To make the tofu nuggets, you first let them soak in a wet mixture so they don’t dry up during baking. The wet mixture is simply a vegan buttermilk, which you can make by combining soy milk and lemon juice. Soy milk works best for this as it’s richest in proteins.
The wet mixture is also what makes the dry mixture stick to the tofu. For the dry mixture, you can use any variation of bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, almond meal, shredded coconut, and spices. When you add the tofu cubes to the dry mixture, it helps to use a fork and tap it on the bowl a few times. This way, the excess soy milk stays in the wet mixture bowl and doesn’t clump the dry mixture.
The trick to getting these healthy vegan tofu nuggets super crispy without using oil is a high oven temperature. So before you even begin breading the nuggets, preheat your oven to 230°C/450°F.
When you flip the tofu nuggets halfway through baking, be careful and again, use a fork. Gently lift each nugget with the fork so that the breadcrumb coating doesn’t remain stuck to the baking paper.
You can totally serve these tofu nuggets on their own as a little snack with some bbq sauce or ketchup. They also make a great topping for salad bowls as you can see below. Alternatively, you can add them to a wrap or as taco filling. Or, you can make slightly bigger nuggets and use them as burger patties!
