These easy vegetarian lettuce wraps are piled with spicy-sweet Jerk grilled tofu and pineapple salsa. They’re a quick and easy, healthy meal for Summer grilling!
Easy Vegetarian Lettuce Wraps
Hiya Monday!
How was the weekend? Mine was pretty uneventful since Mr. FFF was working graveyards all weekend long. You know, just had some good bonding time with my dog.
Don’t be jealous of the wild and crazy life I lead guys.
I know. It’s hard.
Can I try to distract with perfectly tender-crisp meatless lettuce wraps filled to the BRIM with grilled crunchy-on-the-outside-but-so-smoooooooooth-and-creamy-on-the-inside, itty-bitty pieces of the best spicy-sweet House Foods Tofu (<3) and E-A-S-Y pineapple fruit salsa, that your face has ever eaten?
Yes, yes I can. I know the way to your heart.
Through your stomach. 🙂
Let’s just pow-wow for a second though, and talk about the grilled shenanigans going on in these easy vegetarian lettuce wraps mmkay? If you’ve tried to grill tofu before, you may have had a major SAD FACE 🙁 experience when it stuck to the grill, was mushy and just generally not what your crunchy-tofu-person-loving self had in mind because you weren’t trying to make a tofu scramble ya know?
How to grill tofu
- To grill tofu, you want to cut the brick of tofu in 3 inch slices. You will then want to lay the slices on paper towel and really press out the moisture. Repeat until you have pressed out as much moisture as possible!
- If using a marinade, like we are here, now is the time to let that tofu soak!
- Preheat your grill to high heat. Once heated, turn down to low and place the marinated tofu on the outer edges of the grill, over indirect heat.
- Close the lid and cook until one side is crispy, about 10 minutes. Flip and cook another 10-12 minutes!
There you have it! THISSSS Jerk-marinated grilled tofu, well, it is not a JERK at all because it’s, like, realllly crispety.
See what I did there? Just laugh.
PLUS PLUS PLUS, it even gets GRILL marks. Let’s be reals, we eat with our eyeballs first. If you give me something that’s grilled, I need to PEEP it on the food.
I actually learned this technique from the interwebz, because I feared the above fate would come for this tofu. I meeeaaaan, it’s a LEEEETLE bit more work than just cutting it, slapping it on the grill and calling it dinner.
But, if you do that, you might not be calling it dinner.
Just sayin’.
And really. It’s not extra WORK, just some extra time waiting, ‘cause this tofu needs to be cooked on some IN-direct heat and looowwww and slow. But, doesn’t most good food need to be?
You know I’m right.
When making this tofu lettuce wrap recipe, you also want to cut your tofu into SLABS. Read: Like, really REALLY thick.
Oh and don’t forget to press the water out before grilling. I mean, that pretty much goes for ANY tofu cooking method. But, maybe you got so distracted by the alllll the YUM going on here, that you’re brain just kind of forgot key points.
I wouldn’t blame you. It happens.
Especially when I know you want to start your week by stuffing your face with meatless NUMS. AKA: Juicy, fresh pieces of summer-food pineapple all mixed with that spicy-sweet-smoky-crunchy texture-freak-self-is-majorly-loving-this grilled tofu.
It’s not a traditional jerk recipe. It ain’t no easy jerk chicken recipe or jerk shrimp stew.
Regardless, I am asking you to banish your previous notions of tofu-on-the-barbie guys, because these easy vegetarian lettuce wraps are not a sad face at all.
Meatless Monday. It NEEDS YOU.
And it would be rude to not give it what it asks.
Which is this vegan lettuce wrap recipe. Just FYI.
Ingredients
For the marinade:
- 1 tsp Habanero Chili diced
- 1/2 Cup Red onion roughly chopped
- 1 tsp Fresh ginger minced
- 2 tsp Fresh garlic minced
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 2 tsps Allspice powder
- 2 tsps Nutmeg powder
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp Reduced-sodium Soy sauce
- 2 tsp Fresh lime juice
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp Olive oil + additional to oil the grill
- Salt/pepper
- 1 Package House Foods Firm Tofu
For the salsa:
- 2/3 Cup Pineapple finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp Red onion minced
- 2 tsp Fresh Lime juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp Cilantro minced
- Salt/pepper
- 1 Head Iceberg lettuce
Instructions
- In a small food processor (mine is 3 cups), combine the chili, red onion, ginger, garlic, thyme, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coconut sugar, soy sauce, lime juice, oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend, scraping the sides down every so often, until a slightly chunky paste forms. Set aside.
- Cut the tofu in half, and then cut each half into 3 slices, each about 1/2 inch thick.
- Place the tofu on a layer of paper towel and then cover with an additional layer and press out the moisture. Repeat with new paper towels until you've squeezed as much moisture out as possible. I did this 4 times.
- Place the tofu in a large dish and pour the marinade over top. Turn the tofu over and rub the marinade on top to make sure both sides get evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours - overnight.
- Preheat your grill to high heat for 10 minutes. Once hot, scrape the grill down really clean and rub it generously with olive oil (a super clean and oiled grill is one of the keys to crispy tofu).
- Scrape any excess chunks of marinade off the tofu, and place the slabs on the OUTSIDE edges of the grill, where the heat is indirect and turn the grill down to low. Close the lid and cook until the outside of the tofu is lightly crispy and has nice grill marks, about 10-13 minutes. Flip and cook an additional 10-13 minutes.
- While the tofu cooks, combine the chopped pineapple, red onion, lime juice and cilantro in a medium bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Once the tofu is cooked rub the reserved excess marinade on each slab and finely chop into small cubes.
- Spoon the tofu into the lettuce leaves, top with salsa and DEVOUR.
Nutrition Info:
Recipes written and produced on Food Faith Fitness are for informational purposes only.
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Want more easy meatless meals?
Vegetarian Red Lentil Curry Sweet Potato Bowls
Healthy Pasta Salad with Tofu Noodles
Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Zucchini Noodles
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Sandra Laflamme says
We have been loving lettuce wraps lately! I may have to try these for our Meatless Mondays!
Taylor Kiser says
They’re my favorite! I hope you love them if you do try them – thanks Sandra!
Lisa @ Healthy Nibbles & Bits says
LOVE grilled tofu and all the spices you packed into this! It was great seeing you in Portland!!!
Taylor Kiser says
YES! So great seeing you too girl! Thank you!
Cathy Pollak ~ Noble Pig says
What a great vegetarian option! I never thought of this with a lettuce wrap.
Taylor Kiser says
Thank you Cathy!
Lauren @ Healthy Delicious says
It never occurred to me to try grilling tofu – I’m totally trying this ASAP! I love everything and anything jerk, so this recipe is definitely right up my alley.
Taylor Kiser says
It gives it SO much texture! Thank you Lauren!