Tofu

Basically, it's all the things.

It's my favorite fall dinner.

The beauty of tofu is that it can be partnered with just about anything in your pantry.

My entire family loves it.

Where has this been all our lives?

It's packed with veggies and a smoky chipotle ranch.

Just 20 minutes on the grill gives you crunchy BBQ salad bowls and BLT-inspired sammies.

Restaurant-style tofu with golden-brown outsides and soft, spongey insides is a tiny miracle. Here's the trick for replicating it at home.

Impossible, Beyond, jackfruit, seitan... which freshly popular meat substitute points the way to plant-based nirvana for you? Take our quiz, try a recipe, and eat less meat in 2020!

There's a lot more to this fantastic food than stir fries and vegan sandwiches.

It has the crispiest, most flavorful tofu around.

If you've tried crisping tofu at home before with disappointing results don't worry — the skill isn't beyond you.

And it's super easy to make at home.

This is tofu like you've never seen it before.

The sesame-ginger marinade will make you a tofu believer.

This vegetarian stir-fry meets sheet pan is bound to be a new weeknight favorite.

Around the World in 30 Soups: This month we’re collaborating with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globetrotting adventure in soups from countries and cuisines around the world. Today’s stop: Malaysia. We asked Ping Coombes, author of an essential Malaysian cookbook, for her best introduction to Malaysian soups. This was the answer — the rich, spicy laksa with coconut milk, shrimp, and deeply fragrant spice paste.

“Biscuit-topped” is one of my favorite word combinations. In cookbooks, it is the friend I’m always delighted to run into. Oh, hi there, are you a hearty stew plush with grounding root vegetables and maybe handfuls of tender slow-cooked chicken, all hanging out under a blanket of warm biscuits? Let’s be friends. Four years ago, I stumbled into an accidental tradition.

Ready to add tofu to your meal plan? Start here!

I want to tell you so much about this tofu tikka masala, but let me start with the sauce. It’s layered with a mess of warm spices plus the smoky flavors of charred onion and ginger all infused into the requisite tomato cream sauce. That’s what you want from tikka masala, but at the same time, this dinner wouldn’t be the stand-out star it is without the firm cubes of tofu infused with a hint of tangy yogurt and lemon juice and a light spice that seeps all the way through.

I’ve been reading Heidi Swanson’s blog, 101 Cookbooks, since before food blogs were a thing. It’s long been one of my go-tos for meat-free, veggie-heavy meals that are both nourishing and super tasty. So it should come as no surprise that I learned the most amazing tip from her latest cookbook for preparing tofu.

Tofu’s greatest strength is that it is a total blank slate for any type of dinner. The squishy block is neutral-tasting and nearly flavorless, which makes it easy to turn it into any cuisine you’re in the mood for. This quality also has the potential to be tofu’s number-one weakness, but I have a trick to make sure that never happens. Instead you’ll be rewarded with absolutely delicious tofu everyone around the table will be into.

I like to slot several meat-free dinners into my meal plan each week, and it’s always a given that tofu will be the star of at least one of them. It’s a guaranteed punch of protein, and most of all I can’t get enough of its versatility and chameleon-like ability to partner with almost any ingredients I have on hand. Take inspiration from some of our most popular tofu recipes when working a meatless night into your next meal plan.

This recipe is going to make you see tofu in a whole new light.

On the nights I’m craving a wholesome salad for dinner, I ditch the lettuce altogether and start with a couple of sheet pans because this salad is built around roasted broccoli, sweet potatoes, and hearty chunks of BBQ-slicked tofu. Add a scoop of brown rice or leftover grains, some black beans, and a drizzle of yogurt ranch dressing, and you’ve got a totally satisfying warm salad bowl that will leave you completely satisfied and crossing your fingers for leftovers.

This soup is both energizing and restorative, but not fussy.

Remember that jar of green curry paste you bought for that one recipe you never made? Well, tonight it’s going to be the key to one of the most delicious vegetarian recipes you can make when you’re in a hurry. Take a cue from a favorite Thai takeout dish and make a fragrant green curry filled with tender cubes of tofu and broccoli, all in a coconut milk sauce layered with hints of pungent garlic, ginger, and fresh basil.

If you're new to Japanese food, and want a place to start, miso soup is the easy gateway.

A quick and easy alternative to your morning eggs.

If you’re tempted to order takeout tonight from your favorite Chinese restaurant, squash that urge and try this sweet and spicy tofu stir-fry instead. This dish comes together in the same amount of time it takes to steam rice, and the tofu gets browned and crispy without all the fuss of deep-frying. My favorite way of making crispy tofu is as simple as patting it really dry and using a nonstick pan.

Perhaps the most time-intensive element of this recipe is waiting for the tofu to dry out. That’s when you do the rest of the prep — making the sauce and cutting the veggies — so by the time you pop everything into the oven to cook, the 10 minutes or so it takes goes by in a flash. Would you expect anything less from a recipe from Damn Delicious?

