Baked Tofu with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Capers is the one dish meal you need! It’s packed with flavor, easy to prepare, and requires minimal hands on time, leaving you time to catch up on the rest of your day! {{ PIN IT NOW! }}
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Baked Tofu with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Capers
We’re winding down on winter break—just a few more days to go. We’ve fully shifted our schedules, with the boys going to bed after 10, and the grown ups staying up way too late to binge watch episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (obsessed). But a few more days and we will be back to the harsh reality of the school schedule—early mornings, long days, after school sports, and a rushed dinner time. I do my best to keep things relatively easy for dinner—either cooking dinner in the morning while both of the boys are in school, or making easy one dish meals that require minimal hands on time so I can tend to the dishes, homework help, and my favorite—laundry.
This easy Baked Tofu dish fits all of the requirements. One dish? Check. Ingredients my family loves? Check. Lots of hands off time? Check. I throw everything into a big baking dish, pop it in the oven, and go about the rest of my business while the smell fills the air! Today while this was cooking the boys declared “Mom, it smells like pizza!” Well, pizza tofu is another meal, but they’re right—the tomatoes, olives, and oregano definitely give it a pizza flair! This is pizza tofu’s more sophisticated cousin.
Veganuary
January is a time of fresh starts. A time of renewal and goal setting. It was in January nine years ago was when I gradually transitioned to a vegetarian diet, and then two years later, seemingly overnight, I adopted a vegan way of eating (click here to learn How to Become a Vegan!!!). Now Veganuary is an actual movement, as people around the globe try a vegan diet for the month. I love the concept, as I think it shows how easy veganism really is. And every good vegan knows you’ve gotta have a great tofu recipe! THIS is the one! (And be sure to use a tofu press to squeeze out the excess water—it’s my fave kitchen gadget!)
More Tofu Recipes You Will Love
- Teriyaki Tofu
- Sweet and Sour Tofu
- Pizza Tofu
- Fajita Tofu Scramble
- Vegan Chocolate Mousse (made with tofu—oh yes!)
Meal Prep
This meal is a great one to prep earlier in the day! You can just pop your tofu into a dish with all of the seasonings, let it marinate and soak up the flavors, and then pop it in the oven an hour before you’d like to eat. As Jonny always says… “Easy Peasy!”
Tofu Piccata
A traditional piccata refers to a cut of meat topped with lemons and capers. This meal is about 50% there. It’s got lemon juice and capers, giving it tons of flavor, but it also has stewed tomatoes and green olives, and of course, no meat. I dice the tofu up into bite sized pieces for easier eating and serving, and bake it in the oven to save on hands on time. Just a few stirs during the cooking process and you’re all set!
One Dish
This is a true one dish meal. It’s almost a sheet pan dinner, as I suppose you could dump it all out onto a big sheet pan and bake it, but that might be a little messy with the tomatoes. A large glass baking dish will do the trick nicely. Add your ingredients directly into the dish, give it a gentle stir (don’t break up the tofu!), and pop it in the oven!
Make it a Meal!
I love to make this dish a full meal by serving it with some polenta! Polenta is an unsung hero in the carb world, and I don’t turn to it nearly enough. But the polenta is a perfect backdrop for this Baked Tofu with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Capers. This dish is also delicious when served atop some angel hair pasta, or even served with a slice of crusty bakery bread. I could even see making a sub sandwich, using the tofu as a filling a la a meatball sub.
I hope you love this dish as much as my family does! Tonight Jonny, age 4, has 3 servings! It’s a total hit with both kids and adults. If you have a chance to try it, please take a picture and share it on social media! Or better yet, leave a comment below, letting me know how it turned out!
Baked Tofu with Tomatoes, Lemon, and Capers
Ingredients
- 2 14 ounce blocks tofu
- 1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes (see notes)
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1/4 cup capers chopped
- 1 cup green olives with pimentos sliced
- handful of parsley
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°.
- Press the tofu in a tofu press, or wrap in paper towels and press between two plates, removing as much water as possible.
- While the tofu is pressing, place ALL of the remaining ingredients into the baking dish (crushed tomatoes, lemon juice, capers, olives, parsley, garlic, oregano, and salt).
- Chop the tofu into small 1 inch cubes.
