This crispy baked tofu is so flavorful, versatile, and a simple way of making tofu taste amazing with just 5 easy-to-get ingredients.
Baked tofu is one of my favorite ways of cooking tofu. It's tasty, crispy, and packed with lots of good-quality protein. This recipe is also delicious, nutritious, and so healthy. If you want to see more ways to prepare it, check out my How to Cook Tofu guide.
The marinade gives the tofu an amazing flavor. However, you can add, replace, or change the ingredients and customize this basic recipe with your favorite spices, herbs, sauces, or seasonings.
This is the recipe I would have liked to have on hand the first time I cooked tofu. It can feel a bit challenging at the beginning, so this recipe is here to make things easier.
Although you can eat this baked tofu just by itself, it can be used to make other recipes, like my General Tso's tofu, sweet and sour tofu, or Kun Pao tofu, but also to incorporate extra protein in salads, soups, or even stews.
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🌟 You'll love this recipe because it is
- Made with only 5 simple ingredients.
- Really affordable.
- Super crispy, full of flavor, nutritious, and healthy.
- Very versatile and totally customizable with your favorite seasonings.
- Perfect to eat by itself or to incorporate extra protein in salads, soups, or stews.
🧾 Ingredients
- Firm tofu: firm or extra firm tofu work best for this recipe. Soft or silken tofu is not a good choice as it will fall apart easily.
- Soy sauce.
- Extra virgin olive oil: this is my favorite oil for this recipe, but any other type of oil will do.
- Garlic powder: this ingredient is optional, but it will make your tofu taste even better.
- Cornstarch.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400ºF or 200ºC. In the meanwhile, add the tofu cubes, soy sauce, oil, and garlic powder to a large bowl, mix until well combined, and let it rest for at least 5 minutes.
Step 2: Drain the tofu and transfer ⅓ of the tofu cubes into a freezer or plastic bag with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and toss to coat. Repeat this step with the remaining tofu and cornstarch.
Step 3: Transfer the tofu cubes to a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Step 4: Remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip each of the tofu cubes so they can cook evenly on the other side. Bake for 15 more minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.
📋 Substitutions & variations
- Make it gluten-free: use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Soy sauce also can be replaced with coconut aminos, or just some salt to taste.
- Make it oil-free: just omit the oil, although this baked tofu will be crispier if you use it.
- Garlic powder can be replaced with onion powder, or you can use them both as well. Minced fresh garlic should also work, although I've never tried it myself.
- Feel free to use any other type of starch instead. You could also omit it, but your tofu will be crispier if you use it.
- I prefer to add 6 tablespoons of cornstarch because I like my tofu cubes super crispy, but you can use only 3 tablespoons or even 1 or 2 tablespoons.
- Feel free to add any herbs and spices you want, such as onion powder, black pepper, paprika, Italian seasoning, Cajun seasoning, or chili powder.
🍽 Equipment
To make this recipe you'll need:
- Measuring tablespoons and measuring cups (or a scale) to weigh your ingredients.
- A large bowl and a spoon for mixing the tofu with the soy sauce, oil, and garlic powder.
- A freezer or plastic bag to coat the tofu cubes with the cornstarch.
- If you don't want to use a freezer or plastic bag, just add the tofu cubes to a shallow dish, then the cornstarch, and toss to coat, but use the bag for the best results.
❄️ Storage
- Refrigerator: although it is best when served immediately, so it can keep its amazing texture, you can also store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
- Reheat: it can be reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop over medium heat until warmed through. Add a little oil, water, or vegetable stock if needed.
💭 Expert tips
- Cut the tofu into ¾-inch chunks (about 2 cm). This size makes the ideal bite.
- I hardly ever press my tofu, but I know many people think this is a must if you want your tofu to absorb even better the flavors from the marinade or sauce you're using.
- If you press it, you'll get extra crispy tofu. Just wrap the tofu in a clean towel and apply a steady weight to squeeze out the moisture. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
- If you freeze the tofu and then defrost it, it will become more porous and it'll absorb flavors more easily. I don't do it very often to save some time and effort, but it's a great tip.
- The best way of reheating this baked tofu is by adding it to a frying pan with extra sauce (just make some more) and cooking over medium heat until it's warm enough.
- It's important to add extra sauce so the tofu doesn't get too dry, but you also can add oil, water, or vegetable stock as I explained above.
❓Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can! Just store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5-7 days. However, keep in mind it won't be as crispy as freshly made.
Extra-Firm tofu has the least amount of liquid and is a great choice for baking.
However, I find it too dry sometimes, so I prefer to use firm tofu because it has the proper amount of liquid without falling apart like silken or soft tofu, but it's not as dry as extra-firm tofu.
You can serve it in salads, soups, stews, or bowl meals. Also with rice or noodles and veggies, or with a stir fry.
In addition, you can use it to make delicious Asian-style recipes that call for tofu, or to replace animal-based protein.
I wouldn't suggest you freeze it since the tofu would probably get a soft texture, and this recipe is amazing because of its flavor but also because of its wonderfully crispy texture!
As I explained above in more detail, I hardly ever press my tofu and I'm so happy with the results.
But for extra crispy tofu and if you want the tofu to absorb even better all the flavors from the marinade or sauce you're using, you can press it.
🌱 More tofu recipes
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Crispy Baked Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 block firm tofu, about 14 ounces or 400 g, patted dry and cubed
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder, optional
- 3-6 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF or 200ºC.
- Add the tofu cubes, soy sauce, oil, and garlic powder to a large bowl, mix until well combined, and let it rest for at least 5 minutes.
- Drain the tofu and transfer ⅓ of the tofu cubes into a freezer or plastic bag with 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and toss to coat.
- Repeat this step with the remaining tofu and cornstarch.
- If you don't want to use a freezer or plastic bag, just add the tofu cubes to a shallow dish, then the cornstarch, and toss to coat, but use the bag for the best results.
- Transfer the tofu cubes to a lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and flip each of the tofu cubes so they can cook evenly on the other side. Bake for 15 more minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Make it gluten-free: use tamari instead of soy sauce.
- Soy sauce also can be replaced with coconut aminos, or just some salt to taste.
- Make it oil-free: just omit the oil, although this baked tofu will be crispier if you use it.
- Garlic powder can be replaced with onion powder, or you can use them both as well. Minced fresh garlic should also work, although I've never tried it myself.
- Feel free to use any other type of starch instead. You could also omit it, but your tofu will be crispier if you use it.
- I prefer to add 6 tablespoons of cornstarch because I like my tofu cubes super crispy, but you can use only 3 tablespoons or even 1 or 2 tablespoons.
- Refrigerator: although it is best when served immediately, you can also store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
- Reheat: it can be reheated in the microwave or on the stovetop over medium heat until warmed through. Add a little oil, water, or vegetable stock if needed.
Karla says
Very easy and the tofu was crispy and delicious!
Iosune Robles says
Hi Karla! Thank you so much 😊 I’m really glad you found it easy and that the tofu turned out crispy and delicious!
David Pressman says
Also, the recipe states that 1/3 of the tofu cubes should be put with the cornstarch into a first plastic bag for the freezer and the remaining (2/3) of the cubes should be put into a second bag for the freezer? Why 1/3 and then 2/3? Shouldn't 1/2 of the cubes be put into each bag for the freezer?
Iosune Robles says
Hi David! The idea is just to coat the tofu in batches so it gets evenly covered with the cornstarch. I used to do it in batches to make it easier, but if your bowl or bag is large enough you can also add all the tofu and cornstarch at once and toss it until everything is evenly coated 🙂