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Recipe | Baked Italian Herb Tofu +
How to Press Tofu Like a Champ

Recipe | Baked
Italian Herb Tofu +
How to Press Tofu
Like a Champ
Published: Oct 24, 2013 · Modified: Mar 4, 2021 by Kiersten
· This post may contain affiliate links.

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I am going to confess something

really shameful to you right now.
When I decided to make this recipe,
I realized that the dried rosemary in
my pantry was 12 years old.
Escandalo! If my rosemary were a
person, she would have Justin
Bieber posters in her room and be
sass-mouthing me when I ask her to
do her chores. Herbs! They grow up
so fast! I think you're supposed to
keep dried herbs for a year, so this
is pretty embarrassing. In my
defense, I hardly ever use dried
rosemary in my cooking. Which is
good because when I opened it up,
it smelled like dust and nothing
instead of smelling like rosemary.

Whenever I post a tofu recipe,

people ask me how to press it.
There are some cooking techniques
that I never know if I should take the
time to explain because I'm not sure
if people know about them already. I
don't want you guys to be like, "Duh,
thanks, I knew that." But I don't want
you to be confused either! So I
thought I'd post another baked tofu
recipe and explain how to press tofu.
Then when I post a tofu recipe in the
future, I can link back here.

In my opinion, the best way to press

tofu is with a tofu press (which you
can read about here). But pressing
tofu with a tofu press is self-
explanatory and if you have a tofu
press, odds are, you know how to
use it. So if you don't have a tofu
press, all you need to do is:

___

NOW
PLAYING

1. Take two paper towels and fold

them in half and in half again.

2. Place one of the folded towels on

a cutting board. Make sure the
cutting board is on a surface that
can get wet, like your countertop.

3. Take the tofu out of the package,

drain off the water, and put it on top
of the first paper towel.

4. Put the second paper towel on top

of the tofu.

5. Place something heavy on top--

either a plate, another cutting board,
or a skillet. I usually put additional
weights on top of that too. Make
sure the weight is evenly distributed
or the plate/skillet/cutting board will
fall off, usually smashing one side of
your tofu in the process.

6. Let this sit for 30 minutes. You

can change out the paper towels
once or twice if needed.

Is this worth it? HECK YES IT IS

WORTH IT. When you press out all
that tofu water, the tofu can better
absorb the flavors you add to it.
Even if a recipe doesn't call for me
to press my tofu, I still press it. I
can't stress enough how important
this is.

So this gave me a good excuse to

make Baked Italian Herb Tofu, which
had been on my to-make list for a
while. I used to buy it, but they
stopped selling it locally, which was
a bummer. This tofu is simple to
make and it's a delicious addition to
pasta, sandwiches, and salads. You
can bake the slices for 30 minutes,
which results in tofu that's soft and
golden brown in color, or you can
bake them for a full 40 minutes,
which makes the tofu browned and
chewy.

>

Baked Italian Herb

Tofu
This easy baked tofu is perfect for
adding to salads, pasta, and
sandwiches!

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Total Time:
1 hour 10 minutes

Servings: 4 servings
Author: Oh My Veggies

Ingredients
2 tablespoons liquid aminos I
used coconut aminos
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
½ teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon dried oregano
A dash of freshly ground black
pepper
1 15-ounce package extra-firm
tofu, pressed for 30 minutes and
cut into 8 slabs
Salt to taste

Instructions
1. Whisk together the liquid aminos,
oil, water, vinegar, garlic powder,
herbs, and pepper in a small
baking dish. Place the tofu slices
in the baking dish and marinate
for 30 minutes, turning the slices
over after 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Transfer
the tofu slices to a baking sheet
that's been lined with parchment
paper or sprayed with cooking
spray. Rub any remaining
marinade onto the tofu and
season with a few sprinkles of
salt. For softer baked tofu, bake
for 30 minutes; for chewier tofu,
bake for 40 minutes. Flip the tofu
over halfway through cooking
time.

Nutrition
Serving: 2g

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About Kiersten
Kiersten is the
founder and former
editor of Oh My Veggies.

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Comments

Julia says
October 30, 2013 at 10:35
pm

Pressing tofu is must. I like to press

my tofu for several hours, in a tea
towel. I also like to marinate the
pressed tofu for several hours. I
usually press the tofu overnight,
then, in the morning, make the
marinade, add the tofu and let
marinate all day. Then, I will bake
the tofu for supper. Or I might press
all day, marinate overnight and bake
in the morning. Here is a link to my
blog - tofu pressing instructions plus
two recipes using tofu.

http://mostlyveganfun.wordpress.co
m/2013/02/11/recipe-updates/

As for rosemary, you should try

growing some. Start a seedling in
the spring, it will grow all summer
then overwinter, continue to grow
next season and before you know it
you have a rosemary bush! Of
course, I live in an area with mild
winters (south-west coast of
Canada) so this kind of outdoor
growing is possible.

Reply

Kiersten says
November 02, 2013 at
9:03 pm

I actually do grow my own

rosemary, but I used dried in this
recipe because I knew not
everyone would have access to
the fresh kind in the fall/winter.

Reply

Irene Grun says

November 09, 2013 at 7:20
am

Thanks for sharing a multitude of

great veggie recipes and tofu. Im
always looking for new nd healthy
veggie and tofu recipes....im sharing
ur recipes, too...much appreciated!
Thanks, Irene

Reply

Kiersten says
November 10, 2013 at
7:45 pm

Of course!

Reply

Susan says
November 10, 2013 at 8:00
am

BEST Tofu I've ever eaten!!

Reply

Kiersten says
November 10, 2013 at
7:42 pm

Thank you!

Reply

agedtechie says
November 17, 2013 at 7:49
am

Oriental grocery stores sell already

pressed tofu: it is usually brown on
the outside and white in the middle.
Comes in a variety of pre-cut shapes
and sizes..

I always wondered where PeiWei

got their great tofu and this is it. No
pressing or weighting or draining
necessary. Usually vacuum packed
in the dairy (cool foods) section but
not frozen. Keeps a very long time in
the fridge. I can actually almost
never get to one of these stores (40
miles away) but when I do I stock
up!

Reply

Kiersten says
November 17, 2013 at
8:41 pm

Yes, our local Asian market is

about an hour away. Wish it was
closer!

Reply

Pamala says
January 07, 2014 at 3:59 pm

Kiersten. Hi am wondering if you

have a tofu recipe made from
scratch. I have recently returned
from Manila in the Philippines and
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