Air-Fryer Tofu Recipe (2024)

Hard to find potato starch in my village. Would cornstarch be an acceptable substitute?

Used cornstarch instead of potato starch

For people having trouble finding potato starch (at least in the US)- you're in luck! Look in the Passover aisle of your supermarket.

I wonder if the tofu could be torn into pieces rather than sliced. It would create lots of craggy places to promote crispiness...I have seen that it works well with tofu.

how would you cook this in an oven or a convection oven?

I toss drained tofu cubes with cornstarch, ground ginger, garlic powder, pepper, and salt in a brown paper bag and skillet-fry or air-fry them; works well.

Made everything as the recipe, except doubled the glaze. So yummy. Made crispy brussel sprouts and rice to complete the meal.

Cooking note: the tofu chunks kept their pale complexions despite extra time in the air fryer. So, after dunking them in the sauce, I returned them to the still-hot fryer at 400 for about four minutes, turning them once. That did the trick, giving me tofu chunks that looked as good as they tasted. I served them with buttered sticky rice out of a 90-second bag, delicious.

Yes, you can use corn starch in place of potato starch. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/potato-starch-substitute

I made this using the potato starch instead of corn starch for the first time last night. I don't have an air fryer, just convection. I can not believe the night and day difference between the potato starch and corn starch. MUCH crispier, much chewier. Making in the convection though it didn't get as golden. Definitely will use the potato starch again. I made my own sauce and am really just commenting on the difference between the two starches.

I would switch up the first two steps—press the tofu first, AND THEN preheat the air fryer. No need to have an air fryer preheating for 30 minutes.

Per Sam: Eleanore Park’s air-fryer tofu works almost as well in a regular oven, and exactly as well in an oven with a convection setting. Potato starch gives the tofu an extra crispy skin, and the soy glaze makes it thrilling alongside a mound of rice, perhaps with some stir-fried greens.

This really needs some minced garlic and scallions for flavor, which is what I add, one of each- some red pepper if feeling spicy. I’d also add sesame seeds/ sesame oil if I had them

I do this at 400 or 425 as long as your over doesn't smoke too much. I line a sheet pan with parchment paper and flip half way through. Works great.

Cornstarch should work in this too, if you can’t find potato starch. The finish potato starch gives is a touch more crisp, but corn starch will be fine in a pinch.

Instead of wasting a bunch of non-food grade paper towels, just cube the tofu and microwave it for a minute or two. Faster, less messy.

This didn’t work well for me. I substituted tapioca starch for potato starch, so this might be why I didn’t get the golden, crunchy potato nugget appearance. The tofu cubes puffed up, but were tough on the outside and rather deflated on the inside. Any thoughts?

Nothing I could do to make this recipe resemble anything like the picture. Amazing how we keep trying to get deep fried texture without deep frying.

Great quick recipe! In addition ti playing it by the book, it also turns out great without the sauce and using it for tofu sandwhiches with the tofu sliced into inch thick patties. Also experimented by doing a nice of potato starch and flour so that the tofu catches a bit more brown while cooking. Both ways are fantastic!

I spray olive oil when using my air fryer. I'd be hesitant to use "non stick cooking spray." I won't use it on teflon or ceramic non stick frying pays or on my carbon steel pans.

Mine did not look like the photo and it was still kind of powdery and dry after 20 min the air fryer. Will try again with more spray oil and higher temp. Used my own sauce! Was still perfectly crispy.

I added this tofu to an orange chicken sauce (no chicken!). It wasn't crispy and seemed more hard/dense.

We loved it. Added some paprika potato starch helps with cover. Dipping sauce makes a great dish. Added steamed bok choy and rice. Will make it again.

Rice flour(starch) can be used in place of potato starch. Asian markets will have it, as well as on the internet.

We weren’t crazy about this recipe. The palecomplexion and leathery exterior the tofu chunks kept should have been noted in the recipe. The sauce turned them the golden color of the picture but we had already given them extra time trying to get them golden. I like the idea another poster put about putting a them back in air fryer after they were sauced. Still, there are better tofu recipes out there so we won’t be making it again.

For the crispiest tofu--freeze in container and then thaw. Then drain and press. Freezing changes the cells and more water comes out. It's super crispy and crunchy!!

This was the most delicious tofu recipe I've ever made. The soy glaze was genius. I didn't have potato starch and instead of substituting corn starch, I tossed the tofu cubes in bread crumbs. The tofu got crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Good job New York Times Cooking!

Easy recipe. Doubles the sauce and glad I did. We didn’t enjoy the chewiness of the potato starch - too tough. Will be using cornstarch next time.

This was delicious and I will make again. I buy potato starch at my Indian grocery store. It is very reasonable priced.

I substituted corn starch. I ended up with dry rubbery cubes. The sauce was good though.