Savoury, crispy, succulent chunks of tofu — for use as a garnish on or ingredient in a great variety of dishes. Quick and easy to make with just a few store-cupboard ingredients.
You can make this in a paddle-type air fryer, or a basket type air fryer.
[Note: vegan comments berating the use of duck fat in this recipe will simply be deleted as they don’t move the conversation forward. This is not and will never be a vegan niche site.]
Crispy Air Fried Tofu
Ingredients
- 350 g extra-firm tofu (Low fat. 12 oz)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon Maggi seasoning sauce
- 1 tablespoon coriander paste (Optional. Or fresh leaves.)
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce (low-sodium)
- 1 teaspoon duck fat
Instructions
- Cut into 2 to 3 cm (1 inch) cubes; set aside in a medium-sized bowl.
- Make a marinade of all ingredients from the sesame oil down to the soy sauce inclusive. (For a basket type air fryer, melt the duck fat by zapping for a few seconds in the microwave and stir it in.)
- Pour the marinade over the tofu cubes, mix.
- Let marinate for at least 30 minutes, tossing a few times. If you feel like you just need more liquid, add some more fish or soy sauce.
- In the Actifry™ (or similar air frying pan) pan, melt the 1 teaspoon of duck (or goose) fat. Add the tofu cubes and cook for 20 minutes: 25 to 30 mins for extra crispy.
- In a basket type air fryer, cook in the basket at 180 C (350 F), turning or shaking every 10 minutes or so.
Nutrition
We used low-sodium soy sauce, and low-fat extra-firm tofu.
We used coriander paste in a tube as a convenience. You can use fresh, or use a ginger paste instead, or just plain omit, etc.
27 calories per 1/2 cup (75 g) cooked.
3 Weight Watchers PointsPlus® per 1/2 cup (75 g) cooked; 12 points in the entire recipe.
* Nutrition info provided by https://caloriecount.about.com
* PointsPlus™ calculated by hotairfrying.com. Not endorsed by Weight Watchers® International, Inc, which is the owner of the PointsPlus® registered trademark.
* Actifry™ is a registered trademark of SEB, France.
What temperature do you cook these, it sounds delish!
Originally this was written for Actifry, where there is no temperature. We’ve added one now, thanks for pointing it out!
What if I omit the duck fat? Will it still taste good?
Why would you ruin this with duck fat??
Hi Elizabeth, the duck fat does *not* ruin it, in fact it improves it because the same amount of duck fat goes further than the same amount of an oil. Tofu absorbs oil like a sponge, leaving the outside of the tofu cubes dry and less interesting; a solid animal fat like duck fat has more of a tendency to stay on the surface of the food, helping the food’s surface to brown better and adding moist mouth-feel afterwards. You’d have to use far, far more oil to achieve the same ends. So, using duck fat (or another animal fat) ends up providing you with better-tasting food, for fewer calories. We can literally guarantee the Chinese did not historically use virgin-olive oil from Tuscany for their stir frying!
I love your reply about the Chinese and olive oil, made me laugh. It also makes sense. And I love your web site.
Muffy
Ugh, lost me at the duck fat. Gross. The majority of people who eat tofu, eat it as an alternative to meat products, the last thing we want is duck fat. Other than that looks like a decent recipe.
I can guarantee you, the majority of people who eat tofu live in Asia, and love duck fat, not to mention the rest of the duck. If you’re after vegetarian prepared tofu, don’t go to a Chinese restaurant. To do successful food bullying with your personal preferences, you are going to need to take it somewhere where there’s someone WAY less informed. It’s a great big wide world of food out there, outside the Enchanted Broccoli Forest.
Yum to the duck fat! People who eat meat also like tofu. If you dont like it, then omit it.
I eat lots of tofu but not as a meat substitute, lots of meat eaters eat it.
OMG, delicious!! I added a T cornstarch to make it a bit crunchier. Thank you so much for making me realize how wonderful tofu can be.