Make your own smoked tofu at home! It's easy, delicious, and requires only 4 ingredients. This tofu is perfect for recipes, salads, sandwiches, and snacking.
When I'm browsing vegan recipes I often see ones that call for smoked tofu as an ingredient, which is awesome — smoky tofu is great! It's super flavorful and easy to work with. But I can rarely ever find it in stores where I live.
So I decided to make my own, and you know what? It was easy! And also better than the stuff you buy at the store, in my opinion.
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What You'll Need
- Tofu. I like extra-firm tofu best for this recipe. You could use super firm, but it won't soak up as much marinade.
- Soy sauce. Tamari or liquid aminos could be substituted for this.
- Rice vinegar. Just about any type of vinegar can be substituted — white, red wine, apple cider — just be aware that the flavor will vary slightly depending on what variety you use.
- Liquid smoke. Look for this near the barbecue sauces at your supermarket.
How to Make Baked Smoked Tofu
The following is a summary of the process for making this dish, along with some tips. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe.
- If you're using extra-firm tofu (or anything less firm than that — which I don't recommend), you'll need to press it before getting started. Super firm tofu can simply be blotted after slicing.
- Cut your tofu. You can really cut it into any size and shape you like, but keep in mind that the smaller the pieces, the more surface area you have to absorb your marinade, which means more flavorful tofu. I cut mine into thin slices (a bit les than ½-inch) for the batch shown in the photos.
- Mix your soy sauce, vinegar and liquid smoke. Feel free to play around with additional seasonings as well, but these are the only three you need for a basic smoked tofu.
- Place the tofu in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over it, and let it soak for anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours. Be sure to cover and chill it if you're soaking it for more than 2 hours.
- Arrange your marinated tofu pieces on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake them for about 20 minutes on each side, until darkened and shrunken a bit.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Store your smoked tofu in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is if you use gluten-free tamari in place of soy sauce.
There are lots of recipes that call for smoked tofu, such as this smoked tofu sushi, this ramen, this tofu katsu curry, this carbonara or these meal-prep bowls. You could also stuff it in a sandwich, use it as a salad topper, or snack on it!
It's smoky! If there was ever a time in your life when you ate meat, you could probably compare the flavor to that of bacon, but a bit milder.
More Tofu Recipes
- Savory Lemon & Herb Baked Tofu
- Sesame Ginger Marinated Tofu
- Baked BBQ Tofu
- Sesame Sriracha Tofu
- Vegan Tofu Chilli Paneer
📖 Recipe
Smoked Tofu
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 (14 ounce or 400 gram) package extra-firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into ¼ to ½ thick slices
Instructions
- Stir the soy sauce, vinegar, and liquid smoke together in a small bowl or cup.
- Place the tofu slices in a shallow dish and pour the marinade over them.
- Marinate the tofu for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or covered and chilled for up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange the tofu slices on the baking sheet in a single layer.
- Bake the tofu for about 40 minutes, carefully turning the pieces halfway through, until they're darkened and slightly shrunken.
- Remove the tofu from the oven and serve or use immediately, or chill for later.
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This was incredibly easy and delicious! I made this ahead of time, which was handy. Once cooled, I sliced it paper thin and we had it in a sushi bowl with seasoned sushi rice, shredded carrot, julienned cucumbers, avocado, vegan sriracha mayo, ponzu sauce, furikake and pickled ginger. A super tasty & easy meal- perfect for summer!
My meat-eating husband said, "I'm not supposed to like tofu this much!" LOL. This is such a versatile, easy, yummy way to prepare tofu. Thank you!
I've made this two days in a row now! Last night I cut the tofu into slabs, and served it with roasted veggies. Tonight is going to be my protein in Chow Mein! Extremely budget-friendly, easy, and full of flavour.
so simple and so very good. the only the i added was black pepper as i was using the tofu for vegan reubens. thanks for the recipe!
Delicious-makes great sandwiches and lasts for ages in the fridge. Great now that it is almost impossible to buy smoked tofu here
Can I pan fry this instead of baking? I have a portable cooktop, no oven access.🤔
You can! Skip the marinating step and instead pan fry the tofu slices for a few minutes on each side, then pour the marinade over them and let them continue cooking until most of the liquid dries up. The marinade won't penetrate the tofu as much, but it will still be delicious.