The only thing that’s better than quesadillas is tofu quesadillas! All the melty, vegan cheesy goodness with the added enjoyment (and protein) of tofu. We round this one out with mushrooms and peppers, which go perfectly in Mexican food – all bundled up in a delightful gluten free corn tortilla. It’s great served with a side of Mexican salad.
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🌟 Why this recipe works
Easy – with very few ingredients and steps, this tofu quesadilla recipe is definitely a simple one. It’s easy - just fry off the tofu and veg, stuff the tortillas, top with vegan cheese, then brown them. The most difficult part is waiting until they’re all done before tucking in!
Versatile – while we’ve used tofu, mushrooms and peppers for our tofu quesadilla recipe, you can get creative! There are loads of great vegetables that work in quesadillas, plus, they’re amazing with beans in them – especially black beans and kidney beans.
Protein – the tofu and mushrooms provide a nice little hit of protein. It’s great for keeping you fuller for longer, plus it’s a bonus if you like to work out.
📋 Ingredient Notes
Corn tortillas – the classic choice for making vegan quesadillas. We think they have a better texture. But also, they’re gluten-free, made with whole grains and have fewer calories in them. Of course, flour tortillas do work for this recipe too, so if that’s what you have – use them!
Tofu – essential when making tofu quesadillas! We’d recommend an extra or super firm tofu – the kind that comes pre-pressed in a sealed bag (rather than in a plastic tub). If you have the usual kind of extra-firm tofu that needs pressing – perfect – just press it for at least an hour beforehand to get rid of some of the excess moisture. Another great way of using up tofu is in a Tofu Quinoa Bowl or another great lunch option vegan egg mayo (just sayin’).
Cheese – find the meltiest, gooiest vegan cheese you can! Quesadillas traditionally use a very stringy cheese (Oaxaca cheese), so to try to hit that authentic look, use a vegan cheese that is melty and stringy. Here in the UK, we recommend either Koko’s cheddar alternative, or Applewood’s smoky one, which adds a great smoky edge to the tofu quesadillas. For our North American readers, we hear that Miyoko’s comes highly recommended.
Peppers – we love the sweetness of red, yellow and orange peppers (or capsicum), so that’s what we recommend for this recipe. They're also great in vegan black bean burritos. If you like green peppers, they’ll do the job too, we just find them a bit on the bitter side for this one.
Check out the recipe card at the bottom of this article for exact measurements to make this vegan tofu quesadilla recipe.
🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
This is a step-by-step overview with photos for this recipe. The full recipe, along with measurements and detailed instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
1. Pop a splash of oil (or oil spray) into a frying pan, bring to a medium-high heat and chuck in the sliced tofu. Fry until golden brown, stirring regularly, then remove from the pan and set aside for now.
2. Add another splash of oil to the frying pan and heat up to high heat. Fry the onions for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and give it another minute. Sprinkle in the spices and fry for another minute.
3. Pop in the mushrooms and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until they’ve reduced in size a bit and released a little water.
4. Add the peppers and tofu into the pan and stir until everything is well mixed and coated in the spices. Cook for a couple of minutes just until the peppers and tofu are hot. Take the mix off the heat and prepare the tortillas.
5. Heat up a non-stick pan, skillet or flat griddle to medium heat. Lay the first tortilla in the pan and serve up roughly ⅙ of the tofu mix onto half of the tortilla, sprinkle on ¼ cup of the vegan cheese, then fold the other half of the tortilla over the top.
6. Cook the tortilla for around 1 minute on each side, but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn – different pans and ovens mean this time varies, so be careful! Aim for a light browning and slight crunch to the tortilla.
7. Once it’s brown on one side, carefully flip it over and brown the other side.
8. Repeat this process another 5 times until you have 6 delicious tofu and mushroom quesadillas!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
- Melty cheese – get out there and try different vegan cheeses! They’re not all great, we agree, but a lot of them work really well in dishes like this tofu quesadilla where the cheese is sandwiched between the tortilla and melted (this is often how vegan cheese melts well, like in our Cashew Nut Roast). If you’re in the UK, check out Koko’s cheddar alternative or Applewood’s smoky vegan cheese. In addition, you could use homemade vegan nacho cheese, or serve it as a dipping sauce.
