I tried every way to make Crispy Tofu. This is the best one.

Today I'm going to show you how to take a soggy block of tofu and transform it into crispy perfection. Whether you're pan frying, air frying, baking, or deep frying your tofu, I'll share the exact cooking techniques you can use to get exceptionally crispy results, as well as some common mistakes to avoid. And at the end of the video, I'll reveal what I think is the best method. In preparation for this video, I cooked over 35 blocks of tofu, and what that taught me is that there are four important variables. The first variable is what kind of tofu you're using. There are so many different varieties of tofu, so for each cooking method, I'll share what my preferred choice of tofu is. The second variable is how you choose to remove excess water from the tofu. While almost everyone is familiar with pressing tofu, there are a couple other techniques that you might not be familiar with that I think yield better results. Next is the shape of the tofu pieces. Most people default to cubing tofu, but there is an alternative that gets even crispier results. Finally, tofu tends to get crispiest when it is coated in a starch, but the ideal starch depends on the cooking method you're using, so for each method, I'll reveal my pick. We'll start with pan frying, which is a pretty common and easy method for home cooks, and I've got a block of extra firm tofu. This should be available at every major supermarket, and it already has a fair amount of water removed from it, which is a good thing for crisping up. To make sure our tofu actually crisps up, we want to remove some of the excess water, because this block is very watery, and the traditional method to do that is to just press your tofu for like 10 to 20 minutes, either using a tofu press or a set of heavy cookbooks, and that works, but if you want the best crispy tofu with really excellent flavor, what I have found that works even better is to dunk the tofu in a hot bath with salty water. If that sounds complicated, do not worry. It's really simple. Just bring two cups of water to a boil, add one tablespoon of kosher salt, or about half the amount of sea salt, and then drop in your tofu. It might seem crazy to try and remove water from the tofu by putting it in a bowl of water, but it actually works because the water has salt in it, thanks to the power of osmosis. So to greatly simplify things, when osmosis happens, water molecules tend to move from an area of low salt concentration, i.e. inside the tofu, there's not any salt, and they tend to move into an area of higher salt concentration, i.e. the salty water outside of the tofu. Rather than slicing the tofu into cubes, I'm tearing it into chunks with my hands. These tofu chunks have a lot more surface area thanks to their irregular craggy shapes, and the more surface area you have in contact with the hot cooking surface, the more opportunity to develop a uniform crispy texture. Be sure to gently pat the tofu dry, and now it's time to season it. I'm intentionally keeping the flavorings very simple for now. Just salt and pepper, plus cornstarch. I've tried arrowroot powder and potato starch, but the tofu pieces tend to stick together in the pan, and it gets a little gummy instead of crispy, so I don't really recommend those. I've got a large nonstick frying pan going over medium-high heat, and I'm using three tablespoons of olive oil to get a nice crispy sear. Once the oil is shimmering, just drop in your tofu, and try to spread it out in a single layer as much as you can. Let the tofu cook for five minutes or so undisturbed, then grab a wide spatula and flip as many pieces as you can. Some of the pieces will be stuck together because of the cornstarch, but this actually makes them easier to flip than if you had cubes, and you can easily separate the pieces later. The second side should need just three to four minutes until it's golden brown. Another reason I like using chunks instead of cubes is that they cook faster. Transfer the tofu to a paper towel-lined surface to get rid of some of that excess oil, and that's pretty much it. Hopefully you heard that crunch. It's delicious. It's obviously very simple, but it is super crunchy. It's got a nice amount of salt. It's a little pillowy on the inside, which is nice, and you can add seasonings and spices to this. I'll include one of my favorite seasonings in the description box below, but so far, I'm very, very happy with this one. Next up, we're making baked tofu, and like the pan-fried tofu, we are going to use a block of extra firm tofu. But you might be able to tell, this one looks pretty different. That's because this tofu was previously frozen and then defrosted. When you freeze tofu, the water inside of it turns into ice crystals, which expand, and that changes the molecular structure of the tofu. Once the tofu thaws, that ice melts into water, and it starts to escape from all the porous holes. The result is a spongier tofu with less