Greek Tofu Breakfast Sandwiches (Vegan)

In these vegan Greek tofu breakfast sandwiches, English muffins are topped with lemon herb baked tofu, olives, tomato, and cashew tzatziki sauce for a fabulous plant-powered meal that you can enjoy for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! 

Happy Monday! As usual, I hope that you had an enjoyable weekend and that the coming week treats you well. My university reading break is this week, and even though I have decided to stay in Ottawa this year and won’t be travelling anywhere, it will be nice not to have any virtual classes to attend. I’ll try and get ahead on some work to lighten up my load for the remainder of the term, since I am going to be starting some science course upgrading in November, too. 

This vegan breakfast sandwich recipe is a venture into the territory of savoury breakfasts, though they can be enjoyed at any meal during the day. (We actually ate them for dinner!) I just called them “breakfast sandwiches” because they are served on English muffins, which seem very breakfast-y to me! I always prefer something on the sweeter side in the morning, and had actually never had a savoury breakfast until a few years ago, when my friend made miso mushroom soup for us the morning after a particularly indulgent feast, but if you love savoury breakfasts, you can definitely enjoy these as your morning repast. To lighten your workload in the morning, you could just prepare the tofu and tzatziki the night before. 

These breakfast sammies are just so tasty! We have made them a few times now, and we love them- especially as we enter into the grey, gloomy months in Canada, since the flavours and colours are reminiscent of the warm and sunny Mediterranean. They consist of lemon herb baked tofu “steaks” (which will remind you of Greek chicken), cashew tzatziki, tomato, pickled onions, mixed greens, olives, and optional hummus piled high atop English muffins. I recently discovered the Silver Hills brand sprouted grain English muffins, and even though I’m trying not to buy many packaged foods (because of the plastic), I made an exception for these. If you can find them, I highly recommend them- they have a great texture and are easy to digest. If you’re feeling really adventurous, you can even make your own English muffins. I plan to do that the next time I make them! 

INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED

• FOR THE GREEK TOFU: Firm or extra-firm tofu, olive oil, tamari, arrowroot, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, oregano, and basil. Pressing the tofu is not necessary, but you are welcome to take that extra step if you like a “meatier” texture. 
• FOR THE CASHEW TZATZIKI: Raw cashews (soaked and drained), cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, sea salt, pepper, and water. 
• FOR THE SANDWICHES: English muffins, hummus (homemade or store-bought- optional), pickled red onions (optional), olives, sliced tomato, and mixed greens or lettuce. 

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Marinate the tofu: Slice the tofu into 8 rectangles. (See photo for reference.) Place in a rectangular baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, tamari, arrowroot, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, oregano, and basil. Pour over the tofu, making sure that each slice is coated in marinade. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate. 
2. Bake the tofu: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Transfer the marinated tofu slices to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Reserve remaining marinade to drizzle over the tofu towards the end of baking. Bake the tofu “steaks” for 30-35 minutes. In the final five minutes, carefully drizzle a little bit of the marinade on each piece of tofu. (This is done at the end so that it doesn’t burn.) The tofu is ready when it’s totally browned and crispy-looking all over, but not burnt. 
3. Make the pickled onions: Combine the water, apple cider vinegar, salt, maple syrup, and chili flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Place the sliced red onion in a glass jar. Pour the hot liquid into the jar, cover, and set aside for 30 minutes. During this time, the liquid quick pickles the onion, softening it and mellowing its sharp flavour!
4. Make the tzatziki: While the tofu is in the oven, make the cashew tzatziki. Combine the soaked cashews, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and water in a blender. Blend until super smooth and creamy. It should have the consistency of Greek yogurt! Transfer into a bowl and mix in the grated cucumber. 
5. Assemble the sandwiches: Spread some hummus on the bottom half of an English muffin. Top with a tofu steak, a generous spoonful of tzatziki, some pickled onions, sliced olives, a slice of tomato, and lettuce or mixed greens. Top with the second half of the English muffin and enjoy immediately! 

notes

• The tofu recipe makes a batch of 8 steaks, so you’ll have enough for everyone to have seconds if they want. This is one of those sandwiches where I have a hard time stopping at one! 🙂 It’s also a delicious snack on its own. 
• Leftover tzatziki can be stored in the fridge for several days. It’s delicious on all sorts of dishes- bowls, wraps, pitas, etc. 

serving ideas

• At breakfast time, why not serve some home fries on the side? At lunch or dinner, a bowl of soup is my favourite pairing. I think this spinach potato soup or this fennel, cauliflower, and parsnip soup would be perfect! 

I hope that you love these Greek tofu breakfast sandwiches! If you make them, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below the post. And if you share a photo on Instagram, tag it @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can see your delicious re-creations and share them in my stories!

Enjoy! 

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