This ginger miso tofu is savory, flavorful, and super easy to make! It’s vegan, allium-free, and packed with lots of my favorite aromatic – GINGER!
I love ginger, especially when it’s sautéed in sesame oil, but this recipe uses oil and sesame oil for the final drizzle. When you combine ginger and salty components like miso and soy sauce, it creates a very savory and aromatic dish that goes well with veggies or tofu.
Ginger Miso Tofu Key Ingredients
- Firm tofu – I chose firm tofu and air-fried them. The tofu actually puffed up creating a sponge-like texture on the inside. When simmering with the sauce, these pores actually absorb the sauce while seasoning the tofu at the same time.
- Lots of Ginger – As the name implies, it’s ginger miso so one of the main ingredients is ginger! When cooking ginger, be sure to sauté them until you see the edges start to crisp up or turn golden brown. This shows that the ginger has release its aroma and flavored the oil.
- Kombu Dashi – Instead of stock, I’m combining instant kombu dashi with water to create an umami broth. Alternatively, feel free to use my Creamy Miso Ramen stock here.
- Seasoning – The salty components here include light soy sauce, miso, and kombu dashi (homemade will have no salt, mine comes with seasoning). I used white miso which is generally less salty and combined with the light soy sauce, which has a tad of sugar. Feel free to reduce the soy sauce if you are using other brands. I added mirin for the sweetness as well.
- Sesame Oil – a drizzle of this at the end just seals all the flavors together. It changes the sauce from looking ‘runny’ to shiny and flavorful.
How to Make Ginger Miso Tofu
Step 1: Prepare the tofu
I’m using firm tofu that is cut into bite-sized cubes.
Pre-heat air-fryer to 400F for 3 minutes. Then, grease the inner rack, arrange a layer of tofu on top, then spray or brush the tofu with a thin layer of oil.
Air-fry until golden brown, about 10 minutes (give it a shake in between if needed so the tofu detaches from the rack easily). Set aside.
Step 2: How to put together
Now, you’ll just cook everything together in one pan. Sauté ginger slices until the edges turn slightly golden (or crisp up) and aromatic. Add the water and bring it to a boil.
Season with kombu dashi powder, soy sauce, mirin.
Add miso onto a fine-mesh sieve, then lower it down to the mixture. Use a spoon to stir the miso to strain it out onto the sauce.
Add the tofu, give it a toss, and cover with a lid. Cook over medium-high heat until the sauce has reduced to almost half.
Uncover, thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry to your desired consistency. If it appears to have too little sauce, skip the cornstarch. Add a drizzle of sesame oil and fold in the scallions (cook a little longer if you prefer your scallions to be soft).
Garnish with sesame seeds and serve hot with a bowl of rice.
Ginger Miso Tofu Cooking Tips
- Sauté while slightly pan-frying ginger slices until a crispy brown edge is seen. This is the best way to extract the ginger aroma and flavor the oil.
- TASTE your sauce – A combination of miso and soy sauce gives a this dish a saltiness and balanced off with mirin. Since some kombu dashi and miso saltiness vary, please taste test before adding the tofu. I did not add any salt to the tofu because I wanted it to have all the miso and gingery taste.
- Cook while simmering – This step is to allow tofu to slowly absorb the sauce.
Other Scrumptious Tofu Dishes to try:
- Gochujang Tofu
- Teriyaki Tofu Balls
- Sweet and Sour Vegan ‘Pork’ – made from frozen tofu
This Ginger Miso Tofu is
- Vegan
- Allium-free
- Savory and Flavorful
- a great make-ahead meal (save the remaining for lunch)
- Easily customizable – use gluten-free sauces as option
- TASTY and Delicious!
If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your feedback and see your beautiful re-creation. Leave me a comment, rate it, and tag @woon.heng and #woonheng to your photos on Instagram or Facebook. Happy cooking, friends!
Ginger Miso Tofu
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of tofu drained
- 30 g ginger sliced
- 4 stalks of scallions sliced into 2-inch long
- 2 cups of hot water plus more for slurry (see note)
- ½ tablespoons white miso see note
- 1 packet [10g] vegan kombu dashi powder (see note)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of mirin
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- cooking oil
- sesame oil
Instructions
- Pat tofu dry with towels and cut into 1-inch cubes.
- Preheat your air-fryer to 400°F (200°C) for 3 minutes. Grease the inner rack and arrange tofu in one layer, slightly apart on top. Then, spray or grease the tofu with a thin layer of oil.
- Air-fry tofu until golden brown, about 10 minutes with a shake in between if needed. Transfer tofu to a plate and air fry until all tofu is done.
- Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat with a tablespoon of oil. Sauté ginger slices until aromatic or a brown crust on the edge is seen.
- Add the water, kombu dashi, soy sauce, and mirin, then stir to combine and bring to a boil. Taste test.
- Add the tofu and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer tofu over medium-high heat until the sauce has reduced to almost half. Increase the cooking time if you prefer a less saucy dish.
- Meanwhile, dissolve cornstarch with a tablespoon of water.
- Uncover and slowly add the cornstarch slurry until it thickens to your desired consistency.
- Finally, add a drizzle of sesame oil and fold in the scallions before serving. (For softer scallions, let it cook a little longer)
- Serve hot with a bowl of rice.
Notes
- If another type of miso or kombu dashi is used, please taste test before adding tofu to avoid an overly salty dish.
- Skip the instant dashi powder if homemade kombu dashi stock is used – recipe here. Alternatively, you can use with mushrooms seasoning or umami leek seasoning such as Yondu.
Feel free to pin the below picture on your Pinterest Board for easy reference.
is there a way to make this using ginger paste instead of fresh slices?
This sauce was amazing! I doubled the batch and used up a whole heap of veggies & rice noodles. Thank you so much for sharing!
Fantastic! A small bit of feedback – the recipe section at the bottom does not mention adding the miso, accidentally made it without miso on my first attempt! It still was delicious, though.
Super delicious and waste to make! This is so flavorful, I had to stoop myself from eating all the tofu! This is a must-make!!!
*easy to make …. Not waste 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
I’m making it again tonight!!!
I added cabbage to make it a complete meal w veggies and it was perfect
I added cabbage to make it a complete meal w veggies and it was perfect
super easy and delicious!!! healthy too!!
If I substitute the kombu powder with Yondu, how much would you recommend?
Hello Wendy, for that amount, I would use about 2 teaspoons and adjust accordingly. Let me know if you need anything else.
Thank you! Looking forward to trying it on Saturday!
I’ve been trying to incorporate more meatless dishes into my diet. I saw you post this recipe on Instagram today just as I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner and I realized I already had all the ingredients. I am super unsure about tofu but have been wanting to give it a try and this recipe is amazing for a first time tofu recipe. The tofu crisps up nicely in the air fryer and soaks up the amazing sauce so well. It didn’t take long at all to make. I followed the recipe exactly as written with only one change, I added some seafood mushrooms I wanted to use. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I will be making it again soon.