moisture, which is perfect if you're looking to make crispy tofu. Give it a quick 5 or 10 minute press with your heaviest cookbook, and if you don't have one, might I suggest my new 600-page cookbook, Big Vegan Flavor, which will be out on September 3rd. I like to slice the tofu into roughly 3 quarter-inch cubes, which is the perfect size for adding it to a rice bowl or salad. For a really simple baked tofu, you could just toss the tofu cubes with oil, salt, pepper, and starch like we did for our pan-fried tofu, but it's only gonna get mildly crispy, and I promised you exceptionally crispy tofu, so I'm gonna show you my favorite way to get really crispy baked tofu. First, we'll toss the tofu with some avocado oil or olive oil, as well as some toasted sesame oil for a fantastic flavor, and soy sauce or tamari for a nice savory oomph. A couple pinches of salt, and to assist in the crispiness department, we're adding in arrowroot powder, panko breadcrumbs, and sesame seeds. Even though cornstarch worked great with the pan-fried tofu, I don't actually love using it in baked tofu, because it tends to taste a little chalky. And the panko and sesame seeds are going to add a nice dense crunchiness. I like to line the sheet pan with parchment paper, as it makes the cleanup process super easy. Make sure none of the cubes are touching, or else they won't crisp up as well, and you can press any breading that's fallen off back onto the tofu pieces. Bake these for 15 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, then flip them with a spatula. Or if you're like me and your hands are always cold, this is a nice way to warm them up. But of course, be careful kids. Bake for another 13 to 15 minutes until the tofu is deeply golden brown and crisp. Time for a taste test! That's a little hot. That has a really nice delicate crunch to it, and I know some folks are gonna be like, you cheated, you added panko, you added sesame seeds, but baked tofu needs a little extra helping hand compared to some of our other methods today. And it's delicious, it's savory, it's nutty, and if you have a picky partner, some picky kids, I feel like they will love this stuff. Next up we are talking deep fried tofu. Now I know this is not an everyday method of cooking for most of us, but I do think it's useful for home cooks to have in their culinary repertoire, because it turns out seriously amazing. So it is perfect for special occasions like the Super Bowl or your partner's birthday, and it might sound intimidating, but it's actually pretty easy to do. While I typically use extra firm tofu for crispy results, when I'm deep frying specifically, I like to use firm tofu. It's slightly softer, and you get this really nice contrast of a crunchy exterior and a somewhat soft pillowy interior. And I'm using those tofu chunks again, because I think they produce a slightly superior texture, but I am keeping them a bit bigger than we did for pan frying. This is my first tip for making sure that your deep fried tofu is crispy, but not rock hard. Similar to our pan frying method, instead of pressing the tofu, I'm going to soak it for 10 minutes in a hot water salt solution. Once you've soaked and patted your tofu dry, it's time to lightly batter it. For super crispy deep fried tofu, I really like to use a combination of cornstarch, which you've already seen, and white rice flour. White rice flour has this magical ability to crisp up tofu and vegetables without weighing them down or making them feel greasy and heavy, and that's because it doesn't absorb as much oil as a wheat-based flour such as all-purpose flour. This is the same combination I use in my gobi manchurian recipe to batter the cauliflower, and I think you're going to really love it with tofu as well. I'm doing a very simplified version of Chinese salt and pepper tofu today, so I'm seasoning the batter with salt, freshly ground white pepper, and garlic powder. I like to add the tofu to a large ziploc bag as it makes it really easy to evenly coat the tofu without breaking it up. Just gently shake the bag up and down like so. Now for the frying part, which I know can be a little intimidating. I like to use a wok because the shape is great for frying, though you can use a different heavy bottom saucepan if you don't have one. You need enough oil to deep fry and cover the tofu, but never fill your pan more than halfway full because that can bubble up and get dangerous. Turn the heat up to medium high until it reaches 350 to 370 Fahrenheit. Thermometer like this is really useful, but if you don't have one, check out the free PDF that goes along with this video for instructions. A spider tool like this is also key for deep frying. You want to add about a fourth of the tofu to your spider and gently lower it into the oil, and repeat that until you've added half of the tofu. You'll notice that all of the tofu is sticking together. Don't worry. After two minutes of undisturbed frying, you can use a chopstick to gently separate the pieces. Continue