This Marinated Tofu recipe will make you fall in LOVE with tofu with LOTS of great tips! It's great for baking, pan-frying, grilling, in the air fryer and so much more! Perfect for a multi-purpose simple marinade and makes your tofu so flavourful.
1lbblock of tofupressed for at least 30 minutes and cut into 1-inch pieces
Marinade Recipe
1/4cuplight soy saucedon't use regular soy sauce (you can always used liquid aminos, tamari or coconut aminos
3tablespoonsrice wine vinegar
2teaspoonssesame oil
4teaspoonsagave
1teaspoongarlic powder
1teaspoononion powder
1/4teaspoonblack pepper
1/4teaspoonpaprika(preferably smoked)
2tablespoonswater
Rest of Recipe
2teaspoonsoil(any oil)
1teaspooncornstarch
Instructions
In a medium-size bowl place the pressed and cubed tofu. Add the soy sauce and toss to coat. Add in all of the other marinade ingredients (rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, agave, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika and water) and toss to thoroughly combine. Ensure all the pieces are coated and let the tofu sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 days.
Rest of the Recipe
In a pan over medium high heat, add the oil. Once hot, scoop your tofu out of the leftover marinade (do not toss your marinade) and add into the pan. Crisp up your tofu on each side for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until all sides are crisped up and browned.
While your tofu is cooking, add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch to the marinade and whisk vigorously to combine.
Once tofu is finished cooking. Turn off the heat. Immediately add in your marinade and stir to combine. The residual heat will heat through the sauce and cook off the cornstarch. Stir to combine and let it all sit together for at least 2 minutes. Remove from the stove, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Allowing the marinade to sit on the tofu for at least 30 minutes really makes a massive difference to penetrating the tofu and giving it a deep flavour. Marinated tofu really is the best!
Make sure you’re not buying silken tofu! That will yield the wrong texture and will break apart if you try and press it. Check out my Tofu 101 post for more, or watch my tofu 101 IG series.
If you want to bake the tofu instead, I recommend following my Baked Tofu post instructions - 400°F for 20 minutes, flipping in between. I would still recommend doing the marinade with cornstarch step afterwards (just heat up the pan a bit and add the tofu right after it comes out of the oven).
How to press tofu: I cover this in detail in my How to Cook Tofu 101 post! The prep time includes the time to press the tofu
Often times tofu sticks in your pan if you're trying to flip it too early, the heat is too low, or your non-stick coating is gone. If your tofu is sticking, consider one of these and adjust accordingly - it's usually that you're trying to flip it too quickly!