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.
Vegan Egg Roll in a Bowl!
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- ¼ cup soy sauce (gluten-free if preferred)
- 3 tablespoons plum sauce or sweet and sour sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
For tofu and cabbage:
- 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
Optional:
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Since going whole food plant based really missing Chinese take out, egg rolls my favorite, this recipe nails it! sesame oil, green onions, garlic and ginger make it authentic tasting. So thankful for you! Blessings
So happy you enjoyed it!
Super tasty! I’ve made this a couple times now. Both times, I’ve subbed sweet chili sauce for the duck/sweet & sour sauce. I like topping with the green onions, peanuts, sriracha, & extra drizzle of sweet chili sauce; these really take the dish up a level, so I wouldn’t skip these. I also like that this recipe uses staples I generally have on hand; all I usually have to pick up is the coleslaw mix. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful Paula! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much 🙂
We made this last night exactly according to the recipe, with all the suggested add-ons and it was a big hit. Thank you for once again getting us out of a dinner rotation rut with a creative and delicious recipe. 🙂
Wonderful! Thrilled you loved it so much, Jennifer 🙂
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 🙂
This is amazing!! It was surprisingly quick to throw together even though I'm pretty slow at cooking and it tasted as good as the egg rolls my family makes (but don't tell them that!). Will definitely be making this again (and often!).
That's wonderful Mel! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much 🙂
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.
I have recently been cooking with my nephew. This was the third thing we’ve made and his favorite so far. Thank you for creating and sharing. Will be looking for more projects suited for school lunches... if we make enough for there to be leftovers, that is.
Wonderful!! Thrilled you both enjoyed it 🙂
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. 🙂