- Hi, I'm Becky Striepe from Glue & Glitter
and today we're gonna air fry some tofu.
(calm music)
Y'all, this recipe is one of my family's absolute favorites
and it's also one of the most popular recipes on my website.
I created a video for this recipe a few years ago
but it was one of those hands and pans overhead only videos
and I thought it was time to show my face
and tell you a little bit more about it
and show you how to make it.
So let's do that.
The critical ingredient here is the cornstarch.
You can mix up the marinade however you like
and in the next segment,
I'll talk a little bit about different marinade options
but what I recommend, especially the first time you make it
is that you do not skip the cornstarch.
My family absolutely loves tofu
so sometimes when I make this,
I don't use the cornstarch because I'm lazy
but I definitely think you should do the cornstarch
at least the first time
if you really want that like crunchy deep fried-ish texture.
Cornstarch is what's going to get you there.
I know that there are air fryer tofu recipes
that get crunchy without the cornstarch
and they do that by cooking the tofu for longer.
Using the cornstarch allows you to have that crunchy outside
but also have the tender inside
which is what I really like in a tofu.
Let's talk variations.
I do not want you to feel beholden
to the flavors in this recipe.
This marinade that I'm gonna show you
is definitely my favorite
but you can mix things up however you like.
You just wanna make sure
that you have about three to four tablespoons of marinade
and then you're good to go.
You could use a quarter cup of your favorite salad dressing.
You could use balsamic vinegar and olive oil
with a little Italian seasoning.
Kinda mix and match and see what flavors work for you
just as long as you have that three to four tablespoons
of marinade so that you have enough to coat the tofu
but you don't want it to get too wet
because then the cornstarch won't adhere as well.
So with logistics out of the way, let's cook.
Start with a block of extra firm tofu that you have pressed
and then cut into one inch cubes.
I like the one inch cubes
because then they get crispy on the outside
but there's still that tender tofu on the inside.
You can do smaller pieces if you want more crunchiness
and you can do bigger pieces if you want more soft tofu
with a crunchy outside.
Now it's marinade time.
So to your bowl of tofu,
you're gonna add two tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce,
a teaspoon of seasoned rice vinegar,
two teaspoons of toasted sesame oil
and then a teaspoon of garlic powder
and a half a teaspoon of onion powder.
If you absolutely don't do oil,
you can replace the sesame oil with more soy sauce
but that little bit of toasted sesame oil
brings such a lovely flavor to this tofu.
I really recommend that you give it a try.
Toss the tofu together with the marinade ingredients
right in your bowl and then set that aside to marinate
I say for 10 minutes to a half an hour,
really just wait as long as you can.
You can actually go straight to cornstarch if you want to.
It just won't have as rich a flavor as if you marinate.
So the longer you can wait, the better
but if you need to get cooking right away, that's fine too.
After your marinating time is up,
it's time to add your cornstarch.
So toss in a tablespoon of cornstarch
which is gonna feel like a lot
but you really need that much to coat all of that tofu
and then just gently stir to get your tofu evenly coated.
The tofu might crumble a little bit and that's fine.
Don't worry about it.
Everything's gonna shake out fine in the air fryer.
Once your tofu is nice and coated in that cornstarch,
transfer it to your air fryer basket
and air fry it at 370 for 20 minutes
shaking it halfway through.
So at the 10 minute mark,
just give the air fryer basket a nice shake.
What you're really trying to do there
is just prevent the tofu from sticking to each other
and from sticking to the bottom of the air fryer basket.
You don't have to vigorously shake.
Just a little shake.
You'll see things move around then you can move on.
Once that cooking time is up, you are ready to serve.
You can serve this on top of a rice bowl or a noodle bowl.
You can stuff it into a sandwich or a wrap if you want to.
This recipe is really versatile.
That's one of the things I love about it.
I will tell you a secret.
When I made this tofu,
my kid and my husband were out of town
and I just ate the entire thing with green onions
and a little bit of steamed spinach
and that was my dinner and I loved it and I'm not sorry.
I hope that this video has answered all of your questions
about how to make perfect crispy air fryer tofu.
If you have any questions
that I didn't address in the video,
feel free to drop a comment.
I'm always happy to help
and don't forget to rate and subscribe.
Happy cooking.
(calm music)