This recipe tastes like greasy take out, but it's healthy, vegan, easy to make, and so super delicious! Skip the fuss of working with wrappers, and using a fatty deep fryer, and make a vegan egg roll in a bowl instead! This dish tastes just like an egg roll but without the wrapper. Seasoned tofu crumbles, stir fried cabbage, tossed in a sweet and salty sauce. Serve this stir fry over rice or rice noodles for an easy weeknight meal.
30-minutes to make with ingredients you might already have in your kitchen. Vegan egg roll in a bowl is great served fresh, but it also makes super yummy leftovers served hot or cold, which is perfect for meal prepping or packing your lunch box. If you're not into tofu, you can replace it with crumbled tempeh, sliced mushrooms, or any kind of veggie ground that you enjoy.
Traditionally egg rolls are stuffed with stir fried cabbage and carrot with some kind of ground meat. To make this vegan version I subbed the ground meat with crumbled tofu. The tofu is pressed and sautéd so that when the marinade is added it become super juicy and flavourful. And speaking of the marinade, often egg rolls are served with plum sauce for dipping, so I added it directly into the marinade for that authentic taste!
To Make Vegan Egg Roll in a Bowl:
To prep the tofu: Prepare the tofu by draining it, and then pressing it for 15 to 30 minutes. I love using my Tofuture tofu press, but you can also follow these instructions for a DIY tofu pressing method. Pressing the tofu squeezes excess water out so that the tofu can suck up more of the marinade and become more flavourful.
Make the sauce: Add all of the sauce ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Prepare the filling: In a large skillet or non-stick pan heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions turn translucent and begin to brown.
Reduce the heat to medium and use your hands to crumble the tofu into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until the tofu begins to brown. Tip: don't stir the tofu too much, let it cook for a couple of minutes without stirring so that the bottom can brown. Stirring too often will make it difficult for the tofu to brown. Pour in about ½ of the prepared sauce and stir to combine. Remove the tofu mixture from the pan and set aside.
Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil. Add the cabbage and carrot and sauté until the cabbage is tender, about 5 minutes more.
Add the tofu mixture and all of the remaining sauce and heat through.
Serve hot with rice (if using) and garnish green onions, peanuts, and dress with more soy sauce, plum sauce, or hot sauce to taste if you like.
Bon appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
This recipe tastes like greasy take out, but it's healthy, vegan, easy to make, 30-minute recipe, and so super delicious! Just like an egg roll but without the wrapper. Skip the fuss of working with wrappers or using a fatty deep fryer, and meal prep this easy weeknight dinner.
- ¼ cup soy sauce (gluten-free if preferred)
- 3 tablespoons plum sauce or sweet and sour sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoon sesame oil, divided
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch fresh ginger, minced
- 1 12 oz block extra-firm or firm tofu, drained and pressed (see step 1)
- 16 oz cabbage (green, purple, or a combo), (16oz) finely shredded
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- 2 green onions, sliced
- ½ cup roasted salted peanuts
- an extra drizzle of plum sauce, soy sauce, or Sriracha
- cooked rice or rice noodles, for serving
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To prep the tofu: Prepare the tofu by draining it, and then pressing it for 15 to 30 minutes. I love using my Tofuture tofu press, but you can also follow these instructions for a DIY tofu pressing method. Pressing the tofu squeezes excess water out so that the tofu can suck up more of the marinade and become more flavourful.
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Make the sauce: Add all of the sauce ingredients to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.
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Prepare the filling: In a large skillet or non-stick pan heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions turn translucent and begin to brown.
Reduce the heat to medium and use your hands to crumble the tofu into the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until the tofu begins to brown. Tip: don't stir the tofu too much, let it cook for a couple of minutes without stirring so that the bottom can brown. Stirring too often will make it difficult for the tofu to brown. Pour in about ½ of the prepared sauce and stir to combine. Remove the tofu mixture from the pan and set aside.
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Return the pan to medium-high heat and add the remaining tablespoon of sesame oil. Add the cabbage and carrot and sauté until the cabbage is tender, about 5 minutes more. Add the tofu mixture and all of the remaining sauce and heat through. Serve hot with rice (if using) and garnish green onions, peanuts, and dress with more soy sauce, plum sauce, or hot sauce to taste if you like.
Meal prep/ Make ahead: Allow the dish to cool completely before storing in air-tight containers in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Oil-free: to make oil-free omit the sesame oil. Use a good non-stick pan and use water or vegetable broth instead of the light oil to sauté the vegetables. You can add some sesame seeds for garnish if you want a little of that sesame flavour.
