This plant-based past sauce tastes just like tomato sauce with turkey/ground beef meat sauce… just with tofu instead! We didn’t believe it either until we tried it. Cook the tofu in the air fryer for a delicious oil-free meal. Top with fresh basil microgreens for great flavor, color, and texture!
Ingredients:
Handful basil microgreens
1 box Whole wheat pasta
Simple tomato sauce:
28 oz canned Tomato sauce
1 clove garlic – diced
½ white onion – diced
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Tofu “Meat”
1 package Extra firm tofu - drained
1 tbsp Porcini mushroom powder
¼ cup Nutritional yeast
½ tbsp Cumin
1 tbspGarlic powder
1 tbsp Onion powder
2 tbsp tamari
“Nutty Parm” – a dairy-free parmesan cheese substitute (so easy!)
3/4 cup Raw cashews
5 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
½ tsp Garlic powder
½ tsp salt
Directions:
Boil water for pasta. Add pasta. Cook according to package.
Crumble tofu block in a bowl with your hands or fork until ground turkey/beef texture. Add spices. Mix with wooden spoon (Check out Quabbin Spoon Co. for local, hand-crafted wooden spoons!)
Add tofu ingredients to the air fryer. Cook tofu at 400 degrees for 15-20* minutes, moving around with wooden spoon every few minutes.
While the tofu is cooking, make the sauce:
- Sauté onion and garlic in water or veggie broth
- Add salt and pepper.
- Add sauce and stir occasionally while heating up.
- Add oregano
Once the tofu is firm (will look like lean ground turkey/beef at this point!), stir into the sauce.
Mix the sauce with the pasta, or add sauce on top of pasta – whichever you prefer.
Pulse “Nutty Parm” ingredients in blender (we love Vitamix) until parmesan consistency. Add on top of pasta.
Top with basil microgreens*
Enjoy!
*Notes:
You don't have to press the tofu for this recipe, it will just take longer to cook. We prefer to press it. This helps make the tofu get firmer/crispier, and it holds it's texture/shape once added to the sauce.
You can top this with ANY microgreen. We also love to add broccoli on top of this dish. Pile it on and stir in to your bowl!