Are you wanting to try Panda Express eggplant tofu, but can't find a restaurant that carries it on their menu? The wait is over. Our copycat recipe is everything you hoped it would be: sweet, spicy, savory, and finger licking good.
Looking for Chinese sides to serve with this? You'll love our Panda Express chow mein or Panda Express super greens. Don't miss our collection of 9 Panda Express stir fry recipes, too!
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Why This Recipe Works
- Our copycat Panda Express eggplant tofu sauce has just the right combination of sweet, spicy and savory.
- We cook the tofu, eggplant, and red pepper in batches in oil using a wok so the ingredients can brown; otherwise it will be over crowded and steam.
- The aromatics are cooked for only 30 seconds so they're golden brown.
- After the sauce has thickened in the wok, everything is added back and gently stirred to coat each piece.
Ingredients
The ingredients for our copycat Panda Express Eggplant tofu are easy to find at your local grocery store and keep well in your pantry or fridge. None of them are expensive, so feel free to stock up so you can make this delicious recipe whenever the mood strikes.
- Fat: We used olive oil, but you can use any other high smoke point oil.
- Vegetables: We used eggplant, red bell peppers, and green onion.
- Aromatics: We used garlic and ginger.
- Liquids: We used vegetable broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sambal oelek (fresh ground chili paste).
- Thickener: We used cornstarch, but you can also use arrowroot.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Gluten Free: Use gluten free vegetable broth, liquid aminos, and arrowroot.
- Spicy: Increase the red pepper flakes in the aromatics and the chili paste.
- Extra Protein: Add shiitake mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork.
- Garnish Options: Add white and black sesame seeds.
- Lower Fat: You can bake or air fry the eggplant to reduce the oil, but this will change the texture.
How to Make
Gather all the ingredients. Make sure the tofu is drained and pressed before cutting into cubes.
- To make the sauce, whisk all the ingredients together in a 2 cup measuring cup or a bowl then set aside. It will make one cup of sauce.
- Heat up 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok over medium high heat, then add the cubed tofu and fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Add more oil to the wok and stir fry the eggplant until soft. You'll need to add more oil while stir frying, as it will soak up the oil quickly. Drain it on a separate paper towel lined plate.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil and stir fry the red bell peppers until soft, roughly 2 minutes, then drain on top of the eggplant.
- Add ½ tablespoon of oil to the wok and stir fry the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes for 30 seconds, then remove.
- Whisk the sauce and pour it into the wok to let it thicken, roughly 1 minute.
- Add the tofu, vegetables, and garlic mixture back to the wok, then gently stir until well coated.
- Serve our copycat Panda Express eggplant tofu warm with a garnish of green onion.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, but it is a regional dish, and is only available at select restaurants where the demand for it is high. Generally speaking, it's only available at restaurants in California and Hawaii.
On the Panda Express website they state their eggplant tofu is a "mixture of browned tofu, eggplant, red bell pepper all in a proprietary sweet and spicy sauce." Unfortunately, it is high in fat due to the oil used in frying the eggplant.
As of 2023, there are six vegan items on their menu: eggplant tofu (available at select locations), super greens, chow mein, and steamed brown or white rice. The only vegan appetizer is their vegetable spring roll.
Serve
Since Panda Express markets this recipe as a side dish, you'll want to serve it with another side or appetizer like steamed white rice, or our copycat Panda Express fried rice, or cream cheese rangoons.
Store
- Make Ahead: You can prep all the ingredients ahead of time, but it's best to make this right before you want to eat it.
- Leftovers: You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: We don't recommend freezing leftovers as the texture will change when thawed and reheated.
Expert Tips
- To make this go smoothly, have everything ready before cooking.
- Drain the tofu and vegetables on paper towel-lined plates to absorb the extra oil.
- This recipe calls for a lot of oil because the eggplant absorbs a lot of it during the cooking process.
- Reduce the amount of oil needed by salting the eggplant and letting it drain in a colander for 20 minutes, or try baking or air frying the eggplant. This other cooking methods will change the texture.
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Recipe
Panda Express Eggplant Tofu Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ¼ cup soy sauce or liquid aminos
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
- 2 tablespoons water
For the Stir Fry
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 pound eggplant, cut in chunks
- 1 pound extra firm tofu, cubed
- 2 red bell peppers, cut in chunks
- 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, grated
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoons green onion, chopped (optional)
Equipment
Instructions
- Whisk all the sauce ingredients in a bowl or a measuring cup.