- Tofu – make sure it’s super-firm or extra-firm and, if it comes in a plastic tub filled with water, press it for an hour or more. The tofu will dry out and brown much quicker with less water content in it, so while pressing might be an extra step, it will speed up the cooking (and we love the density it produces). We love Tofoo and Cauldron’s newer ‘ready to cook’ block.
- Get spicy – we created this tofu quesadilla recipe using a really simple mix of smoked paprika, cumin and chilli powder. But if your spice cupboard is extensive, try mixing it up! Ancho chilli adds an amazing rich smokiness to Mexican dishes (like this vegan Huevos Rancheros) and chipotle chilli adds an additional level of spice alongside extra smokiness.
💭 FAQs
Here in the UK, we recommend Koko’s cheddar alternative or Applewood’s smoky vegan cheese. There are so many options though and, while vegan cheese can be a bit hit-and-miss, we find almost all the coconut-based blocks to be sufficient. They’re sold in supermarkets and work well when melted inside something like a tofu quesadilla or toasted sandwich.
If you’re looking to go dairy-free, give vegan cheese a go! But if you want to omit the cheese altogether, try replacing it with extra condiments like guacamole, sunflower seed sour cream and salsa.
We love our vegan quesadillas with tofu, mushrooms and peppers. We’d also recommend black beans, kidney beans and vegan chicken alternatives.
Quesadillas are best eaten fresh and we wouldn’t recommend freezing them. The combination of fillings and tortilla won’t reheat well.
🇲🇽 More Mexican inspired recipes to try
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📖 Recipe
Tofu Quesadilla
Ingredients
- 1 onion – sliced
- 4 cloves garlic – crushed
- 280 g firm tofu – sliced
- 300 g chestnut mushrooms – sliced
- 3 peppers – red, yellow or green, sliced
- 2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 4 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
- ½ teaspoon chilli powder
- 6 corn tortillas
- 1.5 cup vegan cheese – grated
- Salt – to taste
Instructions
- Pop a splash oil (or oil spray) to a frying pan, bring to a medium-high heat and chuck in the sliced tofu. Fry until golden brown, stirring regularly, then remove from the pan and set aside for now.280 g firm tofu
- Add another splash of oil to the frying pan and heat up to high heat. Fry the onions for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and give it another minute. Sprinkle in the spices and fry for another minute.1 onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 teaspoon cumin powder, 4 teaspoon smoked paprika powder, ½ teaspoon chilli powder, Salt
- Pop in the mushrooms and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until they’ve reduced in size a bit and released a little water.300 g chestnut mushrooms
- Add the peppers and tofu into the pan and stir until everything is well mixed and coated in the spices. Cook for a couple of minutes just until the peppers and tofu are hot. Take the mix off the heat and prepare the tortillas.3 peppers, 280 g firm tofu
- Heat up a non-stick pan, skillet or flat griddle to medium heat. Lay the first tortilla in the pan and serve up roughly ⅙ of the tofu mix onto half of the tortilla, sprinkle on ¼ cup of the vegan cheese, then fold the other half of the tortilla over the top.6 corn tortillas, 1.5 cup vegan cheese
- Cook the tortilla for around 1 minute on each side, but keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn – different pans and ovens mean this time varies, so be careful! Aim for a light browning and slight crunch to the tortilla.
- Repeat this process another 5 times until you have 6 delicious tofu and mushroom quesadillas!
Notes
- Use super-firm or extra-firm tofu – the kind that comes in a sealed bag and doesn’t need pressing. If you buy the extra-firm tofu that comes in a plastic tray, that’s great too, just press it for an hour or more first to remove some of the water.
- Find the best vegan cheese available to you and use that. And, if you like your quesadillas extra cheesy, add more.
- We wouldn’t recommend storing the quesadillas in the fridge or freezer, as they’re best enjoyed fresh. However, you can make the filling ahead of time, and then put them into the tortillas and heat them, once you're ready to serve.
- Experiment with the spices. If you have ancho chilli powder, try using it in place of the smoked paprika powder. In addition, you can make it spicy by doubling or tripling the chilli powder.
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