Grilled Tofu

5 from 5 votes

This grilled tofu is the best ever! It's grilled to perfection on a grill pan and brushed with a fabulous sesame ginger marinade sauce.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegan

Servings:

Calories: 261kcal

Press the tofu, ideally using a tofu press, or if you don't have a tofu press, by placing the tofu on a plate, with another plate on top of it, and then stacking something heavy on top of that, like a heavy pot or stack of books. Leave to press for 30 minutes.
When pressed, slice each block of tofu into 3 rectangular blocks, so that you have 6 rectangles.
Brush the tofu with sesame oil and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
Mix up your basting sauce by adding the toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, hoisin sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder and cayenne pepper to a measuring jug. Whisk it into a sauce.
Lightly brush a grill skillet with sesame oil and heat it for around 6 minutes on medium to high heat until hot.
Place three of the tofu blocks onto the hot skillet. They will stick to the skillet.
Grill the tofu for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes they will have grill lines and should release from the skillet easily without sticking.
Flip the tofu over and grill for 5 minutes on the other side.
Remove the tofu from the skillet and repeat with the remaining 3 tofu rectangles.
Then return the tofu to the skillet, 3 pieces at a time and lightly brush the basting sauce on both sides.
Serve over basmati rice and pour over the rest of the sauce.
Top with chopped green onions and a sprinkle of white sesame seeds.

Tofu - it is crucial that you use firm or extra firm tofu in this recipe. Extra firm is preferable.
Sesame oil - regular sesame oil is used to brush onto the tofu and onto the grill skillet, and toasted sesame oil in the basting sauce. Don't mix them up because toasted sesame oil is not a good option to use in high heat. This is why we also just brush on the basting sauce at the end, we don't cook the tofu in the sauce.
Let the grill pan get hot before adding the tofu. The grill pan needs to be hot so that the tofu seals when it hits the pan, gets those lovely grill lines, and doesn't stick.
Wait 5 minutes before flipping. In addition to the grill pan being sizzling hot, you must also wait the full 5 minutes before you try to flip the tofu. If you try to flip it too soon, it will break up.
Prep time does not include the time spent pressing the tofu.
Nutritional information is for tofu and sauce only and excludes basmati rice.