This crispy tofu recipe transforms plain tofu into delightfully delicious pieces of tofu with a crisp and golden brown crust. They're easy to make and can be used in so many ways to create a yummy vegan main meal, salad or appetizer.

Table of Contents

• Ingredient tips
• How to press tofu
• Step by step pictures
• Serving
• More vegan tofu recipes
• 📖 Recipe

If you've been to Vegan on Board before, you'll know that we do love tofu. But it wasn't always that way!

We used to find tofu bland and boring, until we discovered the key to cooking tofu is picking the right seasonings and cooking method to get the taste and texture you want! 

To get crispy tofu we often coat it in corn starch and fry it in a pan, like for our mouthwatering Sticky Lemon Tofu or this fiery Sweet Chilli Tofu.

Pan frying tofu takes a bit extra hands-on time, and often needs to be done in several batches. So baking the tofu in the oven to cripsy, yummy perfection is a great alternative!

In this simple recipe, we’ll show you how to make golden brown tofu cubes with a crisp outside and firm, chewy inside and a more-ish savoury flavour. 

Ingredient tips

You only need a few simple ingredients for this crispy baked tofu recipe:

• Extra firm tofu - we use organic tofu. You want the regular block type of tofu, not silken tofu. (more about the difference here).
• Soy sauce - this brand is our favourite for it’s delicious taste. 
• Black pepper
• Nutritional yeast - also known as ‘nooch’. These inactive yeast flakes bring a lot of savoury flavour and umami to the tofu.
• Corn starch, aka cornflour in the UK. This helps to crisp up the outside of the tofu.
• Oil - we use sunflower oil, but you could also use another neutral flavoured oil such as canola / rapeseed oil or light olive oil.

How to press tofu

We use extra-firm tofu, also known as super firm, for this recipe, which doesn’t need to be pressed before using. All we do is slice it and then press it dry with a clean dish towel.

This is more effective than pressing the tofu as a whole, and less effort than pressing the pieces after cubing. The more liquid you get out of the tofu, the more flavour it can take on later!

If you only have firm tofu, then you will want to press it for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight in the fridge, to remove excess moisture and create a better texture. 

The easiest and best way to press tofu is to put it in a tofu press like this one. Alternatively, you can wrap the tofu block in a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to absorb excess water. Place it on a cutting board and then place a heavy object, such as a cast iron skillet, on top.

Step by step pictures

Here's a helpful step by step guide with photos for how to make crispy baked tofu. For the detailed recipe and instructions, see the recipe card at the end of the post!

Step 7 - Bake at 200℃ / 390℉ for 20 minutes until dark golden brown.

Variations

We’ve kept the seasonings on this crispy oven tofu simple so that it goes well with everything. 

But feel free to experiment with adding more dry seasonings such as garlic powder, onion powder, herbs, paprika, chilli powder or curry powder to suit the dish you are serving the tofu with.

For gluten-free crispy tofu, use gluten-free tamari sauce in place of the soy sauce.

Serving

Let the tofu cool down a few minutes before serving and it will become crisper. 

These crispy baked tofu cubes are very versatile and can be used in lots of ways! Here are some of our serving ideas:

• Toss it into a curry - it’s great in our Vegan Red Thai Curry.
• Enjoy as part of a vegan buddha bowl and serve with a variety of veggies, grains and a sauce.
• Use in place of the fried tofu in our Sticky Lemon Tofu.
• Add it to a veggie stir fry. 
• Dip into our delicious Vegan Satay Sauce.
• Use as a vegan chicken alternative in recipes like chicken noodle soup. 
• Add to any salad for a protein boost. 

We don't recommend making the tofu in advance, as it's best served fresh. If you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge, although the tofu will become less crispy.

More vegan tofu recipes

📖 Recipe