Crispy Baked Garlic Tofu
Tofu is baked until crispy and then tossed in a thick, Chinese-style stir-fry garlic sauce.
I’m pretty excited about the extra hour of daylight now that we’re on daylight saving time again. Though it actually feels much longer than one hour. It suddenly feels like I have so much more time. Instead of just cooking dinner after work, I now have time to garden, clean, organize and do a bunch of other house things before it gets dark. In fact, these scallions I used came from the garden.
Mr. K and I both love crispy baked tofu. It’s so weird seeing my husband excited by anything that is healthy, but every time he sees me making tofu he gets as excited as a kid. He kept asking me if the tofu was ready yet every ten minutes. You’d think I was making cookies. 
I love baking tofu until the edges turn crisp. For a little variation, I decided to rework my go-to honey garlic sauce and made a more savory version. This sauce is super garlicky, with minced garlic in nearly every bite. But I really loved how it turned out and will definitely be making it again soon.
More Tofu Recipes
Crispy Baked Garlic Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 (14-oz) block firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tbsp cornstarch + 5 tbsp water
- 1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tofu pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Bake tofu for about 35-40 minutes until golden and crisp around the edges, flipping tofu halfway through.
- When tofu is almost done, make the sauce. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add garlic, soy sauce, onion powder, brown sugar and sriracha. Add cornstarch and water to a small bowl and mix until cornstarch is fully dissolved. Add the saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and stir until everything is completely mixed and sauce has thickened. If your sauce is too thick, you can add another 1 tbsp of water to thin it slightly.
- Add tofu to saucepan and coat with sauce. Serve while warm. You can serve with rice if desired. You can also garnish with fresh chopped scallions.
Hi, is the tofu block drained before you pit in the oven? Thanks
You should drain off any excess liquid from the package, but you don’t need to press the tofu to remove moisture. We use firm tofu, so this isn’t necessary. Just cut it into cubes before baking it.
This was my first time trying tofu, and it came out extremely chewy and with a very unpleasant texture. I think I might have severely overcooked it. The sauce was excellent, even though I reduced the amount of garlic (due to a sensitivity) and hot sauce. I fried some broccoli and added it to the sauce at the same time as the tofu, and that part of the dish was very good. I doubled the sauce for the sake of having enough to coat the tofu, broccoli and rice.
Did you use firm tofu?
A little dry
We don’t find that’s it dry with the sauce – if you like it saucier, you can always double the amount of sauce in the recipe.
Very yummy!
I’m so glad you liked it!
Made this tonight. Killer recipe and flavors.Everyone loved it.Gracias!
So glad you liked it!
For Baking this recipe, can you use foil instead of parchment paper or a baking mat if you don’t happen to have either of those items?
And should the foil be sprayed with cooking oil, so the tofu wouldn’t stick?
You can try foil with oil, but I found that it will still sometimes stick, which is why I prefer parchment paper which is truly nonstick.
This was amazing! My whole family liked it, and that’s a small miracle! Thanks for coming up with this recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that!
very lucky was I to find this recipe. Had to use up some tofu, found your website – problem solved! simple, healthy, and delicious!
so glad you liked it! i love cooking tofu!
This sauce is SO GOOD! Really well balanced and easy to make. I overcooked my tofu but luckily, the sauce saved the dish.
so glad you love the sauce!
Just made this for lunch! It’s delish! I didn’t have soy sauce on hand, so I just used a little pineapple juice & extra sriracha. I also did minced, fresh onion instead of powder & added about a tsp of powdered ginger. I found this to be plenty of sauce for me, stuck to the ratios of liquid provided, I did press my tofu for about 5 min prior to baking it. Baked it a full 40 min at 400 & it was perfect. The magic of baked, crispy tofu is real-crispy outside chewy in! I’ve got brown rice working right now, and will also add steamed broccoli. Really a solid recipe. 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!