Traditionally creamy Caesar dressing gets its rich and luxurious texture from the addition of raw egg yolk. When prepared correctly, it’s completely safe to eat, but I understand your concerns if that’s not quite for you. Don’t rule out homemade creamy Caesar dressing, though! Try one of these five methods for making it without raw egg. I recently learned this tip when making thousand island dressing.

Sometimes I shy away from ordering salads at restaurants because I fear they won’t be flavorful enough — I just can’t handle the possibility of that kind of disappointment — but when something sounds colorful and crunchy, and includes peanut butter, I’m far more inclined to leap. If that sounds like you, or if you’re a lover of a good peanut butter dressing draped over a bowl of broccoli slaw and crispy baked tofu, then this salad is for you.

Eggplant can be a polarizing vegetable. There are those who don’t care for it, but I’m in the other camp. I love eggplant in any form, whether roasted, grilled, or even puréed into baba ganoush. But my absolute favorite? When eggplant is stir-fried with lots of garlic and coated with a glossy, savory sauce that I can spoon over a big bowl of steamed rice. I’m not vegan, but this recipe can lean that way if you can get your hands on vegetarian oyster sauce.

This is the absolute easiest vegan mayonnaise that I know. It’s the one I pull out when I have a vegan friend coming over for lunch, or if the host of a dinner party asks me to bring a light dip for an appetizer. It calls for three ingredients and a blender, and it makes a creamy, slightly tangy mayonnaise that’s ready to go with your favorite sandwich or salad. Specifically, the secret is silken tofu. This tofu has the texture of barely set custard and a fairly neutral flavor.

Not to be confused with the Sichuanese dish ma po tofu, ma lan tou is a refreshing and easy-to-compose cold salad that is frequently served as part of a selection of small plates at the start of a Shanghainese feast. Along with crumbled firm tofu, chrysanthemum leaves (known as shungiku leaves in Japanese, or tong ho in Cantonese) are the co-star of the dish. They impart a fragrant and mildly grassy note to this herbaceous salad, and are easily found in Asian groceries.

Q: I recently traveled to China and had several meals that featured tofu. I’d never really enjoyed tofu before, but what I ate in China was a revelation: crispy outside, creamy and custardy inside, and sometimes served in broth or with a sauce. How can I recreate this amazing texture at home? I’m a pretty skilled cook, but have never cooked with tofu before so I don’t even know where to begin. Sent by Marcella Editor: I’m with you.

Stir-fried tofu is not, perhaps, at the top of your list of scintillating weeknight dinners. But in its own humble, unassuming way, tofu can be downright sexy. Give it some time by itself in a hot wok, and you’ll get golden edges and bouncy texture that will surprise you with its ability to make you swoon. Let me be upfront: this is not the kind of crispy, crunchy tofu that comes from a deep-fryer.

Nachos certainly have a time and place. When I was in college, that time and place broadened exponentially to include pretty much anywhere and any time, but today things have certainly changed. We make nachos occasionally when the Super Bowl is on or when a group of friends are over to watch a movie, so to try and persuade me that nachos belong on the breakfast table would be stretch, but after working on this recipe, I’m a changed woman.

I didn’t really know what yuba was until recently. I’d dismissed it as a trendy ingredient aimed towards those on special diets, but it turns out I’ve been eating it ever since I was a kid! One of my favorite dim sum dishes is the stuffed bean curd rolls that are fried and steamed with a delicious sauce. I also grew up eating jai, a Chinese vegetarian stew eaten during the Chinese Lunar New Year. Turns out that a key ingredient in both dishes is yuba!

My daughter loves rice, especially fried rice. I love fried rice because it is an easy way to include vegetables and proteins in her meal, and it makes for excellent lunches the next day. Wok cooking is also one of my favorite fast ways of putting dinner on the table quickly. This homemade version — with its peppery, soft, and delicate flavors — is a little lighter and fresher than the take-out version; it’s an all-around winner at our house.

This is one of those dishes that makes you feel quite pleased with yourself. Fast, easy, healthy, and more delicious than Chinese takeout – a series of winning propositions. You can prep pretty much all the ingredients ahead of time, making this a fantastic last-minute weeknight dinner. The sweetness in the sauce makes this a dish that normally picky eaters will lean into. There’s plenty of sauce, too, which you’ll be happy about as you spoon it over hot rice or quinoa.

Pop that tofu in the freezer! Here's why.

In my never-ending quest to think about quick, simple, protein-heavy breakfasts, I’ve been experimenting a lot with tofu scrambles over the past few weeks. My main reference for these egg-free scrambles is the one our college dining hall used to make as one of their “breakfast-for-dinner” nights — their version was a Southwest number, replete with huge chunks of red pepper, undercooked onions, and yesterday’s leftover beans.

You can’t go wrong serving these kebabs this 4th of July. You can prepare them in advance, and they’re practically a meal unto themselves when served along with couscous, potato salad, or a grain-based dish. And what a great way to showcase summer’s bounty of vegetables! Tweak the recipe by using whatever vegetables are most exciting to you.

