One-Pot Tofu and Broccoli Rice

By Ali Slagle

Published March 18, 2024

  • Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
1 hour
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
45 minutes
Rating
4(2,286)
Comments
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One pot is all you need to make custardy tofu, fluffy rice, crisp vegetables and a spicy sauce for dinner tonight. Toast rice with ginger and garlic for a fragrant base, then partway through steaming the rice, add broccoli florets. Once the rice is tender and the broccoli bright green, use the rice’s resting time to warm the tofu on top. The tofu’s marinade of peanut butter, soy sauce and chile crisp adds a punchy, creamy complement that completes the meal. If you want to use another vegetable instead of broccoli, you may need to adjust when it’s added to the pot: add sturdier vegetables like sliced carrots and winter squash with the rice, as they take longer to cook, and more delicate asparagus or spinach with the tofu.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 4 garlic cloves

  • 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger

  • 1 ½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed

  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, plus more for serving

  • Salt

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more for serving

  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter

  • 1 tablespoon chile crisp or chile sauce, plus more for serving

  • 1 (14- to 16-ounce) block extrafirm tofu, cut into ½-inch cubes

  • 12 ounces small broccoli florets (about 6 cups)

  • Cilantro leaves and tender stems (optional, for serving)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

69 grams carbs; 459 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 13 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 676 milligrams sodium; 20 grams protein; 3 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Finely grate the garlic and ginger into a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the rice and sesame oil, set over medium heat and stir until fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in 2 ½ cups water and 1 teaspoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal), or ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt or fine sea salt. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn heat to low and cook for 10 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    While the rice cooks, stir together the soy sauce, peanut butter and chile crisp in a medium bowl. Add the tofu and stir to coat; set aside.

  3. Step 3

    After the rice has cooked for 10 minutes, working quickly, scatter the broccoli on top of the rice and season with a pinch of salt. Cover and cook until the rice is tender and the broccoli is bright green, another 10 to 15 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Turn off the heat, then scrape the tofu and sauce on top of the broccoli, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Serve topped with more sesame oil, soy sauce, chile crisp and cilantro as you like.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
2,286 user ratings
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Comments

Maud Powell

This recipe did not work for me at all as a one-pot dish...the taste of the sauce is nice (though I would double the quantities next time as the tofu absorbed almost all of it), but the rice and broccoli took 45 minutes to cook rather than 25 total, and the rice cooked unevenly so that some of it was mushy and some still hard. It would have worked better (and been done in half the time) if I had cooked the rice and broccoli separately and then put it together w/ the tofu mixture.

emma

I would say lesser than the sum of its parts. Nice that it’s a one pot meal, but next time I would honestly rather go through the effort of making rice in the rice cooker and separately stir frying broccoli and tofu with double the sauce

Anne

As others have commented, this works better if you: (1) steam the broccoli ahead of time; (2) double the sauce; and (3) heat the tofu/sauce mixture before adding it to the rice.

R

Sadly a very unsatisfying meal :-( should have read comments, everything felt slightly undercooked and perhaps sauce not enough.

Leslie

Despite the texture of the rice (AirBnB does not have good pots), I thought this was yummy. However, it also makes A LOT. Does anyone think this would freeze well?

Drew

Do. Not. Make. This. Recipe. This is not one pot. It is really gross to make it this way. You can deconstruct the recipe and *kinda* make it work, but I'm sure you can find a thousand versions of this that are exponentially better anywhere else. Eww. Don't. Please, don't.

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