During lent I don’t eat meat…I love seafood, but sometimes look for other options. I’ve tried tempeh and was NOT a fan. I was scared to try this recipe, but I’m so glad I did!!! It was soooooooo good!!! I will definitely make this again. I made it exactly as the recipe was, and loved it. I made this with brown rice and spinach. This will be on rotation for my meals! Loved it.
So glad you enjoyed this!
what other kind of sauce could I use for my Tofu….this sause recipe is not enough for the whole 14oz.
If you feel the sauce is not enough, you can always double it, but I thought this amount was plenty. The tofu shrinks when baked and the sauce is very concentrated so a little goes a long way. Typically when cooking stir fry dishes, you only use a few tbsp of sauce for the entire dish
I made this tonight. Very nice but my tofu was quite chewy. Wondering if frying it would make it crispier
Yes when baked the tofu should be crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. I personally love this about the texture! if you fry it, it will definitely be even crispier.
Wow! I’ve never used tofu before but I have to say this was delicious! I didn’t have onion powder so I just blended an onion and used that instead. Will definetly be making again.
I’m so glad you liked it!
I used a paper towel on the top and bottom of the tofu and slightly pressed out some liquid. my tofu came out perfect at 35 minutes!
yay! Thanks for sharing!
Do you have any ideas of nutritional information for this? Such as calorie count?
I do not have nutritional information. I suggest using nurtitional websites like myfitnesspal which will let you calculate recipe nutrition facts.
Hey! How many servings does this give?
3
Very late reply, but thank you very much!
welcome!
once I realized tofu is bland by itself and takes on the flavors of seasonings and sauces you can do anything. I pan fry slices and pour syrup over and eat like a pancake.. it’s delicious and quick.
how interesting! never thought of trying it with syrup
You get an A+ on this dish! I’m new to tofu and I must admit, I wasn’t really liking it until now. This is delectable! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe.
Yvetta
So glad you like this!!
I’ve been making tofu for awhile now, and I’ve found the best way to prep it is as follows:
Ahead of time, take it out of it’s container and put it a new dry container or ziploc and freeze it. Let it thaw in the fridge the night before you plan to cook it. Now you can be really rough with it and squeeze the liquid out like a sponge. For some reason this makes the tofu nice and tough and chewy, as opposed to just pressing it between plates beforehand.
thanks for sharing your technique!
35-40 min In the oven did ruin my tofu.
Press it instead.
Pressing is of course an option, but I’ve been cooking tofu this way with no issues for a long time. Perhaps the tofu consistency and water ratio is a little different where you are coming from? I noticed you are writing in from Denmark and I know that ingredients can be really different from country to country.
I know this is from a couple years ago, but pressing it is definitely key because I’ve made a Teriyaki Tofu recipe which specifically states to pat it dry with paper-towels.
Also, did you cook for 35 or 40 minutes? There is a big difference for the time frame used. Whenever I try a new recipe especially if it has to do with Tofu, I always do the least amount of time first to be on the safe side, but if it doesn’t look done to me, I’ll cook it for about two more minutes. I feel like patting it down is key to having it cooked well.
I just made this! However, I did not bake it in the oven because I’m impatient lol. I sprinkled a little salt on the tofu, tossed it in cornstarch, and fried a couple of minutes on each side before tossing it in the sauce. It was phenomenal. Thanks for the recipe!!
yay!
You squish the excess liquid out of the tofu before cooking it otherwise it’s slimy. Freezing it for an hour after pressing and before cooking also makes it firmer.
hmm, I havent had any issues with the tofu being slimy. It does take longer for them to crisp up if you don’t remove excess liquid though
try using extra firm tofu! Mine wasnt slimy at all
I think you may have used silken tofu rather than firm, which are two very different products. Silken has that slippery feeling to it, and is good in miso soup or to make dressings and creamy condiments.
You may want to mention pressing the tofu for people like me, who don’t know and then ruin it :-/
I’m sorry I don’t know what you’re referring to. What pressing?
This reminds me of something I used to cook a lot last year when I was living on campus-so easy and delicious!! One of my faves 🙂
My mom makes a similar dish too =)