frying the tofu for an additional five to six minutes until it's lightly golden and firm. Whatever you do, make sure you're not frying the tofu for more than eight minutes total, or else the tofu will go from crunchy to rock hard. Transfer the tofu to a paper towel lined surface, and once the oil comes back to temperature, you can just repeat that process with the second batch of tofu. That is some serious crunch. That is the crispiest tofu we've had today. The flavoring is intentionally simple for the purposes of this video, but if you are looking for something more exciting, I've got a recipe for tofu 65 in my new cookbook, Big Vegan Flavor. You can pre-order this before September 3rd and get access to incredible bonus content. I've left a link in the description box below if you'd like to pre-order your copy. And with that, let's move on to our next tofu method. Our next method we're going to cover is air fried tofu. I know a lot of folks absolutely love their air fryers, but this was my first time really seriously testing one, and I have to say the results surprised me quite a lot. My preferred method for air fried tofu is to grab a block of extra firm tofu, slice it into cubes, and use the hot salt water soak method to remove the excess moisture. I actually got slightly crispier results using tofu chunks, but they're kind of a pain to spread out in an air fryer, so we're going with cubes. For the crispiest results, you do need to toss the tofu with a bit of oil before adding the starch. You don't need a lot, but if you don't use any oil, your tofu will be very dry and not very crispy. As for the choice of starch, I'd say arrowroot powder produced the best results in the air fryer, but potato starch and cornstarch also worked well. Another somewhat surprising finding is that you will get better results if you preheat your air fryer first. A lot of models tell you you don't need to do that, but in my testing, a six minute preheat at 375 Fahrenheit did yield crispier tofu. Spray the preheated air fryer basket with some oil spray or cooking spray, and add in as much tofu as you can without overcrowding. About half a block. It's important that each piece has its own space so that it can crisp up. It is kind of a pain to do this with tofu chunks. You really can't fit in as many of them, so that's why I prefer to use tofu cubes, even though they get slightly less crispy. Air fry these at 375 degrees for six minutes, then shake the basket a few times to toss, add another six minutes, and another shake, and then four to six more minutes depending on how big your cubes are. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and that's it. Let's try a bite. Air fried tofu, I have to say, gets crunchier than I thought it would. And now that I have tried all four methods back to back, I have eaten so much tofu today, I am ready to share my favorite method. Before I share my top pick, I want to mention two things. One, I think all of these methods work well, and they have their time and place in the home kitchen. It kind of just depends on what you're looking for. And two, if you're wondering where can I get the recipes from today's video, don't worry, I'm going to share that in just a second. All right, first up is deep fried tofu. Now, obviously, this one is delicious. It got the crispiest by far of all the methods. But like any deep fried food, it's a little messy. There's some extra cleanup at the end. It's a bit involved. So it's something that I think is worth saving for a special occasion. Baking tofu is a good option if you want something that's hands-off and weeknight friendly. While it's in the oven, you can make your rice or your sauce or your vegetables and have a complete meal. The downside is that it is the least crispy method out of all of them, especially if you treat the tofu super simply. Air fried tofu, I have to say, surprised me. It got quite crispy, crispier than the baked tofu for sure. And it was really easy. The downside, which I hadn't heard anyone talk about, is that you can only really cook half a block of tofu in the air fryer at once, at least for a standard air fryer model, which is what I have. If you're cooking for one person, I think that's great. I can easily eat a half block of tofu myself. But if you're cooking for more than one, I think it's a little time consuming. You're looking at 45 minutes. So I think some of the other methods would be more efficient. Finally, we have pan fried tofu. Unlike deep fried tofu, it's not messy and it's easy to clean up. Unlike baked tofu, it does legitimately get crispy without too much extra work or advanced planning. And unlike air fried tofu, you can cook an entire block of tofu all at once. Plus, it is the quickest option out of all four methods. So pan frying is my favorite method. You can find all of the recipes from today's video in a free PDF guide. Just scan this QR code here or check the link in the description box below. And I'll see you in the next video. Bye!