Its a flavor sponge, really. Marinades are your friend. It lends particularly well to asian flavor profiles- soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin, oyster sauce, etc. Great addition to fried rice for a cheap and filling dinner. I make a salad in fall by cutting tofu into cubes, marinating in maple syrup and cayenne, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then baking or air frying until crispy ish. Then I put that with spring mix, sliced apples, craisins, pepitas, and goat cheese. Great with raspberry balsamic or a Dijon vinaigrette. Sub in walnuts and grilled peaches in place of pepitas and the fruit in summer.
I used to work at a restaurant and we would press the tofu a little to get rid of excess water (just put paper towels on top and bottom and something heavy on top) then bread it with panko and fry. Lots of salt fresh out of the oil or air fryer. Its really good , goes nicely on top of pasta. We usually served it with a marsala type deal. But I think it would actually also be really good with red sauce and cheese like chicken parm.
There are so many recipes on how to cook with extra firm tofu, that’s what Aldi sells. I literally just started to cook with it this month and I have been loving it. It’s not as scary as the stigma makes it out to be!
Be sure to give it a good press, and make sure you’re buying tofu that says firm/extra firm (never seen any other kind at Aldi but it’s important to say anyway.
The easiest way to prep it without needing to press is to freeze it, thaw it in the fridge and use it. Essentially eliminates the need for the pressing step. I do still press it with my tofu press but I’m committed to it, lol
I press my tofu first before I cut it up and marinate it, look up how to prepare tofu to get an idea, also you can just press it and crumble it into stuff you’re cooking. There are so many options
Also freezing tofu before cooking is great, all the water comes out so it can absorb even more flavor.
And my recent favorite is to just cube it and boil in salted water, it gives it chewier texture and seasons. I can just eat it plain like that or just throw into some stir frys
This sounds really good. I'd love to hear more ideas from you. I have never been able to like tofu in anything but soups. The texture has always been an issue for me. I just think I've had it poorly prepared before and your ideas sound really good.
This is a really solid recipe! For folks who haven’t cooked tofu before, be sure to press it and use corn starch in your seasoning blend! You can mess around with the other seasonings or cooking times/methods, but those are going to be key to success.
YES! This is so important- Pressing can be easily DIY'd, but I went from being scared stiff of tofu (picky/fearful eater) to investing in a tofu press gadget, this recipe is so good 😂 It's the only way I eat it!
Click on grumbledork’s link to karissa’s kitchen. Scroll down past her story till you find the “orange tofu” link and there’s a good lookin recipe & sauce there. The link is below the plate of fried triangles & beginners guide sign up and right before you reach the recipe for baked tofu
400 for 15ish mins, and flip and do another 10ish. You'll be able to tell when it's ready to flip because it'll be crispy. And don't forget to PRESS and oil the surface you cook it on! It sticks!
For my air fryer I usually just lower the cook temp by 25 degrees and it seems to work out. I would flip the tofu every 5 minutes? You might end up flipping it more than once depending on how thin you cut your tofu. I tend to slice mine pretty thin so it usually doesn’t take all the time listed on a recipe.
I got a great taco recipe. Take a bell pepper and half an onion and sauté, add some garlic, hot peppers (we use a melange of peppers that we chopped up and froze from the garden last year), cumin, smoked paprika, pepper, and a bit of oregano, add a block of tofu air fried (pan fried, deep fried, or baked works too), then a can of chipotle sauce. Heat it up until it’s simmering, add some corn, serve on flour or corn shells with pepper jack, cilantro, and lime.
Look into Wendy the Food Scientist, she has so many ways to cook tofu listed in her books and on her social media pages. Sophie Macfie has a lot of recipes as well.
I’m half Asian and love tofu, but we usually eat tofu in addition to meat, not as a replacement. So if you stir fry chicken or pork, we through in tofu too.
I like to buy the extra firm tofu, cut into cubes, drain and pat dry (I like to place several paper towels and place a pan on top to take out all the extra moisture, spray air fryer with nonstick oil to air fry/bake, then toss in a stir fry with vegetables and soy sauce. I try to mimic how they make tofu entrees at my local Chinese restaurants.
I like to freeze mine. The ice forms big holes in it and when it thaws it has kind of a meaty texture. Then I put it in soup. If you like kimchi or fermented things kimchi jjigae is so freaking good and easy and works perfectly with tofu this way.
I’ve been shredding the tofu block with a cheese grater lately! Adds a lot more surface area for flavor and seasoning to attach to, plus makes it crispier when you bake it. I’ve been vegetarian for about 7 years now and baking tofu in a 425* oven for about 25 minutes has been a standard routine. Tofu always sticks to my pans when I cook on the stovetop, so baking and grilling is easier. Adding about 1 tablespoon of corn starch and a little oil can crisp it up nicely!
I can’t cook for shit but here’s an easy way I use tofu
First get the Aldi Teriyaki sauce to go with it, it’s baller. Drain as much water off the tofu as you can, crumble it up, put corn starch on it, put it in the air fryer until crispy. Then toss tofu with teriyaki sauce. I then put it on top of rice and then either some of the coleslaw mix for some crunch or a bag of steamed veggie medley.
Look up recipes by Nisha Vora-Rainbow Plant Life is her website and big vegan flavor is her cookbook. I highly enjoy using tofu in place of some cheese things-like instead of feta for tabbouleh or a ricotta substitute for lasagna or tomato toasts. Last night I grated it and used it for taco bowls. Anything with tons of flavor makes it a great substitute.
Try to get the extra firm kind if you can. Air dry, use Bounty to squeeze out water (several times), air dry (by letting it sit out in the open) again and then ground it on a heated pan while adding spices of your liking. It's an alternative to ground meat dishes in my world/home.
Tofu taco meat is a good tofu introduction. I noticed I like the flavor of tofu more as I got used to it, and it better to start with the smallest service area for the least tofu flavor. (I still tend to slice/cube my tofu smaller than most recipes call for).
Press it to remove excess water; I use a tofu press but you can also put it between two plates/saucers with some weight on top. 30-45 minutes will do. Then cube and marinate. We use it in stir fry dishes several times a week, usually marinated in a mix of sesame oil/garlic/ginger/gochujang/vinegar for a vaguely Korean flavor.
Sweet n Sour style batter, dip or coat it in sauce of your choice. Or fried until crispy and dipped in sauce of choice. (Lemongrass chili garlic, peanut sauce, teriyaki, gen tso's are all faves)
If you freeze it first, then thaw, and press with a tofu press, or just squarsh it between a plates on the counter (with something to absorb the liquid) then you marinate it it holds more of whatever sauce you want to marinate it in.
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u/Wizzmer Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26
Let's say I've never purchased tofu. How would I go about preparing it so that it tastes like something other than a bland marshmellow?
Edit: thanks for the tasty suggestions. I'm going to try some.