What kind of tofu for stir fry

The longer it's pressed, the more whey is released, and the firmer the finished product will become. During its introduction to the US, tofu was mildly misunderstood by some and downright reviled by others.

Its reputation for being bland and boring led most American families to shy away from the wobbly blocks. As recently as , tofu was declared America's most loathed food. But the misunderstanding between Americans and tofu has eroded in recent years. In fact, tofu—high in protein, low in cost, and easy to work with—has come to endear itself to our country.

Today, it's widely accepted, and commonplace at many restaurants and groceries, where shoppers have a vast array of tofus to choose from. Before we get into all of the different kinds of tofu, let's take a minute to review some of the steps you should take to get your tofu ready for action.

Because tofu has a high water content, it's wise to remove excess liquid to avoid diluting flavors or causing explosive frying incidents. Now, on to the tofu types! Block tofu is what you'll find most often at grocery stores and restaurants. Made using the curds-and-whey method explained above, it is sometimes referred to as "cotton tofu" due to the fluffy texture of the curds. You'll find block tofu sold packed in water in plastic trays—a commercial-friendly storage method developed in by Shoan Yamauchi in Los Angeles.

Soft tofu is pressed for the least amount of time of all the block tofus, allowing the curds to blend seamlessly into the remaining whey. This smooth block still has texture when broken up, as it often does with mild handling. It has a delicate body, similar to Jell-O, and a mild, milky flavor. Its similarity to soft desserts makes soft tofu a great neutral base for a sweet element; it works equally well in savory dishes. Because it has a high water content, soft tofu is not recommended for shallow-frying—the sputtering and spit-back can be dangerous.

But battering and deep-frying—a method that fully envelops the cubes—produces wonderfully tender nuggets of soybean bliss. How to Prep: Pressing soft tofu is not recommended, as you will end up squishing it.

Medium-firm tofu has a rougher texture than soft—the curds are visible—but will still crack with handling. It can have a droopy appearance due to its moderate moisture content, and it's a good choice for dishes that don't require much manipulation, like braising or boiling. Because there's more whey in medium-firm tofu, it may break up during vigorous stir-frying, and pan-frying can lead to sad, deflated tofu planks. How to Prep: Pressed, drained, salt-soaked, or frozen.

This is the workhorse of the tofu family. If you're not sure which tofu to buy, a firm block will get you through most savory recipes.

The curds in a firm block are tight and visible; it should feel solid, with little give. Its firm body takes on a slight rubbery texture during cooking, which means you can handle each block with relatively little fear.

Firm tofu holds up quite well to frying and stuffing. Like I said—it's versatile. Firm Block Tofu Recipes:. This is the most compact of the block tofus. The curds are tight, and the block is noticeably squatter than all others. Its texture has the most chew, making this the tofu best suited to heartier dishes. Hope that helps! I have been wanting to get into using tofu and I love the asian flavors! I used Tamari cause I wanted to try it which is just wheat-free soy sauce and I also have been super into mushrooms lately, so I put some mushrooms with my carrots and green beans.

I also put in probably about 1. I highly agree with letting the tofu rest for like 20 minutes or so before starting to stir fry the vegetables. It really made the tofu firm up to exactly what I wanted. Thank you so much for this recipe!

Great recipe! I added broccoli and doubled the sauce. I added chili garlic sauce at the end for a little kick of heat. Will make again! Thank you for the recipe! Love this recipe, the tofu was delicious and so was the sauce. Would make it again, will add more vegetables next time to bulk it out. This has become a staple in our home!! We love it so much and the best part is that all 3 of my kids eat it too! Thank you for always coming out with the best recipes!

Okay, so I made this yumminess tonight for dinner. I loved it and so did my husband. The next time I would not use the maple syrup. For me it was a tad bit heavy, but otherwise talk about quick, simple and loved the tip on how to dry out the tofu.

My husband is not a tofu lover, so this recipe with a way to dry out and bake the tofu worked for him! The tofu came out well. Hi Frances, sorry to hear that! Feel free to scale back on the tamari next time or maybe try coconut aminos? I served the stir fry over brown rice, and included your peanut sauce, to which I added a teaspoon of sesame oil , serving it in a little jug at the table, along with chopped almonds and chopped green onions.

