Green Bean and Tofu Salad With Peanut Dressing

Green Bean and Tofu Salad With Peanut Dressing
Bobbi Lin for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Eugene Jho. Prop Stylist: Christina Lane.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
4(773)
Notes
Read community notes

Inspired by the combination of peanut sauce with vegetables in southeast Asia, found in dishes such as gado gado in Indonesia and summer rolls in Vietnam, this streamlined salad would work just as well as a vegetarian main dish to eat with rice or noodles. The green beans are cooked for only a short while so that they stay crunchy. If you prefer floppy beans, you can cook them longer. And if you want something more refreshing and don’t want to turn on the stove, you can skip the beans altogether and use cut-up cucumbers and tomatoes instead.

Featured in: 20 Easy Salads for Every Summer Table

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • Salt
  • ¼cup crunchy peanut butter
  • 2tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1teaspoon granulated sugar
  • ¼teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling
  • 12ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
  • 1(14-ounce) box extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1-inch cubes
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

223 calories; 13 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 17 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 14 grams protein; 496 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, stir the peanut butter, hoisin, lime juice, sugar and red-pepper flakes in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons boiling water from the saucepan to the peanut dressing and stir well. The dressing should be runny but still thick. If needed, stir in another tablespoon boiling water.

  2. Step 2

    Add the green beans to the boiling water and cook until brighter in color and just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain well, rinse under cold water until cool, then drain again. Transfer the green beans and tofu to the peanut dressing and stir gently until evenly coated. Season to taste with salt, then sprinkle with more red-pepper flakes. Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Ratings

4 out of 5
773 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Quick and easy to make. Even easier since I used the peanut vinaigrette from Trader Joe’s. Tofu would’ve been better marinated. Added some cherry tomatoes which added some nice acidity.

Wonderful, with some adjustments, based on previous comments. I cut the tofu slightly smaller, and marinated it in teriyaki sauce for a few hours, prepared the peanut sauce and beans early and put them in the fridge. Doubled the lime in the peanut sauce to add acidity, added tomatoes to the recipe. I served it on top of a bed of arugula and it was a hit. Great dinner salad.

Me: “follows recipe” & tastes dish. This is kinda meh. It needs something. Adds more lime and pepper flakes. Better, but still meh. Adds thinly sliced shallots, red bell pepper, and some cilantro. Definitely better, but missing something still. Sees the ginger root sitting on the counter, ungrated. Facepalm. Anyway, who knows if it would have needed cilantro, shallots or bell pepper, if I’d remembered the ginger in the first place? But the final product *with* the ginger was tasty.

Would almond butter work as well in this recipe? Allergy to peanuts and other nuts constrain the choices. Thanks for any response.

This recipe is way too sweet. I used 1/2 the hoisin it called for, and no sugar. It was still very sweet.

Following the recommendation of others to kick it up, I added a lot of fresh ginger and a bit of garlic and then let it marinate in the frig for four hours. It was delicious!

We made exactly as per directed. The hoisin in the sauce was wonderful. Next time we would cut the tofu a little smaller and perhaps, as another reader suggested, marinate it first. It lacked something. Would add a little more lime juice and red pepper flakes as well. We would also chill it all for a half hour or so before eating so it really reads as a “salad.” Room temp (as it was after tofu sitting out to dry, etc) seemed off, but maybe that was in issue with my preparation.

Cut the green beans in half. Fry the tofu light golden brown

As an alternative to marinating the tofu just make the recipe as written, but let it sit 10 minutes before serving.

I’m planning to try cashew butter as a substitute-I would think it’s the texture as much as the flavor that will work for those of us with allergies. Tahini may also be a substitute, and I’ll try that too.

Great salad. Based on comments sliced tofu into 3/4” slices and put some tamari on it and then cooked in frying pan in small amount of olive oil until brown on both side. Then cut into chunks. Made for much more depth of flavor

It's great without cooking, or you can also just drop it into the boiling water with the green beans for a minute or two if the raw taste isn't appealing to you.

Perfect for a hot summer week when green beans are in the farmer's markets and it's too hot too cook. The only alteration I made was kicking up the heat -- 1/4 tsp of chili flakes didn't do it for me so I added a 1-1/2 tsp of sambal oelek, which did the trick.

Yes it does! If you don’t care for the raw taste, cut it into smaller cubes and marinate. Or grill it.

I have made a similar recipe with tahini with some miso in the past and it worked well. Tahini is thinner than peanut butter so maybe you need a thickener like miso, which also adds flavor- might be too salty with the hoisin. I plan on trying this one as written and see which version I prefer!

Basically a relatively simple and tasty recipe, but made a few adjustments. Cut the tofu rather small and fried it briefly with a little red onion and ginger. Added 1 Tbsp soy sauce to marinade along with extra red pepper flakes. Was going to add a bit more hoisin, but accidentally grabbed bottle of Szechuan sauce! Turned out to be just the ticket! Served over jasmine rice. Delish!

Reduced hoisin sauce (vegetarian) to 1 T and omitted sugar. Sautéed the tofu in a little oil, then added to the peanut sauce, cherry tomatoes, cooked green beans. Added a little salt and chopped herbs, served warm with soba noodles.

cut tofu into little cubes. Juice of one whole lime, add a little ginger. Marinate tofu cubes in a little soy sauce for a while first. Leave out the sugar. Delicious.

Marinate tofu and air fry!

I love this for an easy weeknight meal. I doubled the amount of tofu (and probably the green beans too) and served it warm over rice.

Great base for riffing--I made quinoa and mixed some of the peanut sauce into that. Made that the base on which I laid tofu (baked with a crispy outside), steamed broccoli with some of the peanut sauce mixed into it, diced apple (because I had it), and avocado. Then drizzled remaining peanut sauce on top and sprinkled with chopped cashews and cilantro. Delicious.

I made it a bit simpler by cooking the tofu and green beans in the oven. Changes: Smoked tofu, coated in seasoned corn flour baked until crispy Baked green beans Mixed all together before serving NEXT TIME: keep warm in oven while mixed

Odd that it doesn't tell you to do anything with the tofu. Marinate? Bake, broil, grill somebody didn't give this recipe to much attention.

I like to add fresh pressed garlic to my peanut sauce - gives it a little more depth!

Made this on a chilly fall day so I pan fried the tofu in some sesame oil which added another layer of yummy flavor and we ate it warm. Skipped the sugar in the dressing bc my peanut butter was sweet. Easy and quick and delicious! Will try with no cooking in the summer!

I was in the mood for something warm so I cooked the tofu in an air fryer with sesame oil, pepper, pepper flakes and powdered ginger. The rest was unchanged . It was yummy. Even my picky husband loved it.

As written, the sauce is definitely "meh." I upped the lime juice, added 1 clove of grated garlic, and grated fresh ginger. I marinated the tofu in tamari sauce. Served over a bed of baby spinach to make it a meal instead of side. Has more potential. I like the suggestion of adding cherry tomatoes too. Will do that next time.

No hoisin or sugar. Marinate tofu.

Air fried the green beans from frozen (11 minutes at 380) to speed things up. Tossed tofu in cornstarch and a little salt and then pan fried for a little more texture. Halved the hoisin sauce and left out the sugar, which I think was the right call as well. All in all a solid base recipe ripe for tweaking!

I had high hopes because I love similar sauces. I would try garlic etc. next time. There is an amazing chicken noodle dish from the old New Basics cookbook that has a killer peanut sauce.

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