Barbecue vegan nuggets

- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Makes 12 nuggets
These plant-based tofu nuggets have the snackiness you crave and plenty of delicious barbecue flavour, too. Dunk in barbecue sauce for the ultimate vegan snack.
Ingredients
For the nugget filling
- 250g/9oz potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 200g/7oz firm tofu, cubed and patted dry
- 2 tsp vegan stock powder
- ½ tsp paprika
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp plain flour
- salt
- sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying
For the batter
- 150ml/5½fl oz oat milk
- 100g/3½oz dairy-free Greek-style yoghurt
- 125g/4½oz plain flour
- 2 tbsp barbecue seasoning
Method
Cook the potatoes in a pan of boiling, salted water for 10 minutes until cooked through. Drain and leave to dry and cool slightly.
Meanwhile, put the tofu on a chopping board and use a large kitchen knife to crush and flatten it, so it starts to look like breadcrumbs.
Wrap the crushed tofu in a clean tea towel and squeeze as much liquid out as you can. Then, tip it into a mixing bowl and add the stock powder, paprika, garlic and onion powders and the black pepper, mixing them together with a fork. Season with salt.
Mash the potatoes using a potato masher until very smooth. Add them to the tofu mixture with the plain flour, and combine using your hands. Shape the mixture into 12 equal-sized nuggets.
To make the batter, whisk together the oat milk, dairy-free yoghurt and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Combine the plain flour with the BBQ seasoning in a separate bowl.
Dip a nugget into the oat milk mixture to coat, then into the seasoned flour, coating all sides. Set aside on a plate while you repeat with the remaining nuggets.
Heat about 1cm/½in oil in a large non-stick pan over a medium–high heat. The oil is hot enough when a cube of bread sizzles when added to the pan.
Add half the nuggets to the pan and cook for 3 minutes on each side until golden and crisp. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper while you cook the remaining nuggets. Serve hot with barbecue sauce, mayonnaise or ketchup.
Recipe tips
Replace the BBQ seasoning in the batter with Cajun, jerk or fajita seasoning, if you like.