What a delicious meal! From now on, I will always bake our tofu when adding it to stir fries. How long do you press the tofu for? Pls send. Many thanks! But I will go to the store next time and pick up the low sodium soy sauce and I am positive that this will come out exactly how I want it.

What is the oven temperature you used for baking tofu? Game changer! It really does get more of a meatier consistency this way. Even my partner, who is convinced they hate tofu, loved it and ended up eating the leftovers.

I substituted cauliflower rice for the rice and that was okay, but I think next time I will just add broccoli and keep the rice. This was so delicious! Will definitely be making this again soon. Absolutely love this recipe.

I attempted similar recipes and failed miserably. This recipe just brought back my confidence. Thank you so much!!! Thank you, from the bottom of my cold, millennial-ish heart, for writing the first recipe my partner has ever requested of me to repeat! This was really good! I took the suggestion from the note and cut the sugar down, and cheated and used a frozen pre-packaged stir fry.

Problem solved with the oven. I used the method of cooking the tofu, not the whole recipe. Next time I would slice the tofu into strips and not cubes. Loved this tofu technique! I cut the block into 3 rows on the shorter side, then turned and cut 4 rows on the longer side, then cut each resulting rectangle in half height-wise. Does that make sense?? So I wound up with 24 cubes. Did 12 minutes in the oven, flipped them over, did another 10, then took them out and let them sit another hour til I was ready to make the stir fry.

They had a nice hearty chewiness, but were still spongy enough to soak up the sauce. This is definitely my new go-to way to prep tofu, thanks! Thank you so much for the wonderful explanation. This one was loved by all 5 members of my family. Thank you for a recipe I will keep on regular rotation! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Lisa. This is one of my favourite recipes of all time! I make this at least once a week and it never fails.

As well, if you can find it, using any sort of sesame-infused tofu is absolutely perfect for this dish. We served this on top of Farro and it was delicious. Came together pretty quickly too. I always wondered how Asian restaurants got the tofu to have such a great taste and texture. Now I know. Sorry to hear that, Celene!

It sounds as if it cooked too long as it should not end up hard. Better luck with the next one! This recipe will be my new go to! I used smoked tofu to give it that extra meat like flavour, a combination of green beans, asparagus, carrots and green capsicum. I also found adding some chinese spice, rice wine vinegar and chill flakes for extra zing and heat you would enjoy from Asian dishes. How great! Next time would you mind adding a rating to your review?

Stir-fried tofu and veggies is our basic receipt. But this time I decided to refresh the dish and make it your way. Baked the tofu about 20 minutes and it turned into rubber and could not absorb the sauce. Not chewable, not eatable at all. Hi there! Sorry to hear that. Or, you could bake for half the amount of time!

Pretty delish….. I found the tofu to be bit tough, but will give it another try. A keeper. The food tasted amazing. Definitely bookmarking this one for the next lunch! This was terrible, the tofu just went hard and dry and did not take on any of the sauce flavours. Marinating the tofu prior to frying works much better. So sorry that was your experience, Craig!

The only way me too will ever make tofu again from today onward! I dried out the tofu on a hand towel that I moved. I rotated the tofu to get dry bit of towel on top and bottom, weighted down, in a snug fitting container.

Cubed the tofu, baked 30 minutes on a greaseproof paper lined baking sheet — no oil — perfectly light cubes, and crunchy as crisps! Super tasty but the 1 hour total time is a little misleading do to the rest time for the tofu. Also the the 2 times I made this the vegetables needed way more time then suggested. Thanks for sharing your experience, Clyde! No more cornstarch, splattering oil and messy stovetop. Super easy and great texture. I used a foil-lined baking sheet with a generous coating of olive oil spray.

The method for the tofu would be great for grain bowls, noodle salads etc. This works really well for crispy tofu! When I open a pkg of tofu, I drain it and freeze half of the block. I never use a full block anyway. Then pop the frozen block into boiling water for approx 10 mins.

