Baked Tofu

From: The Kitchn

I used to get tofu squares from the salad bar at Whole Foods, and I could never figure out how to make them the same way at home. I tried marinating them, coating them in cornstarch, etc, before sauteing them. Well, I finally found a close approximation of those delicious tofu squares. Bake them!

I made my own marinade for these, and it was really, really good. I just mixed up a bit of sesame oil, seasoned rice vinegar, honey, teriyaki sauce, granulated garlic, powdered ginger, and a bit of sriracha for heat.


1 (16-ounce) block extra firm tofu
1/2 cup soy sauce or other marinade

Drain the block of tofu. Set it on a clean dish towel (or paper towels) on a rimmed dinner plate. Place another plate on top and weight it down with something heavy, like a handy can of tomatoes or a heavy skillet, to press out some of the excess liquid. Let sit 15 - 30 minutes.

Cut the tofu into pieces. You can do cubes for croutons, sticks for dipping, flat squares to layer on sandwiches, or any other shape you feel like.

Put the cut tofu in a shallow dish, cover with marinade, and let sit for 15 - 30 minutes. Flip the tofu a few times so the marinade is absorbed evenly. The longer you let the tofu sit, the deeper the flavor will be.

Pre-heat your oven (or toaster oven!) to 375-degrees. Cover a baking sheet (or toaster oven insert) with aluminum foil and coat with non-stick spray. Cook the tofu cubes for 10 minutes and then flip them over. Continue cooking and flipping every 10 minutes until the tofu is as baked as you like it, 20 - 45 minutes total.

As you bake, the tofu will shrink, the texture will get chewier, and the flavor will get more concentrated. For salads, we like it baked so it's just toasted on the outside but still silken in the middle. For snacking or dipping, we like to bake it until it's pretty dense and has a good bite.

Comments

hefk said…
thank you for this! I love flavored baked tofu, especially in salads, as you say, but it's super salty. This will be a nice option.
Alissa said…
Make it yourself and you can control the sodium. The basic recipe says to marinate it in 1/2 c soy sauce, which I think would be way too salty to me. I just used a relatively small amount of teriyaki sauce along with a bunch of other stuff and it was really flavorful without all that sodium.

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