When I tell people I can make my favorite recipe in under two minutes, they rarely believe it. There’s no secret, just a humble pantry ingredient: silken tofu. Soft and wobbly with a subtly sweet soybean flavor, silken tofu is a versatile ingredient that takes on the flavor of any sauce or condiment. It’s just one member of a larger soybean curd family that includes tofu skin, tofu puffs, and firm tofu—all varieties I keep in the back of my fridge or freezer. But melt-in-my-mouth, luxurious silken tofu is all I need to bring my favorite dishes together at a moment’s notice. 

I started reaching for silken tofu regularly a few years ago, when I moved to New York. I’d eaten silken tofu plenty of times in miso soup and mapo tofu, but I never thought it could star as the main component of a complete meal. That all changed one night when my roommates and I, hungry from a night wandering the city, spotted silken tofu in our neighborhood’s 24-hour bodega. I immediately thought of the refreshingly cold, savory tofu pudding with chili sauce I’d eaten at the Manhattan Chinatown institution Fong On and decided to recreate something similar. 

We went home, and I gently steamed the tofu in the microwave for a few minutes, then doused it with soy sauce and chili oil. We dug our spoons slowly into the block and savored each creamy, salty bite, and the tofu disappeared in seconds, leaving a pool of burgundy-tinged soy sauce on the plate.

Since then, I’ve taken liberties with the recipe instructions and further reduced the prep time. Many recipes recommend poaching, steaming, or even microwaving silken tofu before incorporating it into a recipe, as it supposedly improves the tofu’s texture. However, I haven’t found a difference, so I prefer to skip this step. I simply open the package of tofu, drain the excess liquid, and plop the tofu onto a plate. Then, I pour a soy sauce–based dressing over it and eat it cold.

The ingredients for the dressing I use are straightforward. I whisk together a few pantry staples—soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, white pepper, and a splash of black vinegar—and add a few sliced scallions, then pour it over the silken tofu. And just like that, I can get dinner on the table in two minutes flat. 

The tofu is luxuriously creamy and delightfully spoonable, almost like a savory custard. The speedy preparation always belies how mouthwateringly delicious the dish is, which is why I make this at least once a week.

Beyond this quick, easy method for preparing silken tofu, there are many other savory uses for the ingredient. It’s the star of mapo tofu, soondubu jigae (soft tofu stew), and miso soup—comforting recipes I can eat any day of the week. I also slip it into creamy bases, such as corn chowder or seafood curry, to give my meals a boost of protein. Of course, silken tofu’s sweet soybean flavor shines on its own, and I pair it frequently with a rotating cast of hot sauces, soy sauces, and chili oils.

Its versatility doesn’t stop with savory cooking; silken tofu also works well in desserts. To create douhua, or tofu pudding, I submerge silken tofu in a pool of brown sugar syrup. It works as a substitute for dairy in vegan desserts, such as key lime pie and chocolate mousse, and once it’s blended with sweetener and other ingredients, its smooth, creamy consistency really stands out. I’ve even tossed it into a smoothie for a protein boost.

Whether it’s the base of my quickest meal or the secret ingredient in a dessert, silken tofu has added a bit of jiggly joy to my meals. I recommend grabbing a few blocks for your fridge—you might be surprised how often they come in handy.

These baked curried tofu cubes are seasoned with a marinade of garlic powder, curry powder, and a generous amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice. They’re nicely spiced and surprisingly tangy! I like to use super firm tofu for its density and substance.

There’s truly no more useful recipe to meal prep than a good, versatile protein. These savory, tangy baked curried tofu cubes have become one of my favorites.

In my meal prep cookbook The Vegan Week, there’s an entire chapter devoted to proteins. I wrote in the intro to that chapter that “I’ve learned to make plant proteins the backbone of my meals.”

This wasn’t always the case. I’ve always been able to include the other two macronutrients—carbohydrates and fats—into my meals effortlessly.

Selecting and preparing a plant protein source, however, was less intuitive. This is probably because I’d grown up eating carbohydrates and fats (grains, olive oil, nuts, etc.), whereas I hadn’t grown up eating tofu, tempeh, seitan, or even many beans.

The RD in me understood that all three macronutrients are key players in balanced meals. Over time, I trained myself to make sure that each homemade breakfast, lunch, and dinner plate would include a quality protein. This is still a guiding principle when I menu plan.

Within the world of plant proteins, tofu is a favorite; I love its ability to soak up flavor, its range of shape and texture.

Balsamic tofu cubes and teriyaki tofu cubes are already staples in my home. Recently, I wondered if I might mix things up a little, with a new marinade or spice blend.

These baked curried tofu cubes were what I came up with. There are a few dishes that I imagined adding them to from the start: tandoori cauliflower bowls, creamy curried quinoa, or spiced potatoes, lentils and peas.

But I’ve found that the cubes are useful in many other ways; I love putting them into pita pockets along with sautéed spinach or roasted broccoli. And they can give a lively boost to an otherwise simple bowl of rice and beans.

