I thought there was so much you had to do with the tofu to add flavor. All that pressing, all that marinating (much of it, honestly, in vain, if not a little). The trick all along, I eventually learned, is to focus on adding flavors to the outside of the tofu, flavors so powerful that the sweetness inside is a nice counterpoint. I think of recipes like Maangchi’s wonderful sticky, spicy tofu, which gets its crunchy exterior texture from potato starch and incredible flavor from a gochujang glaze.
Get the recipe: Air Fryer Tofu Nuggets with Honey-Mustard Sauce
But just because tofu doesn’t to have transforming yourself does not mean that it cannot be done from time to time, if only for a change of pace. And freezing and thawing tofu significantly changes its character, perhaps making it a little chewier and certainly a lot more spongy, the latter quality helping it absorb any marinade you throw it in, almost instantly.
This is why this technique is sometimes used for recipes where tofu plays the role of vegetable “meat”. Once thawed, you can use your hands to easily squeeze out the extra liquid, leaving you room to inject your own flavors throughout.
In fact, tofu treated this way sometimes takes on the flavor of a marinade too easily, as I discovered when I started to play with a “nugget” idea. In my first few attempts, I had to dilute a soy sauce-based marinade more and more because the nuggets tasted like a sodium bomb. Once I found the right balance, I realized another problem: that absorbed marinade also risked making the tofu a little soggy. Spongy is good; a wet sponge is bad.
I decided to squeeze the liquid from the tofu twice: once before marinating and once after. There is enough flavor remaining to season the cubes from the inside out.
Next: How to cook them? I took inspiration from chicken nuggets and dipped them in yogurt, coated them in panko and air fried them until they were GBD (golden and delicious, to use a term of the restaurant industry). Like any good nugget, I knew they would appreciate a dip, so I made my favorite: honey mustard, made in a jiffy with just three ingredients. Since they are so well seasoned, the sauce is a welcome bonus and not an absolute necessity.
Could you make these nuggets with tofu that you simply dried, coated and fried, without having to freeze or thaw it? Of course. Would you like to miss out on some of the fun and flavor? Indeed.
Get the recipe: Air Fryer Tofu Nuggets with Honey-Mustard Sauce
