![Roasted Shrimp Cocktail With Horseradish Sauce](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2023/05/17/multimedia/17apperex-shrimp-lzbf/17apperex-shrimp-lzbf-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Nashville-Style Hot Tofu Sliders
![Nashville-Style Hot Tofu Sliders](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/10/26/dining/kc-nashville-style-hot-tofu-sliders/kc-nashville-style-hot-tofu-sliders-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 8tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1tablespoon Louisiana-style hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
- 1tablespoon ground cayenne
- 1teaspoon black pepper
- ½teaspoon garlic powder
- ½teaspoon onion powder
- 1(14- to 16-ounce) package firm tofu, drained
- ¼cup whole milk
- ½cup white rice flour
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- 2tablespoons cornstarch
- 2teaspoons baking powder
- Kosher salt
- ½cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled seltzer or club soda
- Vegetable oil, for shallow frying
- Mayonnaise
- 8slider buns or 4 slices white bread
- Lettuce, such as iceberg or butter
- Sliced dill pickles
For the Hot Butter
For the Tofu
For Assembly
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the hot butter: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk until well blended. Set aside.
- Step 2
Make the tofu: With a hand on top of the tofu, cut parallel to the cutting board so that you have two equal rectangles. Quarter each of those rectangles, so you have eight pieces. Arrange sliced tofu on a paper towel-lined plate and top with another layer of paper towels; press to remove excess water.
- Step 3
Place milk and rice flour in 2 separate shallow bowls. In a medium bowl whisk all-purpose flour, cornstarch and baking powder, and season with salt; add seltzer and gently whisk just to combine. Do not overmix; a few lumps in the batter are OK.
- Step 4
Heat ½ inch of oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium to 375 degrees. Working with 4 pieces of tofu at a time, dredge in milk, then in the rice flour, pressing all sides of tofu into the rice flour. (The tofu should be completely coated with flour.) Dip in the batter, allowing excess to drip off, and add to oil. Fry undisturbed until batter sets, about 2 minutes. Continue to fry, turning gently, until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes longer, adjusting heat as necessary to stay close to 375 degrees. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, and season with salt. Repeat dredging and frying with the remaining tofu.
- Step 5
Spread mayonnaise on the insides of buns. (If using sliced bread, cut into quarters for slider-size portions.) Arrange lettuce on bottom buns. Gently turn each piece of tofu in the hot butter to evenly coat, then place on top of lettuce. Drizzle with more hot butter, top with pickles and finish with bun tops. Serve warm.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
You can skip rice flour and milk unless you want a thicker breading. Coat tofu with cornstarch and fry it. I do it all the time. For extra crunch, coat tofu and let it sit a few minutes, then coat again.
Not hard for vegans to sub at all. Anything that calls for butter, if vegan, use Miyoko's cultured butter and if you can't find that any plant based butter will do, but none taste as good as Miyoko's. I prefer oat milk for dairy sub. It's creamier than almond or soy.
you can put a bit of rice in a food processor and grind it to a powder
what can i use if I don't have rice flour??
I am not vegan but I eat mainly vegetarian. Getting enough protein (and not overdoing it on fats and carbs) is a constant struggle. I LOVE cheese - but my heart and digestive health don’t. There’s definitely an audience for tofu, even for people who aren’t vegan!
Freeze your firm tofu at least once. Drain, then weighted, refreeze if you have time. It really dries it out nicely to accept marinades and changes complexity of chew.
RE: Rice Flour: Substitute with all-purpose flour. The major difference between the two is protein content: 6-7% for rice vs 9-10% for AP, which makes breads (e.g., Vietnamese-style baguettes for banh mi, which combine wheat & rice flours) softer than regular bread. Here, I'm not sure it makes a difference.
Corn starch can substitute for rice flour.
I love to air-fry tofu. It comes out crispy on the outside and soft and creamy inside. Easy to make vegan too. Substitue milk & Butter for plant-based products. Use Veganaise instead of regular mayo.