- Drain the tofu. We used super firm, which doesn't need to be pressed. If you're using extra firm, press the tofu for 30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
- Cut the tofu into cubes. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a wok over medium high heat, then add the tofu. Fry in oil until golden, then drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok, then add the eggplant and stir fry until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir constantly, adding more oil when needed, as it soaks up the oil quickly. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil, stir fry the red bell peppers for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Drain on a plate.
- Heat ½ tablespoon of oil, then add the garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes and stir fry for 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Whisk the sauce again, then pour it into the empty wok and cook until it thickens, about a minute.
- Add the garlic mixture and mix it with the sauce, then add the vegetables and tofu. Gently stir until everything is coated with the sauce.
- Serve warm, and garnish with green onion and sesame seeds.
Video
Notes
- To make this go smoothly, have everything ready before cooking.
- Drain the tofu and vegetables on paper towel-lined plates to absorb the extra oil.
- This recipe calls for a lot of oil because the eggplant absorbs a lot of it during the cooking process.
- Reduce the amount of oil needed by salting the eggplant and letting it drain in a colander for 20 minutes, or try baking or air frying the eggplant. This other cooking methods will change the texture.
Nutrition
Serving sizes and nutritional information are only an estimate and may vary from your results.
Kristen
Great recipe! I did air fry the tofu and eggplant to save on oil. I added garlic chives instead of green onion. I used allulose instead of sugar to keep this lower carb and save calories. Wonderful recipe, thank you!
Emma
We're so glad you enjoyed it, Kristen! Thanks for making our recipe!
Fran
Loved this. Rarely cooked tofu, as husband never cared for it, but he liked this. Couldn’t face frying the eggplant, so tossed the cubes in canola oil, and roasted them on a sheet pan in a 400F degree oven until soft. That left time to prepare the other steps. Forgot to add the slurry to the sauce mixture until almost done, so added it at the end and stirred for a few more minutes. Turned out fine.
Emma
We're so glad that you both enjoyed this, Fran! Thanks for making our recipe!
Lola Kitten
SO good. Made half the recipe and loved it. I air-fried the eggplant at 400 as someone else said for about 5 minutes and it was amazing. Thanks for such a great copycat recipe.
Emma
Lola, We are thrilled that you loved our copycat recipe!
Lilly
Air fried the eggplant at 400 F for 10 minutes (turning halfway) to use less oil overall, otherwise followed the recipe exactly and it tasted great! The sauce is spot on.
Emma
We're so glad you enjoyed it, Lilly! Thanks for sharing your comment!
Marji Morrow
This eggplant tofu recipe is absolutely delicious, thank you. My only complaint is that the instructions section doesn't "scale". I only wanted to make half the recipe and when I selected 0.5x the ingredient quantities seem so be halved correctly. But when I followed the instructions there were mentions of how much oil to use in the various steps...and they were the original amount. I figured it out after the tofu step when I clearly had too much oil and then I scaled it back.
Emma
We're glad that you enjoyed it so much, Marji! Unfortunately, our recipe cards don't have the ability to scale ingredients mentioned in the instructions section. When changing the yield, always go by what the ingredient section says. 🙂
Anna
Loved this so much. The sauce is spot on. I cubed and microwaved the eggplant in single layer for 4-5 min and that helped soften it before the stir fry. I like my eggplant very soft so that worked out. Just moved to Oregon and was very sad that the Panda Express’ here do not have this dish! But now I can just make it at home! 😊
Emma
After consulting the map of Panda Express locations, it seems that most of the Panda Expresses that carry eggplant tofu are located in California. I'm so glad we can help you recreate this dish at home!
Janice
delicious!!! a fair bit of work involved with the separate frying of ingredients but totally worth it!
Emma
This is one of our family's favorite meals--so we're glad that you enjoyed it so much, Janice!
Lynn
Excellent and easy!
Emma
So glad you enjoyed it, Lynn!
QB
The empty plates at my dinner table tell me that this recipe was a success! Thank you for figuring out the sauce. I added onion, used Asian eggplant, and used canola oil instead of olive oil so I could fry things at a higher heat. I also used about half of the sauce to steam fry the eggplant, so that less oil was used in general. This was very good and will be made again.
Emma
We're so glad that you and your family enjoyed the eggplant so much! Thanks for making our recipe.