The cubes even make a good savory snack.

A gently spiced—and very tangy—marinade

The flavor profile of these curried tofu cubes is a good example of a happy culinary accident.

While I intended for the recipe to be seasoned with curry powder, I didn’t intend for it to be as citrus-forward as it is.

Thinking back to the paneer-inspired baked tofu that I included in my book Power Plates, I added lemon for acidity. When my first batch emerged from the oven, they were a lot more tangy than I thought they’d be, and I worried that I’d overdone it.

I decided that I really liked the lemony flavor, even though it hadn’t planned on it. It keeps the tofu cubes lifted and brought, with a nice contrast to the earthiness of their spices.

If you don’t love tangy flavors, you can reduce the four tablespoons of lemon juice to three.

As for the spices, most spice blends labeled “curry powder” in the US are similar to the curry powder that were concocted by British colonizers in the 18th and 19th centuries. Typically, this type of curry powder contains some mix of turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, cumin, fenugreek, black pepper, and cardamom.

Curry powder can have heat, but it’s usually less hot than madras curry or vindaloo curry powders. (For more explanation and history, this article is helpful.)

In my kitchen, I like to use the Burlap and Barrel “curry,” and I also like Simply Organic’s curry powder. You can choose a blend with more heat, if you like.

If you have garam masala at home, rather than a curry powder, that blend will work well in the recipe.

Baking tofu

There are of course so many ways to prepare tofu: sautéing, scrambling, frying, and more. But my favorite preparation method has always been baking.

Unless I’m making a pudding, sauce, or soup, I like for my tofu to be nice and firm. I’m not a huge fan of the crispy-style tofu that involves dredging in cornstarch; I find that texture to be unpleasantly rough and sponge-like.

Over the years I’ve found that oven-baking can preserve tofu’s firmness and density, give its edges a hint of crispness, and help to lock in flavor. This is the kind of tofu that I love to eat.

Baked tofu can be prepared in slabs, slices, or cubes. As far as types of tofu go, firm, extra firm, and super firm tofu are all appropriate for oven baking.

Super firm is just what it sounds like: an especially solid and dense type of tofu. This variety of tofu has become popular relatively recently. Its compressed texture amounts to high protein content.

Super firm is now one of the tofu varieties that I cook with most often. It’s always what I reach for when I make smoky tofu or my lemon marinated baked tofu, and I think that it works especially well for these baked curried tofu cubes.

If you can’t find super firm tofu, that’s no problem. Extra firm tofu, which is pretty easy to source, will also work well for the recipe.

How to make baked curried tofu cubes

In addition to being lemony, salty, and spiced, these curried tofu cubes are easy to make.

Like most of my baked tofu recipes, this one benefits from planning. The cubes will develop more flavor with a longer marinade. If you can remember to marinate them overnight, that’s ideal, though a minimum of four hours will do the trick.

Step one: whisk together the marinade

The marinade is a pretty straightforward mixture of freshly squeezed lemon (or lemon + lime) juice, avocado oil, garlic powder, curry powder, and salt.

If you’re wondering why I use the garlic powder, rather than minced garlic, it’s a few reasons. For one thing, powdered garlic whisks really easily into marinades. It’s something I always have in my pantry, whether I have a fresh bulb of garlic or not.

And finally, the powder stands up well to a hot oven, whereas minced garlic can easily burn when it’s used in a marinade like this one.

Step two: marinate the tofu

The super firm tofu for this recipe should be cut into 3/4-inch / 2.5-cm cubes.

After this, I recommend arranging them in a single layer (or as close to a single layer as you can) in a larger, flat storage container with a lid.

Pour the marinade over the cubes, cover the container with its airtight lid, and give it a gentle shake to disperse the marinade.

You can marinate the tofu for as few as four hours or up to overnight. The longer the better.

I recommend shaking the container gently at least once during the marinating time, to ensure that the curried tofu cubes are soaking up seasoning evenly.

Step 3: bake

Finally, it’s baking time.

I recommend lining your baking pan with parchment or foil. Transfer the tofu pieces to the baking sheet, but don’t toss the marinade: you’ll need it for basting the cubes halfway through roasting.

Transfer the baking pan to a 400°F / 200°C oven. Bake the curried tofu cubes for twelve minutes, then remove the pan from the oven.

Use a basting brush to brush the cubes gently, flip them, then brush the other side.

Return the sheet to the oven. Bake the cubes for another 7-10 minutes, or until they’re lightly browning and crisping at their edges.

That’s it! Plant protein, ready to enjoy however you like for days to come.

Meal prep and storage

If you don’t use your curried tofu cubes in a recipe right away, then you can store them for up to five days in an airtight container in the fridge. The tofu can also be frozen for up to six weeks, then defrosted overnight in the fridge before reheating. 

In addition to being flavorful and nutrient-dense, the cubes have a sunny golden color that can uplift many a meal.

I find that recipes for vegan basics, like this one, are the ones that give back the most over time. I hope you’ll agree!

xo