Freezing causes the water inside the tofu to expand, creating crevices to soak up the sauce and create a chewier texture. I was at first apprehensive while making this but my GAWD was it delicious!

So flavorful and that sauce! I will definitely add this to my normal rotation. Made this for our main meal today — cooked the tofu about 25 minutes, which was a nice solid texture. I think I will try next time to see how it is just a little more crispy. We mixed in a multi-grain rice blend just before serving, and I will definitely make something similar, or maybe brown rice, in future, as that was a really good mix.

Overall this was a very tasty meal, with nice mix of flavors and textures. Hi Dana, Thank you; I look forward to creating this delicious meal. Yes — you can likely use a seasoned cast iron or non-toxic nonstick pan and omit or reduce the oil for less fat! We love it. I sprinkled some cornstarch on top to make it crispy and baked the tofu for 30 min forgot to turn, but it still turned out great. My tofu hating friend loved the texture, and I ended up using it in a broccoli lo mein stir fry.

Coming back soon to try the full recipe! Have you had anyone try this dish without the sauce and just use other seasonings? Maybe garlic powder, onion powder or cayenne? I added some snow peas as well. The tofu is well coated with the sauce and taste yum! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Will definitely cook this again?

The tofu in this recipe still tasted like tofu. Thanks for the feedback, Ainsley! Let us know how it turns out with marinating. Seems like I would not double it. Following your instructions it let off a huge cloud of steam, bubbled, and then hardened into little gelatinous globs.

Thanks for sharing! Adjust as needed depending on appearance of sauce. It can fluctuate greatly depending on freshness of peanut butter and other ingredients. Officially love tofu after making this recipe! I dialed down the sweetness and only used 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and 1 tablespoon of brown sugar. I added more veggies and sauteed everything in sesame oil with a bit of hot chili oil — jalapeno, yellow onion, yellow and red pepper. I tried out this recipe for the tofu last night and have to say that it turned out quite tough and rubbery.

Maybe you could give me some advise as to why it may have turned out this way. Thanks Patty. Hi Patty, sorry to hear that was your experience! That should yield a much more tender result! The tofu in this recipe is ah-mazing!!

We eat it frequently in different recipes and it has never turned out this meaty. We marinated it a bit in some soy sauce, siracha, and a bit of fish sauce before cooking and served it over udon noodles.

Even the kiddos ate it — including one picky toddler. Tofu came out perfectly. Sauce is amazing. Used an Asian stir fry veggie mix: broccoli, snap peas, water crest, carrot. Delicious, thank you! I love this sauce! I roughly made about double with whatever I had including some rice wine vinegar and some sirracha.

The tofu consistency was very untofuy and quite meat like but perhaps marinading it before baking would increase the flavour throughout it? It was delightful nonetheless and the veggies were incredible just like our favourite take out joint. Thank you so much for this recipe it broke in our new wok perfectly!! It might not be quite as flavorful though. Let us know if you give it a try!

Made this tonight and it was a hit! My husband is doing oil-free plant based so I left out the oil. Next time I will double the sauce and cut the cornstarch in half since I had to keep adding water bc it got too thick. Any tip on making the tofu a little more flavorful? It kinda tastes like chicken without salt.

Even with the sauce, it just seems flavorless. I also left out the recommended reading time of 45 mins after taking it out of the oven.

Delicious overall, hope to make it again soon! Hi Keily, Thanks for sharing your experience! Hmm, without the oil, it is harder to make it flavorful. When I make oil free recipes, I like to switch out the oil with a sodium free vegetable broth. I do this for all of my healthier sauteeing and roasting! Sometimes I even do half oil and half broth for extra flavor. Turns out wonderfully. This is my all time favorite tofu recipe.

The sauce is also amazing. Thanks so much for the lovely review and for passing along this recipe to others, Tiffany. We are so glad you enjoy it! Super yum! I love the baked tofu. It literally tastes like Panda Express, I love your recipes so much. I made your peanut sauce recipe and used it as a topping and it made it even better. Love your page so much. Thanks so much for your kind words and lovely review, Angela.

We are so glad you enjoy our recipes! Literally the first time I have tried tofu or eaten this healthy and it was amazing thank you so much! Could I use a dehydrator instead to dry it out a bit? I have been making some bad tofu and I feel like this recipe is a good solution.

