Baked Tofu Snack

Tofu Snack with Sweet Chili Sauce

Once in a while, I decide to not eat any meat or meat product for 2 - 4 weeks for health and religious belief reasons.  I am not vegetarian, but I enjoy tofu.  There are so many times that I chose tofu instead of meat for so many reasons.

What is tofu?

Tofu or bean curd is made from soybean.  It is another choice for a protein substitution for anyone who do not eat meat.  Tofu has a different colors and textures and comes in many varieties.  Normally, tofu is an opaque white color unless it's been mixed with the other ingredient such as eggs.  In that case it will have a slightly yellow color.  Always check the ingredients on a package to make sure you find a right kind of tofu.  Some restaurants serve a smoked tofu which has a dark brown skin and light brown inside.  Different textures include soft or silk, firm, and extra-firm tofu, but the extra firm tofu is the most popular kind for most recipes.

Tofu Snack with Sweet Chili Sauce

Tofu is very typical in the Thai kitchen.  You can substitute tofu for your choice of meat in most Thai restaurants so almost any recipe that has a protein can be made vegetarian.  Some may know that the golden crispy tofu which is often served restaurants is deep fried which is higher in calories.  When I worked at Thai restaurant, I had some customers who concerned about their calories intake requested soft tofu instead of deep fried tofu.   I would recommend this when going out as deep fried things are almost always detrimental to your health.

Tofu Snack

Tofu is my comfort food.  When I was too exhausted from working at the Thai restaurant, I would make myself crispy tofu and dipped it with soy sauce or sweet chili sauce.

How I Made Modified My Comfort Food to Make it Healthier

At home, my husband and I hardly ever cook any deep fried food.  For tofu I had to come up with a way to have my tofu but not the typical deep fried way you see at so many recipes.   I threw tofu in an oven to make it crispy before I put it in my food.  It was a quite big amount of baked tofu, and I thought I could use it for several meals.  But no, it ended up pretty much as my snack.  I couldn't stop eating it and that's how my new snack recipe was born.

Tofu Snack with Sweet Chili Sauce

Tips for preparing my baked tofu snack

A firm, extra firm, or super firm tofu is the best kind of this recipe.  It depends on how you like the texture of the tofu.  Firm tofu has the most fluffy texture among these types of tofu.  I like firm and extra firm tofu because its texture is not too dense like super firm tofu.  It absorbs a marinate sauce better than the super firm one.   Some tofu brands have a strong odor of soybean.  If you do not like it, I would suggest you wash the tofu very well before you cook it.  Squeezing water out of the tofu is necessary for the recipe.  I put the detail along the printable recipe at the bottom.

Preparing Tofu Snack

Preparing Tofu Snack

I want the baked tofu snack has most of the flavor possible, so I add Sriracha for spice, rice vinegar for sour and tangy, and Tamari for saltiness.  I do not add any sugar in the recipe because there is already sugar in the ingredients.

Using an air-fryer

If you want to try using an air fryer for this.  It totally works.  We worked up the whole recipe, check it out here.

5 Ingredient Air-fried Tofu Snack With Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

Here is my tofu snack recipe.