Tofu: If you want to substitute the tofu, you can replace it with crumbled tempeh, sliced mushrooms, or any kind of veggie ground that you enjoy.
Nutrition
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I've only made this once before so I was pleasantly surprised when my husband requested it as his birthday dinner. We're all a fan of this one! I used a bag of coleslaw to replace the cabbage/carrot and make this even easier, but this recipe is a definite winner!
Wonderful! So happy you loved it, Janice 🙂
Made this tonight--used a jar of homemade fake meat crumbles from the freezer as protein, used extra veg to use up CSA produce, and orange sauce instead of plum sauce. DELICIOUS! I forgot to make rice with dinner but am making some so I can box up leftovers for cold lunches the rest of this week.
Great!! 🙂
This was awesome. I made a double batch and thought I over did it because there was so much but then my husband ate half of it in one sitting. Super good and easy. I added some chopped mango too.
Haha! Wonderful! SO happy you loved it 🙂
Haha! I love that story! So happy you love the vegan version even more 🙂
Oh one more question/ suggestion: what type of rice vinegar- unseasoned or seasoned? I went with unseasoned but it would be helpful if you could specify in the recipe!
Unseasoned 🙂
Yummy! The whole family really enjoyed this, even the kids. Mine definitely didn't look as pretty as yours- the tofu veggie filling kind of all mixed together in a limp, sauteed veggie sort of way and I only used green cabbage so it didn't have that pop of purple... I was a little concerned but it tasted fantastic!
I couldn't readily get plum sauce so I used housing and it worked fine as a substitute. Served over sushi rice, although next time it would be fun to throw in some rice sticks too. Thanks again for a wonderful recipe!
So happy you enjoyed it, Laura!
This was DELISH! We also did hoisin sauce + plum vinegar instead of rice vinegar, as suggested by another reader + lime/crushed peanuts to finish. Used a bag of cabbage mix that already had shedded carrots in it! Added a little spring roll sauce as a drizzle on top- yum!! Thanks Sam!
Wonderful! Thrilled you enjoyed, Jillian 🙂
A winner for sure! I had no tofu so I just subbed mushrooms and it came out amazing!
Wonderful!
Wow! This was absolutely DELICIOUS! In typical Sam-style, also super easy. I used Napa cabbage for the cabbage; and served over medium thick rice noodles. So good; definitely adding to the regular rotation! Thanks Sam.
Woohoo!! So glad you loved it, Srivani!! 🙂
Another winner Sam. This is sooooo good. Simple, tasty and filling. Thank you for another great recipe.
You're most welcome, Lynn. Happy you enjoyed!
This is so good! I added some hoisin sauce and it reminded me so much of vegetarian moo shu that I looked up the recipe for mandarin pancakes (surprisingly easy to make) and made a second batch so I could moo shu your recipe. So delicious!!!!
Oh what a wonderful idea! Now I'm craving that!
Wow, this one rocked our taste buds.
Was not sure what it would be like, but it was so much fun to cook and a pleasure to devour.
Great flavors with nice textures.
Could not find plum sauce so used hosien sauce instead and subbed ume plub vinegar for the rice one to add some sour flavor back.
Thank you for this awesome recipe.
Yay! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much 🙂
My whole family loved this! I served with rice noodles and lime wedges. Next time I'll probably add edamame too. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thrilled you loved it Cheryl!!
Amazing! Healthy ingredients, easy to make, comfort food, and veggies veggies veggies make this meal perfection. Thank you Sam for yet another wonderful recipe. I’m adding this to the rotation.
Yay!! So happy you enjoyed it so much, Jenn 🙂
I used Savoy cabbage, which is milder. This was an excellent dish that served four generously (everyone went for seconds and there's some left over for breakfast). We followed it up with Lemon Pie from Fuss Free Vegan. Happy carnivores are napping everywhere.
Sounds fantastic! So happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Hi Sam!
I'm going to make this next week, but I can't eat tofu, what can I use as a protein instead? BTW, I love your cookbook! Everything I have made from it has turned out amazing. Can we look forward to another one??
Hi Jill, try tempeh (if you can eat it) or another type of vegan meat crumble such as Beyond Meat, Yves veggie ground round, or other. There's lots available these days. You may need a little less sauce as most crumbles come already seasoned (but it's never a bad idea to have extra sauce)! And thank you!! You will have to wait and see... 😉
You can always use low sodium soy sauce (or tamari) and unsalted peanuts.
Hi, Sam! Would hoison sauce work in place of the plum sauce? Can't wait to try this. Thank you!
Yes that would be delicious as well! Enjoy!
Hi what plum sauce do you use?
Any brand will do, they are basically all the same. 🙂