
Agedashi Tofu
What is agedashi tofu?
Age tofu is one of the most popular Japanese recipes. It’s an appetizer of deep fried tofu in a sweet and savory sauce.
The sauce is made of Japanese fish-based dashi broth. This is a must-have appetizer whenever I dine out at Japanese restaurants.
This recipe is super healthy and delicious!

Agedashi Tofu Recipe
This recipe calls for very simple ingredients and easy to make at home:
- Tofu
- Dashi broth
- Cooking sake
- Mirin
- Soy sauce
The sweet tentsuyu broth is iconic in Japanese cooking. It’s the soul of many Japanese dishes.

How to Make Agedashi Tofu?
You will need a block of tofu to make age tofu.
First, deep fry the tofu until they turn light brown or crispy.
Next, make the tentsuyu agedashi tofu sauce in a small sauce pan.
To serve, place the fried tofu in a small bowl and add the sauce. Garnish with grated daikon, chopped scallions and dried bonito flakes before serving.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 264 calories per serving.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve this dish with other Japanese dishes. For a healthy Japanese meal at home, I recommend the following recipes.
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Agedashi Tofu
Agedashi Tofu – a popular Japanese appetizer of deep fried tofu in a sweet and savory sauce. Super healthy, delicious and easy to make!
Ingredients
- 1 block Tofu
- Corn starch
- Oil for deep frying
Tentsuyu Sauce:
Toppings:
- Peeled and grated daikon
- Peeled and grated ginger optional
- Sliced green onions/scallions
- Dried bonito flake/katsuobushi
Directions
-
1
Cut the tofu into small pieces. Bloat each with paper towels and coat with corn starch. Set aside.
-
2
Bring all the ingredients of tentsuyu sauce to gentle simmer in a small sauce pan. Do not bring to a full boil.
-
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.
-
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.
Recipe 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.
Mike
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.
Rasa Malaysia
Any type of tofu is fine as long as it’s not firm tofu.
Veenas
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.
DB
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.
Rasa Malaysia
Lol, very funny!
Kimani
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
Rasa Malaysia
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.
Amy Burleson
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.
Erika
Can firm tofu be used in this recipe?
Rasa Malaysia
Not really…the texture is supposed to be soft for this recipe.
Aylan Bearden
Hi Daily Chef, could u tell what kind sake do you use ?? Thanks.
Rasa Malaysia
Cooking sake.
Hertika Rusly
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..