The Meatwave

Barbecue Tofu Tostadas

Barbecue Tofu Tostadas View Recipe

In recent years I feel like I've traded tacos for tostadas as a base to build upon when thinking about some sort of Mexican or Tex-Mex influenced recipe. While anything I put into a tostada can go into a taco and vice versa, how the tostada is constructed, along with the pleasing the crunch of the fried tortilla, have been primary drivers of this change. So far it's resulted in some great creations like grilled vegetable and cheese tostadas, butternut squash tostadas, and chicken and sweet potato tostadas. Well, here's yet another entry, barbecue tofu tostadas, which lean even more into Tex-Mex while also being vegetarian-friendly.

Barbecue Tostadas

I had Texas barbecue on my mind when crafting this tostada recipe, along with its meaty counterpart of burnt end tostadas. Whenever having barbecue in Texas, I always need some sort of pickle to help balance out the extreme richness of the meat, and the two I choose on the regular are pickled red onions and jalapeños. On this day I opted to go with store-bought pickled jalapeños, but made the onions at home by quickly boiling thinly sliced onions in water, followed by boiling them again quickly in apple cider vinegar before stuffing everything into a jar and letting it sit in the fridge overnight.

Barbecue Tostadas

While there is no singular style of Texas barbecue sauce, I feel like a mustard-tomato mixture is fairly common and I find the extra sharpness of the mustard pairs really well with beef barbecue. So I opted to make a barbecue sauce along those lines that I knew would stand out on the burnt ends, but also not be so over-the-top strong that it would be too harsh on the fairly flavorless tofu.

Barbecue Tostadas

All of the components of these tostadas can be found in other recipes on this site, which left me feeling like bringing in at least one new element. That led me to try crafting a refried bean recipe with barbecue flavors. While the beans were rich and creamy like you'd want, and had a tangy and sweet barbecue stamp, like I had hoped, I probably would go with regular refried beans if I were making this again only because there was enough barbecue elements in the final tostada that adding more via the beans wasn't really necessary in my mind.

Barbecue Tostadas

One major difference between going from taco to tostada is the extra time and effort needed to fry the tortillas. You can, of course, buy tostadas premade from the grocery store, but homemade is often worth it. It's just a little annoying when I can fry off a bag of tortillas made into chips a lot more quickly than tostadas since you can fit way more little triangles into the pan at once over full tortillas, which I can only really do three at a time in a 12-inch skillet.

Barbecue Tostadas

Barbecue tofu has shown up on this site again and again for good reason—it's incredibly good and also pretty simple to make. I have my process down by now, which begins with extra-firm tofu that I cut into roughly 1/2-inch thick slices. I then press the slices between paper towels to drain more moisture out, which helps the tofu brown and crisp more effectively while cooking.

Barbecue Tostadas

I then season the tofu slices with a barbecue rub and place them over indirect high heat on the grill and cover. I let them cook like that, flipping them occasionally, until they start to get good color and the exterior begins to look a little dry.

Barbecue Tostadas

I then brush the slices with barbecue sauce, cover again, and wait until the sauce starts to set. I'll repeat the brushing and setting process once or twice more until the tofu is well coated all over.

Barbecue Tostadas

Finally, I move the tofu directly over the fire to gain some extra color and char. Once these pieces of tofu were done, I transferred them to a cutting board and cut them into 1/2-inch cubes that I piled onto tostadas lined with refried beans. The on top I added a little more barbecue sauce, grated cheddar, pickled red onions, jalapeños slices, and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Barbecue Tostadas

While the form was descended from Mexico, the flavor of these tostadas leaned very heavily into American barbecue. The burnt end version had a more distinctly Texas tilt, while this tofu variation was little more "backyard cookout" thanks to barbecue sauce playing a more prominent role via the tofu, beans, and extra sauce applied on the top. It didn't tilt into overly sweet barbecue though due to the mustard in the sauce and the tang and heat from the two pickle varieties. Having this all delivered with the crunch and deep corn flavor of the fried tortilla was just icing on the cake for yet another tostada variation I'm happy to have crafted.

Published on Thu Feb 12, 2026 by Joshua Bousel

Print Recipe

Barbecue Tofu Tostadas

  • Yield 10-15 Servings
  • Prep 1 Hour
  • Cook 20 Minutes
  • Total 1 Hour 20 Minutes

Ingredients

  • For the Pickled Red Onions
  • 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  •  
  • For the Barbecue Refried Beans
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped white onion (about 1/2 a small onion)
  • 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic (about 2 medium cloves)
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 15oz cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/3 cup vegetable stock or water, plus more as needed
  • 3 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons molasses
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  •  
  • For the Tostadas
  • 2 to 3 cups canola oil
  • 20 corn tortillas
  •  
  • For the Barbecue Tofu
  • 2 14oz packages extra-firm tofu, drained, rinsed, and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
  • 1/3 cup barbecue rub
  • 2 cups barbecue sauce
  •  
  • For Finishing
  • 40-60 pickled jalapeños
  • 8 oz Longhorn or mild cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Procedure

  1. To make the pickled red onions: Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add in onions and boil for 1 minute. Drain onions in a colander or fine mesh strainer. Transfer onions to now empty saucepan along with vinegar and salt. Add enough cold water to just submerge the onions. Bring to a boil over high high, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 1 minute. Transfer onions to glass jar with enough liquid to submerge onions, cover, and place in refrigerator until completely chilled.
  2. To make the barbecue refried beans: Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add in onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, but not browned, about 6 minutes. Stir in garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add in beans and stock or water and cook until beans are warmed through. Using potato masher or whisk, mash beans until smooth and creamy. Add in ketchup, mustard, vinegar, brown sugar, and molasses and continue to cook until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper to taste and thin with additional stock or water if needed. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
  3. To make the tostadas: Heat oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet, dutch oven, or wok over medium-high heat until it registers 375°F. Adjust flame to maintain temperature. Working in batches, add tortillas and fry until edges just start to brown. Flip tortillas over and continue to cook until crisp and light golden brown. Transfer tostadas to a paper towel lined tray, sprinkle with salt to taste, and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes to drain. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
  4. To make the barbecue tofu: Line a work surface or sheet pan with paper towels. Lay tofu slices in a single layer on paper towel and lay another layer of paper towels on top. Press gently on tofu to squeeze out excess moisture. Season tofu all over with barbecue rub.
  5. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Place tofu on cool side of grill, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Flip tofu and brush with barbecue sauce; cover and cook for 5 minutes more. Flip tofu again and brush with barbecue sauce; cover grill and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Brush tofu with sauce all over and move to hot side of grill. Cook, flipping occasionally, until tofu develops grill marks and light charring on both sides, about 5 minutes more. Transfer tofu to a cutting board and cut into roughly 1/2-inch cubes.
  6. To assemble the tostadas: Reheat refried beans in the microwave or on stovetop. Spread a layer of refried beans on each tostada round. Top each with cubes of barbecue tofu and drizzle on barbecue sauce. Place a few pickled red onion and jalapeño slices atop each tostada. Sprinkle on cheese and cilantro. Serve immediately.

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