Tofu Bibimbap Bowls with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Chile Sesame
Crisped cubes of firm tofu over brown rice with separately seasoned piles of garlicky spinach, browned mushrooms, carrot matchsticks, and bean sprouts, all pulled together with a red chile sesame sauce.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Bibimbap is a bowl of leftovers with excellent manners. Each vegetable is cooked and seasoned on its own, laid in its own wedge over rice, and then destroyed with a spoon the moment it reaches the table. I love the ritual of it, and I love that the separate seasoning means every mouthful tastes slightly different depending on where the spoon lands. Making it on a weeknight sounds fussier than it is: three vegetables through the same skillet, one after another, takes about twelve minutes altogether.
The tofu is the part worth taking seriously. Press it, dry it, cut it into generous cubes, and then leave it alone in a hot pan so each face has time to form a proper gold skin. Tofu that has been stirred is tofu that has steamed, and it comes out pale and squeaky. Left still, it turns firm and chewy at the surface and stays custardy inside, which is exactly the texture that stands up to a strong sauce. My sauce here is built on tomato paste, cayenne, vinegar, and a little maple, which gives you the sweet, hot, savory red that the dish depends on.
Cooked rice in the refrigerator and no plan is the starting point here. It is generous with vegetables without being worthy about it, it uses one skillet, and it is just as good the next day out of a container. Children who claim not to like vegetables often do fine with bibimbap, because nothing is mixed together until they mix it. Put the sauce on the table and let people add their own heat.
Ingredients
- 1 block (about 1 lb) firm tofu, pressed and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 3 cups cooked brown rice, warm
- 7 packed cups spinach
- 3 1/2 cups cremini mushrooms, sliced thick
- 3 carrots, cut into fine matchsticks
- 2 cups mung bean sprouts
- 4 scallions, sliced thin
- 5 cloves garlic, minced, divided
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 4 tsp toasted sesame oil, divided
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, or to taste
- 2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Crisp the tofu: Blot the tofu cubes dry and set a large nonstick or well seasoned skillet over medium-high with two teaspoons of the sesame oil. Add the tofu in one layer and leave it completely alone for four minutes, until the underside is gold and releases easily. Turn the cubes once, give them three more minutes, then move them to a plate.
- Make the red sauce: While the tofu cooks, stir the tomato paste, cayenne, coconut aminos, vinegar, maple syrup, ginger, a third of the garlic, and two tablespoons of water together in a small bowl. It should be thick enough to sit on a spoon and loose enough to drizzle. Taste it and add more cayenne if you want real heat.
- Brown the mushrooms: In the same pan over medium-high, add the mushrooms dry and spread them flat. They will squeak and give up water. Leave them for three minutes without stirring, then toss and cook two more, until the water has gone and the edges are deep brown. Season with a third of the garlic and tip them into a pile on the platter.
- Wilt the spinach and warm the carrots: Add a teaspoon of sesame oil and the last of the garlic to the pan, then the spinach in handfuls, stirring each one down before the next. Ninety seconds is enough. Squeeze out the excess water and set it in its own pile. Toss the carrot matchsticks in the pan for sixty seconds only, so they warm and stay crisp, and add the bean sprouts for the last fifteen seconds.
- Build the bowls: Divide the warm rice between four bowls and arrange the spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and sprouts in separate wedges around the edge with the tofu in the middle. Spoon the red sauce over the center, scatter the scallions and toasted sesame seeds, add the last teaspoon of sesame oil, and stir everything together at the table.
Variations
- Kimchi bowl: Add a small pile of kimchi to each bowl for sourness and crunch, and use a little of its brine in the sauce.
- Zucchini and cucumber: Swap the carrots for zucchini half moons cooked hard and fast, and add a pile of salted, squeezed cucumber for a summer version.
- Tempeh in place of tofu: Use cubed tempeh browned the same way, which gives a firmer, nuttier center and holds the sauce even better.
- Sizzling bowl: Press the rice into a hot cast iron skillet with a little sesame oil and leave it four minutes to form a crust before adding the toppings.
Storage & Leftovers
The components keep four days in the refrigerator and are best stored separately, which also means you can rebuild a bowl in two minutes at lunch. The spinach and mushrooms hold up perfectly. The carrots and sprouts soften a little but keep enough bite to be worth including.
Reheat the rice and tofu together in a covered skillet with a splash of water over medium heat, three or four minutes. The tofu loses some of its crisp edge but firms up again slightly as it warms. Add the cold vegetables afterward rather than heating them, which keeps the bowl feeling fresh.
The red sauce keeps two weeks in a jar and is worth making double. It is good on eggs, roasted vegetables, and grain bowls of any description. I do not freeze the assembled bowls, since the sprouts and carrots turn to water on thawing, though plain cooked rice freezes beautifully in flat portions.
Notes & Tips
- Leave the tofu alone: Every time you stir it you break the crust that is trying to form and release more water into the pan. Four minutes untouched on the first side does more than ten minutes of fussing.
- Mushrooms go in a dry pan: They release a great deal of water and oil added early just floats on it. Once the water has cooked off and they start to brown, they will take the fat you add readily.
- Squeeze the spinach: Wilted spinach holds an astonishing amount of water, and it will run into the rice and make the bottom of the bowl soupy. Press it against the side of a colander before it goes in.
- Sixty seconds for the carrots: They should be warmed rather than cooked. The point of the carrot pile is the crunch and the color it keeps against the softer vegetables around it.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- The tofu, the rice, and the four vegetables are what make this a full bowl. The tofu carries the protein, the brown rice gives the base its chew and its slow starch, and the vegetables together bring most of the fiber and the color.
- Firm tofu is set with calcium salts, which is why a block of it carries as much calcium as it does alongside its complete plant protein. Pressing and crisping it changes the texture entirely, giving you a chewy skin over a soft center.
- Spinach cooks down to a fraction of its raw volume, so seven cups of leaves become one modest pile that carries folate, vitamin K, and a great deal of potassium. Wilting it briefly rather than boiling keeps more of that in the leaf than in the water.
- Mushrooms browned hard develop a savory depth that raw ones have no hint of, and they are one of the few foods that make vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. Their glutamates are the reason a bowl without meat still tastes meaty.
- Sesame seeds and toasted sesame oil are doing the aromatic work here. The seeds bring calcium and their own oil, and toasting is what turns them from mild to nutty, which is why they are added at the end where you can still smell them.
- As you eat, take the first bite from each wedge before you stir them together, and notice how differently the same rice tastes with mushroom, with spinach, and with sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to press the tofu?
For crisp edges, yes. Fifteen minutes under a weighted plate pushes out enough water that the surface can brown rather than steam. If you are short on time, blot it hard with several changes of paper towel and use a hotter pan.
Can I use white rice?
Of course, and it is the traditional choice. Short-grain white rice is stickier and clumps into the sauce in a way many people prefer. Brown rice gives you a chewier, nuttier bowl that holds its shape when you stir everything together.
What can I add for the classic egg?
Fry an egg per person until the white is set and the yolk still runs, and slide it onto the center of each bowl. Breaking the yolk into the hot rice is a large part of why people love bibimbap, and it takes three minutes.
How hot is the sauce as written?
Medium warm. Half a teaspoon of cayenne across four bowls is noticeable without being aggressive. Korean gochugaru is milder and fruitier by volume, so if you have it, use two tablespoons in place of the cayenne and the sauce will taste more traditional.