Made these and the texture of the tofu was perfect! Super tasty. I served with some homemade coleslaw and sliced cucumber on top,, which added some vinegar and crunch to the dish (for those who said it was too bland with just mayo).
This recipe is so delicious. Don’t worry about it if you don’t have rice flour - we just dredged in AP flour and it worked totally fine.
And not every vegetarian recipe makes a good vegan recipe. Its pretty clear that butter is playing a role contributing to flavor and therefore that changing to a form of oil may change the flavor of the dish. Similarly, milk is more than just a liquid and some of the obvious alternatives - soy milk, rice milk, - may not provide the same coating effect that regular milk provides. Certain substitutions might work and yield a good dish, but whether it would be the same dish is another matter,
Often people eat tofu because the like it, not because they wish they were eating paneer but find it unacceptable.
tofu (or anything else) in simple beer batter easier. flour, (all purpose or rice combo if you like, or Panko if you like crispy) corn starch(either in batter or dry and dredge product) and salt, use beer ( Lighter for light, darker for sweeter and heavier) as only liquid, whisk in to make batter to consistency you prefer, and dip pre-dried anything, tofu, fish, chicken in batter and fry in 375 degree peanut oil.
Options include plant milk...cashew, almond, oat, etc. Vegan butter is readily available and can be substituted in most recipes.
Actually half the butter
For decades, I have been coating tofu in nutritional yeast, drizzling with tamari and frying in sunflower oil until crisp, and my carnivore husband demolishes it. It never occurred to me to give it the Nashville chicken sandwich treatment and that was a delicious next-level way to eat fried tofu!
Sooo good, a big hit! Made as written.
What about gf, can I make it with gf flour in place of ap? Seems like some are saying cornstarch, but is that along with rice flour?
Really good! I made as written but used potato starch in place of rice flour and used light beer for seltzer (since this reads like a beer batter recipe). Served this with homemade spicy dill pickle slices, which really completed the dish. Next time I'd cut the tofu into long thirds before quartering, as my sliders were thicc with the tofu block cut only in half lengthwise as the recipe calls. This would make 12 sliders fwiw.
This is a good idea, but the final product is bland. I would make tofu sliders again, but I'd brine the tofu in salted water first, squeeze out some of its liquid, and use a different, more flavorful sauce recipe entirely.
Really really yummy!
I accidentally put the rice flour in with the flour and spices this time, so once dredged in the rice flour (as directed) solo AND the batter they ended up extra crispy and wonderful. I cut these into pieces I thought would be good instead of too thick and they were perfect. Also eye-balled the seltzer. This recipe is so forgiving! Would add more hot sauce and cayenne next time for kick. Love the idea of cole slaw! So easy and so good.
We thoroughly enjoyed them.
Can this be done in an air fryer instead ?
Cooked as written but dredged tofu in rice flour twice as another reviewer recommended. The CRUNCH was incredible, I can’t believe this came out of my boat galley! The batter seemed light and really puffed up. The fried tofu was hearty and filling. We used Frank’s hot sauce. Served with coleslaw & cucumbers on a toasted bun. Would absolutely cook this again!
Would recommend using your hot frying oil instead of the butter. Piping hot oil brings distinct flavor out of the spices, especially the chili. Hot oil and spices is a technique I see a lot in Indian cuisines and is the way I see the spicy oil prepared in a lot of hot chicken recipes.
12/29/21. Vacay in Galveston with YB fam. Very good! A bit labor intensive- but worth it.
Second time I've had these. Only had English Muffins - toasted them and they were fine. Next time I may try slicing in 3rds - they're a little thick. I popped in the oven to make sure they stayed crispy/cooked through.
This is a GREAT recipe. I make my own red lentil tofu from the Power Hungry site, bake for 25 minutes at 400 and then proceed with the instructions. I do cook the sauce on the stove top - raw spices can have bacteria, etc. I found I needed a bit more seltzer. The crust is crispy and delicious and the sauce is so yummy. I'm dairy and soy allergic, so I subbed Miyoko's butter and almond milk. Perfection.
Advertisement