A warm and wonderful tofu dish! Steamed Tofu is topped with a savory, garlicky sauce made of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil. You can also cook this in the microwave, it is easy and delicious.
Hooray for steamed tofu! We love cooking with and eating tofu. We have multiple types of tofu in our refrigerator at any given time. Firm, soft, silken...we've got it all! Tofu is one of the most versatile and delicious things to cook with. It is an amazing ingredient.
We have many tofu recipes on the site, and I'm excited to share this recipe for steamed tofu! Hot tofu topped with a super garlic-y sauce, you can't go wrong. The sauce is easy to make, just mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and then pour it over the hot tofu. Then eat!
Eat it plain. Eat it with rice. Serve it as a side dish. Or a main dish (it makes a great solo lunch with a bowl of rice) ^_^
Jump to:
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Silken tofu - you can also use soft tofu, but silken tofu is preferred.
- Sesame oil
- Soy sauce - we usually use Kikkoman or Aloha brand for soy sauce. Kikkoman is more easily found on the mainland, but Aloha is more popular in Hawaii.
- Oyster sauce
- Black vinegar
- Garlic
- Green onion (and/or cilantro)
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get cooking:
Steam the tofu for 8 minutes. Drain off any excess water and set aside.
*You can also microwave the tofu instead of steaming. Scroll down to the "Top Tip" section of this post for more details.
While the tofu is steaming, place the sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, black vinegar, garlic, and green onions together in a bowl.
Mix, mix, mix!
Pour the sauce over the tofu and serve warm! Eat and enjoy ^_^
Substitutions and Variations
This is a very flexible recipe. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Cilantro - we top with green onions since that's what we usually have in the refrigerator. But if you have cilantro, you can use cilantro instead. Or use both. It is so good with both. The more herbs, the better ^_^
- Spicy - add a spoonful of chili oil or chili crisp to the sauce for a bit of heat!
- Slice the tofu - I like to serve the tofu whole for multiple reasons. It's less work, everyone can scoop as big a portion of tofu as they like, etc. But if you want to make this dish very pretty, you can slice the tofu (aim for ½-inch thick pieces) before steaming.
- Heat the sesame oil - mix all the sauce ingredients except for the sesame oil and set that aside. Then heat the sesame oil in a pan (the same way we do in this Hot Sesame Oil Tofu recipe), and pour it over the hot tofu. And then pour the sauce mixture over the tofu. The hot sesame oil changes the flavor and makes the dish a notch more fragrant.
I recommend making the recipe "as is" if this is your first time. Then feel free to try all sorts of substitutions and variations from there to create your own version of steamed tofu.
Equipment
All you need is a dish to steam the tofu in and a steamer (or a large pot with a steamer trivet).
No steamer? No problem. Just heat the tofu in the microwave. Microwave it for 1-2 minutes until the tofu is hot.
Storage
Leftovers keeps in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. You can reheat in the microwave or enjoy it cold (it's very delicious served cold!)
Top Tip
You can heat tofu in the microwave and it will taste just as good as making it in the steamer!
We steam many dishes at home, so steaming is easy for us. But if you don't steam often, steaming can be a hassle, or just an extra step you prefer not to do. Don't let that stop you from making this dish. You can "fake steam" tofu in the microwave.
Place the tofu in the serving dish and microwave for 1-2 minutes until it's hot. I like to microwave in 30 second increments and rotate the dish between each increment to make sure that the tofu heats evenly.
FAQ
You've come to the right place! We love tofu VERY MUCH ^_^
Here's where you'll find all of our tofu recipes.
A few go-to tofu dishes include:
- Hot Sesame Oil Tofu
- Pan Fried Tofu (With Garlic Soy Sauce)
- Avocado Tofu
- Local-Style Chicken Tofu
- Stuffed Tofu
Don't forget to visit our favorite local tofu factory (for fresh tofu!) the next time you're in Honolulu.
Soft tofu is soft. Silken tofu is extra soft. You can use either soft or silken for this recipe, but silken will be more delicious.
That's the whole point! It seems like a lot of sauce when you're pouring it over the tofu, but it'll turn out to be just the right amount in the end.
With every scoop of tofu, you're also scooping up some of the sauce. This is a hot, savory, and saucy dish. You want allllll the sauce ^_^
Steamed Tofu Recipe
Steamed Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 block silken tofu
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon black vinegar
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks green onion, minced
Instructions
- Steam the tofu for 8 minutes. Drain off any excess water and set aside.
- While the tofu is steaming, mix the sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, black vinegar, garlic, and green onions together in a bowl.
- Pour the sauce over the tofu and serve warm! Eat and enjoy ^_^
Nutrition
Related
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I made this for dinner tonight and it was so good and easy! Now that I have all the ingredients, I'm definitely going to make it again soon but with less garlic because I can still taste it haha.
Hope you're doing well in Hawaii.
Aloha Shane! So happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂 Haha we super love garlic! We are good in Hawaii, thank you for checking 🙂
- Kathy