Home / Recipes / Chinese Recipes

How to Make Tofu Skin

ByBee Yinn Low

4.34 from 3 votes

Published Oct 15, 2012

Updated Sep 12, 2024

Recipe IndexJump to Recipe

Learn how to make tofu skin using soy beans and water. Step-by-step picture guide to homemade tofu skin, yuba, or bean curd sheet.

Want to Save This Recipe?

Enter your email below & we’ll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you’ll get great new recipes from us every week!

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Email *

Save

Tofu skin (腐皮), bean curd sheet, or yuba is the skin that forms at the top of fresh soy milk.

Chinese invented soy milk, and from soy milk, various types of tofu—silken, soft, firm, tofu pudding (doufu hua) and tofu skin—are created.

It’s amazing just how versatile the mixture of soy beans plus water is. Tofu and tofu-related products provide endless culinary possibilities.

It is one of my favorite ingredients.

To make tofu skin, you need to make soy milk.

You can learn all about soy milk in “How to Make Soy Milk” on Rasa Malaysia.

If you have made fresh soy milk, you will notice that a layer of tofu skin quickly forms at the top of the soy milk.

If you don’t stir the soy milk and leave it alone, you will see that the entire surface of the soy milk completely dries up, and that’s when you “harvest” it.

I use a silicon baking spatula to detach the tofu skin from the side of the pot, and then gently lift it up from the soy milk.

Tofu skin starts to form.

Once the tofu skin is formed completely, use a rubber spatula to gently detach the tofu skin.

Shake the excess soy milk off the skin.

Lay it flat on a piece of parchment paper, with the dry side facing down.

Do not use any other paper as the tofu skin might stick onto it and you can’t peel it off when it’s dry.

You can leave the tofu skin at room temperature to dry by itself, or you can also use a fan, which will be faster.

Voila, you now have a piece of tofu skin.

Repeat the same until you use up the soy milk.

Other Recipes You Might Like

Shrimp Wrapped in Tofu Skin

Five-Spice Pork Roll (Loh Bak)

Ngoh Hiang

Soy Milk

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.

Print Recipe

4.34 from 3 votes

How to Make Tofu Skin

Learn how to make tofu skin using soy beans and water. Step-by-step picture guide to homemade tofu skin, yuba, or bean curd sheet.

Course: Tofu

Cuisine: Chinese Recipes

Keyword: How to Make Tofu Skin

Author: Bee Yinn Low

Ingredients

• Soy milk

Instructions

• To make tofu skin, you need to make soy milk.
• To make tofu skin, you first need to prepare soy milk. You can find detailed instructions in “How to Make Soy Milk” on Rasa Malaysia. Once you've made fresh soy milk, you'll notice that a layer of tofu skin forms quickly on the surface.
• If you don’t stir the soy milk and leave it undisturbed, the entire surface will dry out, signaling that it’s time to 'harvest' the tofu skin. Use a silicone baking spatula to detach the tofu skin from the sides of the pot, then gently lift it from the soy milk.
  
• Once the tofu skin has formed completely, use a rubber spatula to gently detach it.
  
• Shake off any excess soy milk from the tofu skin.
  
• Lay the tofu skin flat on a piece of parchment paper, with the dry side facing down. Avoid using any other type of paper, as the tofu skin may stick and become difficult to peel off once dry.
  
• Leave the tofu skin to dry at room temperature, or use a fan for faster drying. Repeat the process until you’ve used up all the soy milk.