I think most of us know (and love) Heidi Swanson’s website, 101 Cookbooks. It has certainly been one of my favorite food reads for many years, and I am always inspired by the way Heidi brings vegetables to the fore, often in unexpected ways. So when we were hunting for some fresh ways to feature zucchini and squash this week, Heidi’s books were one of the first places I looked.

If you happen to live in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City, Southern California, New York, or anywhere with a Vietnamese population, I hope you have experienced the wonders of bánh mì – baguettes filled with pickled carrots and daikon, fresh cilantro, and meat or tofu. The sandwiches are crisp, salty, tangy, and sweet; the perfect marriage of French and Vietnamese influences.

What: Vietnamese tofu Where: Mo village in southeastern Hanoi, Vietnam Read the series → Part One and Part Two Hoang Tra My has eaten tofu every day since she married into a tofu-making family 27 years ago, and she hasn’t gotten sick of it yet. Tofu is a versatile and delicious high-protein food that can be made from just three ingredients. Here are four reasons you should try to make your own tofu at home.

What: Vietnamese tofu Where: Mo village in southeastern Hanoi, Vietnam Read the first post: The Ingenious Way That Tofu Is Made in Vietnam Tofu seems to get a bad rap in the Western world. People see it as a pitiful meat substitute reserved for sallow-skinned vegetarians, who must be lacking nutrition and other options to eat mushy white tastelessness. I hate to admit it, but even as a vegetarian, I kind of agreed with them, because I didn’t know how to cook it.

I have a serious thing for diners and their intrinsic Americana nostalgia. Sometimes the food isn’t even so hot, but I still pop in for a basic sandwich and cup of mediocre coffee every now and again. Chef Trevor Rudd of City State Diner in Portland, Oregon, walked me through one of my most beloved — and America’s most beloved! — diner specials: the wedge salad. Want to know the secrets behind this iconic dish? You know you do!

Tofu is such an easy way to get healthy protein into your diet, but its versatility also means that you can eat it at any time of day. Try it in place of eggs in a breakfast scramble, crisp it up for lunch or a snack, and turn it into a hearty soup or even a vegan pot pie for dinner — the sky’s the limit when it comes to tofu!

Do you know the difference between extra firm and silken tofu? Have you ever made baked tofu (spoiler alert, it’s amazing!), or super crispy tofu without deep-frying it? How about the best way to store leftover tofu? We have the answer to those questions, and a lot more. From an explanation of what tofu is, to the different varieties, the ins and outs of buying it, storing it, cooking it, and just what to do with the leftovers, here’s quite a lot of what you need to know about tofu.

One of my favorite soups is hot and sour soup, and I was flabbergasted to discover that it’s really quite easy — and cheap! — to make. Who woulda thunk it? Called suan la t’ang in Chinese, it gets its tang from the addition of white vinegar. Let me share a secret with you — not only did this recipe mark the first time I made hot and sour soup, but it also marked the first time I tasted it. Trust me, no one is more surprised than me.

Today’s Topic: Tofu & Tempeh The Goal: 20 lessons, 20 days to become a better cook at home Enter to win The Kitchn Cookbook: Simply share and tag photos of your Kitchn Cooking School progress on Instagram and Twitter with #kitchnschool to enter for a chance to win. We’re giving away one copy for every homework assignment during The Kitchn’s Cooking School. See rules and regulations.

Tofu is versatile, nutritious, and so handy to have around. But what about those days you find yourself in a “tofu rut,” or are stuck with half a block left over from a stir-fry? Here are five unexpected ways to quickly use up leftover tofu, whether it’s just a few slices or a whole block. Tofu is one of those foods that I always find handy to have in the fridge.

Q: I love tofu, and tofu stir-fry is one of my go-to, no-brainer recipes. I have one problem: it seems like no matter what I do, when I’m browning my tofu, it always sticks to the pan, and the lovely crispy crust always breaks off from the tofu cubes. I want my pile of veg to be studded with golden-brown cubes, and instead it’s pocked with white blobs and scrapings. It still tastes good, but is not so pretty.

When I mention that I develop vegetarian recipes, the most frequent reply is, “You must eat a lot of tofu!” However, I am actually a late adopter of tofu. I’m a texture person, and I’ve only recently found ways to prepare tofu that are not only easy, but also result in a great taste and texture. In this recipe for tofu and chickpea stir-fry with its creamy tahini sauce, you’ll find all of the above.

Firm? Silken? You've got tofu questions and we've got answers!

If you’re allergic to soybeans or avoiding soy for other reasons, it might seem like tofu is off the menu for you. But wait! There’s a new tofu in town and it’s made from hemp. I recently gave it a try and here’s what I thought of it… DIY hemp tofu recipes have been floating around for several years (here’s one from Bay Area Bites).

Baked tofu is magical. When hot from the oven, it’s crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle — amazing tossed into a stir-fry or just eaten as a snack with whatever dipping sauce happens to be handy. After the tofu cools, it becomes wonderfully firm and chewy. Now it’s perfect for tossing with a lunch salad, crumbling into a sauce, or even slicing into a sandwich. Don’t bother buying baked tofu again: Here’s how to make it yourself, and make it even better.