Teriyaki Tofu

This teriyaki tofu is made with a deliciously sweet and salty homemade teriyaki sauce. It’s super quick and easy and better than takeout!

There is a lot to love about this teriyaki tofu. It’s packed with flavor: salty and a little sweet, and it comes together super fast.

Served with rice it’s a fabulous high protein meal that’s perfect for weeknights.

And if you love tofu like we do, then also check out our baked tofu recipe, our crispy fried tofu and our marinated tofu salad.

How To Make It

You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.

• Press the tofu. Start out by pressing your tofu for 30 minutes (not pictured). Press it in a tofu press or, if you don’t have a tofu press, place the block of tofu on a plate with another plate on top of it and then stack a heavy pot on top. The goal is to remove any excess water from the tofu so it’s as firm as possible.
• Make the teriyaki sauce. While the tofu is pressing you can make your teriyaki sauce. Add soy sauce, water, rice vinegar, maple syrup, sesame oil, brown sugar, ground ginger and garlic powder to a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring all the while. Then make up a cornstarch slurry by adding cornstarch to a bowl with a little water and mixing it into a paste. Add this to your sauce and whisk it in. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens. Turn off the heat.

• Fry the tofu. When the tofu is pressed, cut it into slices, cut the slices in half and then into triangles. Heat sesame oil in a pan and when hot, add the tofu triangles and fry until browned and crispy on one side, and then turn them over and fry until browned and crispy on the other side. Stand the tofu triangles on their sides and fry so that the sides get browned and crispy too.
• Add the sauce. Pour the sauce into the pan and use a spatula to gently mix the tofu with the sauce so that it’s evenly distributed. Turn off the heat.

How To Serve It

Serve it over rice and top with sesame seeds and chopped spring onions (also called green onions or scallions). Some lemon wedges on the side is also great.

Recipe Tips

Firm tofu is a must in this recipe. It won’t work at all with a soft tofu. The tofu must be firm or extra firm. The firmest tofu you can buy will be the best one to use in this recipe. And then we press it as well to make sure it really fries up well.

This recipe is pretty salty. A main ingredient in teriyaki sauce is soy sauce which leads to the strong saltiness in this dish. If you like salty foods then you will love it. But if you’d like to cut the saltiness down then you can use a low sodium soy sauce or a dark soy sauce. Both of those options are milder in terms of sodium content.

Storage: If you have leftovers they will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.

More Tofu Recipes

1. Marinated Tofu
2. General Tso’s Tofu
3. Kung Pao Tofu
4. Tofu Stir Fry
5. Baked Tofu
6. Crispy Fried Tofu

Print