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Agedashi Tofu is a popular Japanese dish made of deep fried tofu in a sweet and savory sauce. This age tofu recipe is easy to make to home and delicious!
Agedashi Tofu Recipe
What is agedashi tofu?
Age tofu is one of the most popular Japanese recipes. Agedashi tofu is an appetizer of deep fried tofu in a sweet and savory sauce. The tofu is soft on the inside and crispy on the outside.
The sauce it comes with is made from a special Japanese fish-based savory broth called dashi, the building block of Japanese cuisine. It’s a favorite starter at Japanese izakaya restaurants.
And the best part? It’s not just delicious, it’s also good for you as it’s super healthy.
Ingredients
This easy recipe for agedashi tofu calls for very simple ingredients:
- Tofu
- Dashi broth
- Soy sauce
- Cooking sake
- Mirin
The sweet tentsuyu broth is iconic in Japanese cooking. It’s the soul of many Japanese dishes.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
How To Make Agedashi Tofu
Step 1. Cut the tofu into small pieces. Bloat each with paper towels and coat with corn starch. Set aside.
Step 2. Bring all the ingredients of tentsuyu sauce to gentle simmer in a small sauce pan. Do not bring to a full boil.
Step 3. Heat up the oil in a wok a frying pan and deep fry the tofu until they turn light brown or crispy. Please take note that the corn starch coating will not turn to golden brown easily. Remove the deep-fried tofu and drain the excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels.
Step 4. To serve, place a few pieces of tofu in a small bowl and pour some tentsuyu sauce on the tofu. Garnish with some grated daikon, chopped scallions and dried bonito flakes. Serve immediately.
Cooking Tips
Here are expert tips for making the best Agedashi Tofu, just like the ones served at your favorite Japanese restaurants:
- Choose the right tofu. For beginners, I recommend using firm tofu for easy handling. The texture of firm tofu makes it easier to deep-fry and maintain its shape and texture.
- Pat dry the tofu with paper towels. Before deep-frying, make sure to pat dry the tofu cubes with paper towels to remove any excess water. This will facilitate deep-frying and minimize oil splattering.
- Make the dashi ahead of time. Dashi is used to make the sweet and savory agedashi tofu sauce. You can make it in advance and store it in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t recommend silken tofu or soft tofu for this recipe. It will be very hard to deep-fry these soft tofu, they just don’t hold its shape.
Traditional toppings for Agedashi Tofu include grated daikon, chopped scallions, and bonito flakes.
This recipe is only 264 calories per serving.
What To Serve With This Recipe
Serve this dish with other Japanese dishes (such as green tea rice). For a healthy Japanese meal at home, I recommend the following recipes.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Japanese Recipes You Might Like
Agedashi Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 block Tofu
- Cornstarch
- Oil , for deep frying
Tentsuyu Sauce:
- 3/4 cup dashi , or Japanese fish stock
- 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce , or to taste
- 3 tablespoons sake
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 3/4 tablespoon sugar
Toppings:
- daikon, peeled and grated
- ginger, peeled and grated, optional
- green onions, or scallions, sliced
- Dried bonito flake, or katsuobushi
Instructions
- Cut the tofu into small pieces. Bloat each with paper towels and coat with corn starch. Set aside.
- Bring all the ingredients of tentsuyu sauce to gentle simmer in a small sauce pan. Do not bring to a full boil.
- Heat up the oil in a wok a frying pan and deep fry the tofu until they turn light brown or crispy. Please take note that the corn starch coating will not turn to golden brown easily. Remove the deep-fried tofu and drain the excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels.
- To serve, place a few pieces of tofu in a small bowl and pour some tentsuyu sauce on the tofu. Garnish with some grated daikon, chopped scallions and dried bonito flakes. Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can get my dashi recipe from my Nabe (Yosenabe) post.
- If you don’t want to make dashi from scratch, you can use bottled dashi shoyu or dashi soy sauce from Japanese market and add mirin, sake, and sugar to taste to make the stock.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I can’t figure out how to make the dashi broth how much water to dashi powder
Please refer to my Dashi recipe: https://rasamalaysia.com/dashi/
So can I confirm, the tofu needed for this is soft tofu? The recipe really should specify as these days most Supermarkets have all different sorts of tofu available.
Any type of tofu is fine as long as it’s not firm tofu.
Photos are Awesome !!! Thank You For Sharing this Wonderful and Healthy Recipe !!! This Recipe is Look So Fresh, Healthy and Delicious to Prepare. Nice Blog to Follow while Preparing Recipes. I’ll Definitely Try it.
This looks wonderful. Your recipes are always inspiring and I enjoy your blog so much! However, bonito flakes are not safe to use when my cat is around! She loves them! ;-). She might develop a taste for tofu, too. Kind regards.
Lol, very funny!
This was great recipe me and my boyfriend order a bowl of this every time we go out for Japanese food. I have one question, mine came out extremely salty do you know if there’s a way to make it less salty? Otherwise it was very great
So sorry to hear that but it all depends on the brand of soy sauce you use. Some soy sauce is very salty and some are low sodium. I always use low-sodium soy sauce at home. Cut down your soy sauce to 2 – 3 tablespoons, start with 2 and slowly add to taste.
I am new to tofu and I love it! The recipe looks delicious. I do have a question about what type of tofu to use, silken or firm or extra firm? Thank you.
Can firm tofu be used in this recipe?
Not really…the texture is supposed to be soft for this recipe.
Hi Daily Chef, could u tell what kind sake do you use ?? Thanks.
Cooking sake.
Hi Bee..
Thank you for all of your recipes.. i havent tried them all, but my hubby likes all the ones i tried hehe…
As for this recipe, i found that potato starch works better than corn starch.. the tofu will still be crispy, and it is not gonna be hard as stone, which will happen if you overcook tofu that is coated with corn starch… moreover, i love how the crispy skin is melting once the tofu is fully soaked with the sauce… simply divine :)
PS: hopefully someday you will extend the giveaways to Canada hehe..