Once pressed, simply dice the tofu into small cubes like shown. You will toss these into a skillet with vegetable broth, soy sauce, and maple syrup. You can also use agave, brown rice sugar, date syrup or any other syrup-based sugar. This sugar gives the tofu a beautiful glaze and crust.

Bring the mixture in the skillet to a boil and then let simmer on low. Do not flip the tofu until the liquid has almost evaporated completely; this can take 5-8 minutes depending. Once flipped, just heat on the opposite side for 1-2 minutes max. Remove from heat.

**P.s. you can sub tofu for shredded jackfruit and follow the recipe just the same way. We love both recipes equally!

While the tofu is simmering, prep your salad. I like to place all of my greens into a large bamboo bowl and add each vegetable in as I dice. I use a salad spinner for all of my salad needs before placing in the bamboo bowl: a squeeze of lemon before spinning is always a must!

Once all of your veggies are placed in the bowl, whisk together the tahini dressing and set aside.

Once the tofu has finished cooking, add to the bowl and drizzle the tahini dressing all over. Be sure to toss very well so that every last piece is coated in this magical dressing. You are ready to eat!

**Tip: I like to batch cook my tofu and dressing for this specific meal: Simply double up on the tofu and dressing ingredients and store in an airtight container for the week. You will thank me when life gets crazy and you have all you need to eat such a beautiful meal in under 3-5 minutes!

Veggie Packed Pineapple Tofu Salad

Enjoy this beautiful and nutritious salad!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy lunch, quick, salad, tofu, vegan

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 368kcal

Ingredients

• 4 cups Salad of choice Mixed salad shown
• 1/2 pineapple diced into cubes
• 1 ripe avocado diced into cubes
• 2 carrots grated
• 1 red bell pepper diced small
• 1 block of firm tofu
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Dressing (Each time I make this, I double the recipe and make enough for the week!)

• 1/4 cup tahini stirred well
• Juice of 1 small lemon 2-3 tbsp
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• A dash of garlic powder sea salt and black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Add the cubed tofu, veggie broth, soy sauce, and maple syrup into a skillet. Bring to a boil and then let simmer on low. Do not flip the tofu until the water is nearly evaporated (this helps to give it a nice glaze crust). Once the liquid has gone, flip once and heat on the opposite side for just a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Dice the pineapple and bell pepper into small cubes. Grate the carrots and slice the avocado. Whisk together your dressing and taste test/adjust as needed.
• Add 4-5 cups of salad to a large bowl followed by the pineapple, bell peppers, carrots, avocado, and tofu. Drizzle dressing all over and toss well. Be sure each part of that salad is coated in this magical tahini sauce.
• Portion into 4 bowls as you wish or, you can be like me and just eat it straight from the big serving bowl. 🙂

Notes

Kids: For the boys, I simply add the pineapple, tofu, bell peppers, carrots, and avocado to a large bowl and drizzle the dressing all over. I then pour half into Alessandro's bowl and a half into Leo's bowl. They LOVE it. It's important to know which vegetables turn your child off, so be sure to add and remove as needed. Peas and corn are always a great addition to this dish. 

Nutrition

Sodium: 417mg | Calcium: 192mg | Vitamin C: 109mg | Vitamin A: 6683IU | Sugar: 21g | Fiber: 8g | Potassium: 697mg | Calories: 368kcal | Saturated Fat: 3g | Fat: 20g | Protein: 15g | Carbohydrates: 38g | Iron: 3mg