Quick Vegan Lunch Recipes ~ Smoked Tofu Bahn mi & Salad

Sandwich. Salad. Soup. Those are pretty much your lunch options, especially if you work in an office or anywhere outside the home, right?

Wrong.

Sandwiches don’t necessarily mean fast food burgers or other greasy, deep-fried sandwich options. Sometimes, I prefer a grilled veggie sandwich with balsamic dressing, or a nice deli sandwich. If I’m feeling super creative/hungry, I’ll whip up a tomato and vegan ricotta sandwich.

Today, I’m going a little exotic with Bahn mi, which is basically a Vietnamese sub sandwich. My noodle obsession is pretty well documented but I have been known, on occasion, to indulge in a sandwich when I hit up any Asian restaurant. This vegan bahn mi sandwich is easy to make, healthy and delicious.

I paired the sandwich with a salad because it’s always nice to have something raw and crunchy each day, and also because the bread is plentiful in calories but not necessarily all that satisfying to get you through an afternoon of writing, editing and researching.

Use your favorite fresh veggies for the salad, because you’re the one who has to eat it.

What goes into a Bahn mi sandwich?

For the Bahn mi:

I used scallions, carrots and cucumber because it’s what I had on hand, and I gave them a quick pickling to add a little extra flavor to this vegan sandwich recipe.

If you don’t feel like chopping & slicing by hand, I recommend using a mandoline if you’re brave enough, or if you have a food processor with a lot of attachments like I do, that works perfectly and makes this an even quicker vegan meal. I have a Bosch, but this is a pretty close version of what I have.

The smoked tofu was marinated in soy sauce, Sriracha, barbecue sauce, ground ginger, ground garlic and smoked paprika. I cooked it on high heat in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Heat up the bread for a few minutes and you’re ready to assemble.

See how fast that was? Now all you need to do is figure out what to put on the side. I chose a salad, but if you wanted you could add noodles, some kind of fried potatoes or even potato chips if you’re in a time crunch.

My recommendation? Salad, so you can have a guilt-free vegan lunch and know that you’re having a double dose of raw veggies for the day!