The flavors on this dish are good, but only after I salted the tofu. The tofu would have benefitted from some flavors added prior to baking perhaps some of the sauce? Also, the sauce quickly thickened, really too much; so I added a small amount of water a few times to give a little more sauce and to allow the vegetables to continue tenderizing just a bit. Linda, thanks for sharing. Thinning with water is fine! Ah, sorry for the confusion!

Waw confusing it with another recipe! Adding a little water here is good to thin as needed! How much are you supposed to use? This might just be a me issue, but every time I made the sauce with the written amount of corn starch, it ended up clumpy and unappetizing looking. Cutting the amount of cornstarch in half makes a beautiful, thick sauce without clumps.

I toss the tofu in and serve immediately. I normally pull it out, immediately start cooking the veggies, and toss all the tofu in immediately after the veggies are done! I am really excited to make this! But I was wondering, is it possible to use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce? Hi Alyssa, that should work!

You may need to play around with the amount a little as soy sauce tends to be stronger. Let us know how it goes! This recipe has become one of our almost weekly staples making it again tonight! I actually got told off for making it too many times……its just too good! Thank you for always sharing such awesome recipes. You have expanded my culinary range hugely over the last few years!

Thank you so much for your kind words and lovely review, Merry! This was disgustingly sickeningly sweet! I even reduced both the brown sugar and the syrup and it was still awful. The tofu was reasonably good, I would probably try that method again but the sauce made me want to throw the whole thing out.

Definitely not a recipe I will make again. Better luck next time! Thanks for sharing your recipe. It looks irresistible! Perhaps it needs less time in the oven? I so like your idea of baking it, so that it gets porous and soaks up the sauce in the stir-fry later. Is it very hard, too? I prefer that chewiness vs soft texture. But cook for less time for a more tender tofu! Can this be made on the stove top? You still use the oven but only briefly.

This recipe looks great! Firstly, with the temperature of the oven, does it matter if it is fan assisted or not? Secondly, would you ever marinate the tofu in the sauce before cooking? I do this when I am doing a beef stir fry, so was wondering if this would also work with the tofu. Thanks in advance, Tricia. Just made this! Lots of substitutions. I had carrots, mushrooms and zucchini, so used those!

Will make this again, with onion, sesame seeds and the green beans too! The sauce was so easy to make and the tofu was perfectly firm. Is this the best substitute or should I do something different? Also if okay do have a good amount I should use in place of fresh ginger? Hi Meghan, fresh ginger will definitely provide more flavor. If you can find fresh ginger, we would definitely recommend giving it a try! It looks really yummy. My only problem was after adding the sauce mixture to the vegetables, the sauce thickened way too quickly into a paste-like substance.

Hi Adam, it should thicken, but if it thickened too much, you may want to try less cornstarch next time. I appreciated the simple recipe as a young adult trying to learn how to cook for myself. I ended up using broccoli and carrots, and put in the sauce too early. I made this tonight. I cut the sugar in half and added child garlic sauce for a bit of zing.

I served it with rice vermicelli noodles. Hyped to make this tomorrow. Btw, is there a way to make the sauce sugar-free, to ensure my diabetic family member can have the dish as well? Thanks in advance! Wow I just made this recipe but with tiny changes.

I had a cabbage so added some shredded cabbage and almonds to the stir fry. I added a glut og sweet chilli to the sauce. What was great was how firm and crunchy the tofu was and stayed in the sauce. Am drying tofu as I write. The re pie looks amazing. I once had tofu in the Chinese quarter in London many years ago and have tried to replicate the taste unsuccessfully ever since. I think this may be the closest. Get back to you later. Love all your recipes. One word!

A hit with everyone! Going into regular rotation! Especially during CSA season! All those fresh veggies! Made with snow peas fr M week one of CSA!! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Leesa. This was absolutely so delicious! Yummy and fun.

