Copycat Panda Express Eggplant Tofu Recipe

Panda Express eggplant tofu is cubes of fried tofu, eggplant and red capsicum tossed through a dark, glossy ginger and garlic sauce. Only some restaurants carry it, which is why people go looking for the recipe. This copycat gets you the same dish in about 30 minutes with ingredients from any grocery store, and everything is fried separately then combined at the end.

What makes it taste like the restaurant version

Everything is fried separately. Tofu, then eggplant, then capsicum, each on its own and drained before the next goes in. It feels fussy for a weeknight and it is the reason the restaurant version has three distinct textures instead of one soft mass. Eggplant and tofu cook at completely different speeds, and a wok with both in it will always overcook one.

The eggplant gets salted first. Twenty minutes with salt on it pulls out water and stops it drinking half the bottle of oil. Eggplant is a sponge, and this is the step that decides whether the finished dish is glossy or greasy.

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The sauce goes in last and thickens fast. It hits a hot wok, comes together in about a minute, and everything gets folded through it off the heat. Cook the sauce with the vegetables in the pan and the eggplant collapses.

Panda Express Eggplant Tofu Recipe

• Prep time: 15 minutes
• Salting time: 20 minutes
• Cook time: 20 minutes
• Total time: 55 minutes
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the dish

• 450g firm tofu, drained and pressed
• 1 large eggplant, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 red capsicums, cut into chunks
• ½ cup vegetable oil, for frying
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil leaves, torn
• Sesame seeds, to serve

For the sauce

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon chilli paste
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ tablespoon vegan oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons cold water

Instructions

1. Salt the eggplant. Cube it, scatter over a teaspoon of salt, toss, and leave in a colander for 20 minutes. Pat dry with paper towel. Do this first and the rest moves quickly.
2. Make the sauce base. Whisk the garlic, ginger, chilli paste, soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, sugar and oyster sauce together in a bowl. Keep the cornstarch slurry separate for now.
3. Fry the tofu. Cut the pressed tofu into 2cm cubes. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high. Fry the tofu until golden on most sides, about 6 minutes, then lift onto a paper-towel-lined plate.
4. Fry the eggplant. Add more oil, then the eggplant. Stir until soft and golden, 6 to 8 minutes. It will take up oil at first and release it again as it softens, so resist adding more after the first minute. Drain with the tofu.
5. Fry the capsicum. One tablespoon of oil, 2 minutes, still with a bit of bite. Drain.
6. Finish the sauce. Wipe the wok, add a splash of oil and pour in the sauce base. When it bubbles, stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook about 1 minute until it is thick and glossy.
7. Combine. Take the wok off the heat, return the tofu, eggplant and capsicum, and fold gently until everything is coated. Scatter over the spring onions, basil and sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Tips

• Press the tofu properly, at least 20 minutes under something heavy. Wet tofu will not brown and will spit in hot oil.
• Fold, do not stir, at the end. Fried eggplant is fragile and it only takes a few hard turns to break it down.
• Arrowroot works in place of cornstarch, and liquid aminos in place of soy sauce, if you need the dish gluten free.
• Bake the eggplant at 220C for 20 minutes instead of frying it if you would rather use less oil. The texture is drier but it holds together better.

What to serve it with

It is a main dish in the restaurant, so it wants rice and one or two other things beside it.

• Steamed jasmine rice, which is what the restaurant serves it on
• Vegan chow mein for the full takeaway spread
• KFC-style vegan fried chicken if you are feeding people who want something crisp
• Vegan tofu Milanese for a different way with the other half of the block
• A plain cucumber salad, cold and sharp, to cut the sweetness of the sauce

Storing and reheating

Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The eggplant softens as it sits and the sauce thickens, so it is at its best on day one.

Reheat in a hot frying pan rather than the microwave. Two minutes with a splash of water to loosen the sauce brings it back much closer to how it started. The microwave turns the eggplant to mush.

It does not freeze well. Both the tofu and the eggplant change texture badly on thawing.

Variations

• More substance. Mushrooms, chickpeas or cashews all fit the sauce.
• Less oil. Bake the eggplant and air fry the tofu instead of frying either.
• Hotter. Extra chilli paste, or dried red chillies into the oil before the sauce.
• Gluten free. Liquid aminos instead of soy sauce, arrowroot instead of cornstarch, and check the oyster sauce.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Panda Express still sell eggplant tofu?

It is a regional item rather than a national one, so it comes and goes and only some restaurants carry it. That is exactly why the copycat gets searched for as often as it does.

Is Panda Express eggplant tofu vegan?

The dish itself is plant-based, though the restaurant prepares it in shared woks, so cross-contact is likely. Made at home with vegan oyster sauce it is fully vegan, which is one of the better reasons to make it yourself.

Is eggplant tofu gluten free?

Not as written, because of the soy sauce and the oyster sauce. Swap in liquid aminos or tamari, use arrowroot instead of cornstarch, and check the label on the oyster sauce, and it can be.

Do I have to salt the eggplant?

You do not have to, but it is the difference between glossy and greasy. Twenty minutes with salt pulls water out of the flesh so it takes up far less oil in the pan. It is the single most useful step in the recipe.

Why did my eggplant soak up all the oil?

It was not salted first, or the pan was not hot enough when it went in. Eggplant takes up oil greedily in the first minute and then gives some back as it softens, so the instinct to keep adding more is the trap. Get the pan properly hot and wait it out.

Can I bake or air fry instead of frying?

Yes. Eggplant at 220C for about 20 minutes, tofu in the air fryer at 200C for 15. Drier and firmer than the fried version rather than identical, but far less oil and less watching.

What can I use instead of vegan oyster sauce?

A tablespoon of hoisin plus a splash of soy gets close. It is there for depth and a little sweetness rather than anything seafood-like.

How many calories are in it?

That depends entirely on how much oil ends up in the pan, which is the variable this recipe is built around. Panda Express publishes figures for its own version on its site. For a home version, run your own quantities through a nutrition calculator, because the oil alone can swing it by a long way.

The short version

Salt the eggplant, fry the three components separately, thicken the sauce on its own, then fold everything together off the heat. Frying separately is what makes it taste like the restaurant, and salting the eggplant is what stops it tasting like an oil slick.

• eggplant tofu
• panda express