Maple-Roasted Tofu With Butternut Squash and Bacon Recipe (2024)

Your recipes are excellent, but I'm dismayed by your telling people to use clingfilm/plastic wrap, plastic bags, foil, paper towels -- that stuff is never needed, and we're destroying the planet, our only home. In this case, designate a few kitchen towels for drying veg and tofu -- wash them separately (vinegar is a natural antibacterial) and use them only for food prep. Generations managed without paper towels (and foil and plastic), and we can too. Thanks.

What about the fish sauce? Disappointing that the instructions for veganizing this ignore that ingredient.

Not a vegan myself but wondering if liquid smoke could be incorporated to replace the bacon flavor.

Patricia -- Cooks Illustrated and Minimalist Baker provide recipes for vegan fish sauce; Gourmet Sleuth offers a vegetarian recipe.If these are too labor-intensive (they are for me), it might be possible to use a tiny amount of vegan Worcestershire (original Worcestershire is fish-based), coconut aminos, or vegan soy sauce or tamari -- not sure, though, because I don't know what fish sauce tastes like and thus don't know how to approximate it.

This was scrumptious. Using two sheet pans and rotating them when I flipped the tofu gave everything enough room to roast rather than steam.

Definitely one of my favorite week night recipes! Some of my hacks - - prepped the sauce in a bowl without thickening it over the stove top. Was totally fine, I just added more of it to the veggies than the tofu so the tofu wouldn’t get soaked.- just put the tofu on a separate cookie sheet. Way easier to baste and flip.- to veganize, use smoked sea salt as a garnish and drop the fish sauce. The fish sauce wasn’t even noticeable in the recipe for me. - 1/2 tsp of cayenne for a kick

We made this and liked it. But I would suggest, at the risk of slightly complicating the method, cooking the tofu separately in a fry pan with some liquid aminos. I think it will come out firmer and crisper than it does on the sheet pan, even after broiling.

This was a disappointing recipe. The veggies had good flavor but were literally steamed into mush. The "glaze" was runny and oily and gave no flavor at all to the tofu. I appreciate sheet pan recipes, but no one in my house likes to eat mushy steamed Brussels sprouts.

Also added in whole garlic cloves at the twenty minute mark—delicious!

Is there any part of this you can do ahead besides preparing the vegetables? It seems like a lot to do on a weeknight.

This was a big hit in my house. Only substitution I made was 1/2 soy sauce and 1/2 rice vinegar for the fish sauce (I thought I had some but didn’t). Even my tofu adversed husband was into this one! I did cut my tofu a bit thinner than an inch and would even go to 1/2” next time. Served over jasmine rice and we ate it all up.

To veganize: Lightlife bacon and vegan fish sauce

A good way to add more veggies into the dinner rotation. Didn’t have maple syrup so we substituted in honey and brown sugar, and also added some black bean paste which made it really flavorful.

While the overall taste of the sauce (+sage and coriander) was good, this was too sweet for my taste. Next time I'll go with 2 tbsp maple syrup and add some rice vinegar. Subbed tempeh for the tofu for my husband's sake, and cooked it in a pan so it got nicely caramelized. Left off bacon and fish sauce; the smoked paprika was a good addition. Will make again with less maple syrup.

I really liked the flavor of this dish, but the veggies were a little mushy. Next time, I'll spread them out more (3 little baking sheets) and cook them for a shorter time at a higher temp (30 mins at 425 is my standard for most veggies). I think that marinating the tofu in the glaze before roasting it would give it more flavor too.

One of the best recipes we have found in the NYT Cooking app. All the flavors blended together perfectly. Delightful and unique balance between veggies, bacon, and sweetness of the maple syrup. We substituted the tofu with Bread Cheese and it was amazing. We also added some carrot coins about the same size of the butternut squash and that made the emal even more dynamic.

A lot of work for a disjointed dish. None of the ingredients meld weld in a mouthful. The sauce is tasty, but doesn’t unify. I won’t make this again.

Loved the recipe as is! The second time I made it as a side by leaving out the tofu and mixing all of the roasted veggies and glaze with tri-color quinoa. Adding it to our Thanksgiving table this year!

This just isn’t very good. Timing and textures and bland tofu, oh my.

Shred or slice Brussels sprouts. Could try cauliflower in place of sprouts.

Easy to substitute whatever veggies you have. I sauteed the tofu instead until it was crispy as I didn't have room on the sheetpan- it still turned out delicious. I also drizzled light sesame oil over rice for a side.

Our family is vegetarian, so we substituted Morningstar veggie bacon and omitted fish sauce. Otherwise made recipe exactly as written. Delicious and satisfying weeknight dinner!

Substituted chipotle for the bacon and left out fish sauce to veganise, sweet potatoes for the squash (because I love them more) and cooked the tofu in the toaster oven. Delicious recipe!

This recipe should only be used as a very general suggestion for the meal. Don't follow it to the letter! You will end up with mushy, overcooked vegetables and flavorless tofu. After following it the first time I realized it needs the following changes: marinate the tofu in the glaze overnight before roasting. Also, the vegetables need less than half the time the recipe states to cook through. Either less time and a higher temp, or put the veg on two trays so they don't steam from crowding.

This has become a staple in my house - we cannot get enough of it. I think the bacon fat is a necessity for texture, and am sorry to say I have not found a vegan/veggie alternative that makes brussels sprouts as delicious. I agree with commenters that this tends towards the 'sweet' end of 'sweet and savory'. If you don't like much sweetness on your dinner plate, skip the addition of maple syrup entirely, as the squash caramelizes very nicely even without it.

Two ways to make this meal better: 1) Let your tofu marinate in the sauce for 30 minutes or so (maybe while you chop the veggies) so the tofu actually takes on flavor and the sauce doesn't just roll of the tofu and become burnt sludge on your sheet pan. 2) line your sheet pan(s) with parchment paper (see #1).

This is delicious! I skip the fish sauce and it still has a ton of flavor.

Typically I associate one pan/pot recipes with simplicity. This wasn’t a difficult recipe to make by any means but definitely too many steps for such a small reward. Both my husband and I found the flavors to be bland and too sweet. We decided to make it the “vegan way” although we did use fish sauce. Honestly, if you’re vegan, skip this recipe. There are many many more recipes worth the effort. It wasn’t bad. Just not worth the effort. If there is a next time, I’ll probably use the bacon.

This was an amazing dish. One improvement would be to marinated the Tofu first and sauté the bacon a little bit adding the rendered bacon fat to the mixture used when tossing the vegetables.

slice tofu thinner.