Please try! This recipe is fantastic! I have made it several times and we love it. I am wondering if it would work to bake and dry out a large quantity of tofu in the beginning of the week then store in fridge for later use? If you give it a try, we would love to hear how it goes! I tried it this week and it was a big success! I had made the original stir fry recipe earlier in the week with different veggies, but same idea and baked up some extra tofu to save for another quick meal.

I only did the tofu for 20 minutes this time, and on the first night I felt like I maybe wished I had cooked it longer. But today I took the extra tofu and threw it in a pan with some sesame oil then added some bottled thai peanut sauce and it cooked up beautifully! I think the key was that there was plenty of room in the pan today for the tofu to crisp up, whereas when I made the stir fry the other night my pan was pretty crowded.

Anyway, I definitely am pleased with the results and will do it again in the future! So did you dry out the tofu in advance for that second night?

Since the drying takes some time I want to dry it today and use it for dinner tomorrow. I have 2 little ones that make cooking an obstacle course! This is delicious! One of our go-to meals now. My 3 year old boys LOVE it and that makes mama happy! One thing I do is i cut the sugar amount in half because it was too sweet for me. I have a major sweet tooth but for some reason the sugar in this seemed too much.

Otherwise this is amazing. I never cooked tofu this way before and honestly this is a game changer! I will never cook tofu another way. Thank you!! Okay I did something terribly wrong.. Like huge big black clumps instead of a sauce like texture. My kids and I love this recipe so I keep coming back to it. I blanch the veggies we like most broccoli and carrots and also make the tofu and sauce in advance.

Thanks for the delicious recipe! This has become a go-to tofu cooking method. This was so easy and tasty! Well, my tofu stirfry was a disaster. I dried it out per instructions, set the oven for degrees, the tofu came out of the oven after 30 minutes looking golden brown and beautiful. Unfortunately, when I started to eat the sensation was like eating a rubber duck! The tofu actually squeaked when I stuck my fork into it! There are different types of tofu — some have greater moisture content than others.

Thank you for the suggestion. Your sauce was exactly what I was looking for! I added some chili garlic sauce for some spice. Thank you so much!! Restaurant tofu has always been so mysteriously delicious to me — I made this recipe last night and it was wonderful! Some gave the feedback it was too tough for them, so I thought I might write and share my experience. Mine came out golden brown with a nice shell, but tender inside.

I also left the sweeteners out of the sauce completely, which was good flavor wise. The sauce was a bit saltier and thicker than I would have preferred, so next time I am going to use less of it and maybe try with a bit less cornstarch. I used low sodium gluten free tamari. Love the tofu part of the recipe in particular; felt it left me with a technique I can use again and again. I was happy with the tofu as is, but if I was going to serve to less tofu-friendly folk I might have wanted it more flavorful on the interior.

Love their food! Little by little vegetarians and vegans are demanding somewhere to eat in a city that used to not be friendly to us. Google for more great places! Just FYI:. Tha K you for posting his amazing recipe. I wanted to make a yummy tofu stir fry for my husband and came across this recipe.

It came out wonderfully! I did make a small change as I wanted it to be more saucy, I added Sriracha and oyster sauce to the sauce mix. I loved this recipe! Cooked the tofu for 20 min and it was a perfect consistency!

This was quite disappointing, though. I love tofu. We all thought the sauce was way to sweet and lacking in flavor. The texture of the tofu was nice, but quite time intensive. Better luck next time :. Regarding the nutrition info, where are all the carbs and sugar coming from?

Is it the sauce? Also, jusr for clarification, is the nutrition info for one serving or two? Hi Vanessa, the nutrition info is for 1 of 2 servings and yes, the primary source is the sugar in the sauce, but a small amount from carrots and green beans.

This was the first recipe I have made with tofu and loved it! I think my pan was too hot when I added the sauce as it solidified pretty quickly and clumped. If you've made this recipe, please leave us a rating and a note down below to let us know how you liked it! Editor's Note: This introduction to this recipe was updated on October 12, to include more information about the dish. Kitchen Tips and Tools. Delish Shop. United States. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below.

Yields: 4 servings. Prep Time: 0 hours 20 mins. Total Time: 0 hours 50 mins. For tofu. For stir fry. Kosher salt. For sauce. This ingredient shopping module is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page.

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