It’s a little ironic that I’m posting this recipe today of all days because it’s my first day of furlough from my museum job and I first had today’s recipe at said job. I visited this museum throughout college and never knew there was a cafeteria. The cafeteria is by far the cheapest place to eat and on select Fridays they serve crispy sweet chili tofu. I never had this before working here, but I fell in love with it. It’s my absolutely favorite way to eat tofu, which I’m trying to incorporate into my diet. The tofu is sold by weight at the museum for $8 a pound, which is ridiculous considering you can buy like 4 pounds of tofu, sweet chili sauce, and cornstarch for the same price. This recipe is also incredibly forgiving and it’s hard to mess up.
Crispy sweet chili tofu
1 pound block of extra firm tofu
~2 tbsp + plus some Cornstarch
1 tbsp Oil (again, I like avocado any neutral oil like olive or sunflower will work)
Sweet chili sauce (be sure it’s not sweetened with corn syrup)
Parchment paper
Paper towels or clean tea towels
A heavy pot + baking sheet, cooling rack or ceramic dish ( I’ve used all of three of these at differnt times, and they all produce wonderful results)
- Drain liquid from the tofu.
- Cut tofu into 1-in cubes and place between multiple sheets of paper towels or a clean tea towel (I rec the tea towel as it cuts down on unnecessary waste). Place a heavy pot on the tofu and wait about 30min.
- While pressing tofu, preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.
- After 30min, transfer tofu to a bowl and gently toss in oil. Then coat in cornstarch making sure that the tofu is covered in cornstarch.
- Place tofu on a baking sheet or cooling rack, make sure none of the pieces touch. Place in the oven for 20-30min, flipping the pieces halfway through their baking time. If you opt for the cooling rack method, you don’t need to flip them
- Wash and dry the bowl used to coat the tofu, you will need this later.
- Pour about 4 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce (I really like the one from Trader Joes, but whichever one you choose, make sure it doesn’t have corn syrup in it because it won’t have flavor) into the bowl.
- After about 20/30min remove the tofu and transfer it to the bowl with sweet chili sauce and toss it. Ensure that the tofu is well coated/drenched! Add more sauce to the bowl if necessary. So you could stop here and just eat the tofu as is, but the next 5 minutes really transfer them.
- Move your oven rack to the second-highest position and set your oven’s broiler to high. If you have a gas broiler please be careful as there will be a direct flame on top of your food.
- Transfer tofu back to a baking sheet, and wait for the broiler to heat up. Once on, place tofu back in the oven and bake for an additional ~3 minutes. DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE OVEN, as food can burn very quickly. Please stay with your food and keep an eye on it. I light to utilize my oven’s light during this time to monitor it. I also check on the tofu about once a minute, just a quick little open to ensure nothing is burning and the sugars are caramelizing. Also, be cautious if you used parchment paper for this because it increases your risk of fire. NGL I have slightly burned doing this before.
- After ~3 the sugars should be caramelized, remove the tofu from the oven and let it cool for a bit like 5 minutes and serve! I really like eating this with rice, kale, and roasted carrots but honestly, I’ve also only eaten this as a whole meal.