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 Teriyaki Tofu
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.
Serving Suggestions
Serve your teriyaki tofu over rice and top it with sesame seeds and chopped green onions (also called spring onions or scallions). Some lemon wedges on the side is also great.
Chef’s 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.
Storing and Reheating
Leftovers keep very well in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can reheat in the microwave or in the frying pan. If the sauce is too thick, add a small splash of water to it as it heats to thin it out again.
More Tofu Recipes
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Teriyaki Tofu
Ingredients
For the Tofu:
- 14 ounces Firm Tofu (400g)
- 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
For the Teriyaki Sauce:
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce (60ml)
- 1 cup Water (240ml)
- 1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Sesame Oil
- 2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- ¼ cup Water
For Serving:
- Basmati Rice
- Sesame Seeds
- Green Onions Chopped
- Lemon Wedges
Instructions
- Press the tofu. Start out by pressing your tofu for 30 minutes. 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 make your teriyaki sauce. Add soy sauce, 1 cup of 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. Make up a cornstarch slurry by adding the cornstarch to a bowl with ¼ cup 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 frying 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.
- Serve. Serve it over basmati rice topped with sesame seeds and chopped green onions with lemon wedges on the side.
Video
Notes
- Firm tofu is a must in this recipe. The firmest tofu you can buy will be the best one to use in this recipe.
- Soy sauce. Make sure to use a gluten-free soy sauce if you want this meal to be entirely gluten-free.
- Green onions are also known as spring onions or scallions.
- Storing. Leftovers will keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Prep time is for pressing the tofu. You start making the sauce while the tofu is pressing, which actually reduces the total time for this dish, so it can be ready in 40 minutes total.
- Nutritional information is for the teriyaki tofu only and excludes rice.
Two tablespoons of cornstarch is way too much. It turned the sauce into sludge and I had to start all over, at a very inconvenient time.
Hi Steve, it is supposed to be a thick sauce, we found this worked well as a sauce for the tofu. Sorry to hear that it came out too thick for you. You can definitely reduce the cornstarch by half for a thinner sauce.
Delicious! I swapped the sesame oil and rice vinegar with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.
Hello! This recipe looks appetizing. Can I use another Vinegar?
You can, but it will change the taste.
I just found your blog a while ago and I have tried numerous recipes since, especially liked this teriyaki tofu! Also, cannot believe I never pressed my tofu before..
Thank you Alison, keep it up 🙂
all the best from Germany
Thanks so much Lena! 🙂
Great recipe. Loved it!
Thanks John!
I loved this recipe!
Loooord it was delicious and I felt like a pro chef while cooking it. Like when I added the cornflour mix to the teriyaki sauce and it started to thicken before my eyes – magic moment!
Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
That is awesome Sandra, I love this comment! Thanks so much for the amazing review.
Delicious sauce! Instead of rice, I served this with lo mein and veggie stirfry.
Awesome! Thanks Barbara!
Do you have any recommended replacements for tofu? This recipe looks delicious but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get tofu
The sauce is super delicious so you could really use it anywhere, if you can get other veggie protein sources like veggie strips or nuggets then this would also work great as a sauce for those.
Your recipes are always so flavourful and simple, yet uniquely different. I’m constantly trying something new and sooo impressed.
Thanks so much Anna!
I am looking for a new tofu recipe and I think this might be it! The teriyaki sauce looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing.
Awesome! Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
I made the teriyaki sauce using dark soy sauce. It was great, not too salty and a rich deep flavor.
So happy to hear that Susan! Thank you!
This looks yummy! Can you use fresh garlic and ginger, and if so, how much? (It’s hard to get the powder where I live.)
Sure! I’d probably stick to a teaspoon of each and use crushed garlic and minced ginger. 🙂