- Place the tofu in the baking dish with the tomato sauce mixture and give it a gentle stir to coat the tofu.
- Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- While the tofu is baking, prepare any side dishes, such as polenta or pasta.
- Once it has finished baking, remove the tofu from the oven and serve over polenta or pasta.
Deliciously simple recipe! Baked tofu with tomatoes, lemon, and capers is a flavor explosion. Thanks for the tasty inspiration! ???
I am making this in summer. So I’m using fresh tomatoes. And I also added Italian zucchini and onions. It looks so gorgeous. Going into the oven.
That sounds perfect! Hope you enjoyed it!!!
Thank you for sharing such an amazing recipe.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It really looks tasty and healthy. I must try it.
I had my doubts trying this one. But safe to say it exceeded my expectations! Fam loved it. Thank you so much for this
Oh, I’m so glad you gave it a try! Such simple ingredients, but they come together so nicely….and easily! Glad it was a hit with the whole family—my kids love it too!
I’m planning to fix this tonight, but will only be using one block of tofu. How long should I bake it?
Hi! You’d bake it the same amount of time! Enjoy!
This is absolutely DELICIOUS! Holds up well for meal prep too. Served it over polenta.
This is going in my regular rotation. 🙂
Thank you for such a tasty recipe!
Oh, I’m so glad! It’s one of my favorites too! And LOVE it with polenta! Yum!
This was easy and delicious! Prepared 1/4 of the recipe and it was plenty for 2 adults. Baked for 45 minutes, but it could have gone for 35 and been fine. Served it over couscous because I had no polenta. Also had a green salad and a big red wine. Will definitely make again! Thanks for a terrific recipe!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that it was a hit! It’s a favorite of mine too! Thanks for the reminder to put it on my list to make this weekend!!!
Omigosh, Sarah, I had my doubts about making this, but it turned out so super delicious that I couldn’t stop eating it. And nor could the fam—it disappeared in minutes. I served it atop polenta made with vegetable broth and nooch. Thanks for the recipe!
Oh, I am SO happy to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing. Love that it was such a hit with your family. We really like it too!
What do you do with the handful of parsley? Thanks!
Ooh, sorry that’s not more clear. I’ll clarify the instructions, but it’s part of the “add all of the other ingredients” and stir step, step #2. You’ll just mix it in with the tofu, tomatoes, olives, garlic, etc. Hope you love it!
Hi there,
This recipe sounds delicious and I’m excited to try it. What type of tofu are you using for this recipe? We have anywhere from soft – firm – extra firm. I assume firm if you’re pressing it?
Thanks!
Lauren
Hi! I use firm! I get the 4 pack at Costco, which is House Foods refrigerated tofu. I love it! Hope you enjoy the recipe—it’s a favorite!
This looks so delicious. thanks for sharing the recipe.
Of course! I hope you have a chance to try it, and that you enjoy it! It’s really easy, and so yummy!
This recipe looks DELICIOUS! But I’m curious about the reference to stewed tomatoes in the description versus the crushed tomatoes in the ingredients. I can buy either. Which is best?
There are a few notes about the tomatoes as well—crushed or diced canned are great, even sauce will worked, but not marinara sauce. I mention stewed in the text just meaning that they have been cooking with the tofu and have soaked up all of the good flavors! I suppose technically stewed tomatoes can refer to sliced tomatoes vs. diced, and I also suppose that they would work in this recipe as well! It’s flexible!
Just saw you replied. I can actually buy stewed tomatoes in a can where I live (in slicedn diced, & crushed versipns) so that’s why I wasn’t sure whether you were talking about using stewed tomatoes or regular tomatoes. I’m now clear on this. Thanks & am going to make this recipe later this week.
Sorry for the confusion—so many varieties!!! I hope you enjoy it!!!
This dish sounds great. 2 blocks of tofu…what weight would that be? I have 16 oz. blocks, but have seen 4, 8 and 14 in the stores. Looking forward to trying this. Thanks.
Ah, great question! Mine are 14 ounce. So two 16 ounce blocks would be perfect! Or if you don’t have a ravenous family like mine you could reduce the recipe!
Made this last night with 1 lb. of tofu, and left everything else as listed. I served it over bulgar wheat. Fantastic. Just delicious!! I can’t wait to have it again. Thanks.