The Best Crispy Pan Fried Teriyaki Tofu Lisa Lin

The preparation couldn’t be much easier: press the tofu, slice, pan fry, and add sauce. That’s it!

HOW TO MAKE TERIYAKI TOFU

PRESS THE TOFU

I typically use extra-firm tofu that comes in a rectangular plastic container because they’re more convenient to buy. Because the tofu is usually preserved in water for freshness, I press the tofu to get rid of some of the moisture. Occasionally, I buy fresh super firm tofu from Chinese tofu makers in Sacramento. They’re solid bricks that are very firm—so firm that you can’t see individual tofu curds in the center. Because they usually sell this kind of tofu shrink wrapped with little water in the package, I don’t bother pressing the tofu before cooking. You can press tofu many ways. After draining the tofu from the package, I typically wrap the entire block in a muslin square that I bought from England. You can also use paper towels for this. I cook tofu often, and I find it wasteful for me to use paper towels all the time. After you wrap the tofu, lay it on a plate. Then, add a small stack of two to four plates on top. The plates in the photo above are pretty heavy ceramic ones, which is why I only needed two. Some people like to weigh down the tofu with a cast iron skillet. I don’t do that because I find the skillet to be too heavy and it always leans one way after a little while. As a result, the pressed tofu gets crushed on one side. Press the tofu for 20 to 30 minutes, the longer the better. Then, I’ll unwrap the tofu and give the muslin a quick rinse and wring.

CUT THE TOFU

In the photos above, I cut my block of tofu into triangles to make them more visually appealing. You can cut them into 1-inch cubes or strips if you prefer. To make the triangles, cut the block of tofu along the longer edge into 6 slices. Each slice is about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Then, lay each slice flat down and slice it into two short rectangles. Take each rectangle and make a diagonal cut to create 2 triangles. Continue doing this for the remaining slices.

PAN FRY THE TOFU

Pan fry the tofu with a few tablespoons of oil. I use peanut oil most often, but any kind of oil works. Arrange the triangles flat in a single layer over a large nonstick skillet. Pan fry one side for about 4 minutes, then flip each piece over and pan fry the other side for about 3 minutes. If I’m cooking dinner on a regular weeknight, I’ll stop the pan frying here. For my photos, however, I usually pan fry the 3 edges of the tofu for 1 minute each.

DRIZZLE THE TERIYAKI SAUCE

Finally, drizzle several tablespoons of teriyaki sauce over the tofu and turn off the heat. Teriyaki sauce has sugar in it, which will cause the sauce to burn quite easily in high heat. That’s why I do this final step with the heat off and let the residual heat from the pan warm up the sauce. Flip the tofu pieces around so that they are covered in the sauce.

WHY I DON’T MARINATE THE TERIYAKI TOFU

First of all, drizzling the sauce over the tofu after they have been pan fried gives the tofu adequate flavor. Second, because of the sugar content in the sauce, marinated tofu will likely burn before it develops an even sear.