30-Minute Sticky Orange Tofu

Looking for a meatless protein option to serve over your favorite rice or noodles? This Sticky Orange Tofu is packed with fresh flavor and fried to crispy golden brown perfection.

You’ll quickly fall in love with the zesty, salty, sticky sauce’s unique flavor! Plus, this filling and over the top delicious tofu dinner dish comes together in just about 30 minutes, making it as easy as it is tasty. A go-to as a time-pressed mom who loves bold flavor!

I love tofu for its unmatched ability to take on flavor! This makes it the perfect base for the sweet and savory orange sauce. Similarly, it takes on seasoning well, like in these Tofu Fajitas, which is a great one to try next!

Orange Tofu Ingredients

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Here’s everything you need for the crispy tofu:

• Extra-firm tofu. Extra-firm tofu most readily gets crispy.
• Olive oil. To fry your tofu in.
• Cornstarch. To soak up excess moisture from the tofu to help it in the crisping process.

Here’s everything you need for the sticky orange sauce:

• Cornstarch in water. This makes a slurry that acts as a thickening agent in your sauce.
• Garlic. T
• Juice from an orange.
• Tamari. Or soy sauce. To add salt and umami.
• Rice vinegar.
• Honey. You can use Agave nectar in its place to make this recipe vegan.
• Ground ginger.

How to Pan Fry Tofu So Its Crispy

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Reduce the Moisture in Your Tofu

If you’re new to tofu, you may be confused by all the seemingly similar options. Extra-firm is my favorite type for getting a crispy finish. You can also use firm in a pinch, but you may have a little more trouble handling it.

Spongy tofu happens. But don’t fear! This tofu pressing method will dry out your tofu enough to avoid that soggy mess.

If you cook tofu often, it might be worth your while to pick up a tofu press.

Not a gadget person (or like to be thrifty like me!)? Drain your tofu and place it between two clean kitchen towels. Choose something heavy to place on top. I usually use a book! Let it sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the towels to absorb the water and dry the tofu out.

Cut & Coat Your Tofu

Once your tofu is pressed, slice it in half lengthwise, so you’re left with two, thinner rectangular pieces of tofu.

Then, you can slice your tofu into thin, triangular pieces as pictured, or into cubes—whichever you prefer!

However, you slice it, make sure to coat your tofu evenly in olive oil. I like to use a pastry brush to ensure I get every surface coated oil.

Sprinkle Cornstarch on Top

Once you’ve coated your tofu in olive oil, sprinkle the cornstarch on top. Though cornstarch has a funny texture and can sometimes be hard to “sprinkle”, just do your best to get a small amount of cornstarch on each side of every piece of tofu.

The cornstarch will help to soak up any excess liquid that may not have been pressed out of the tofu, helping you to get that golden brown.

Fry Your Tofu

Get your pan hot over high heat before carefully placing your tofu directly on the pan. No need for any extra oil, the oil and cornstarch coating on the tofu will be enough to get it golden brown.

Fry for about 5 minutes on each side over high heat, until crispy.

Tofu is safe to eat raw, so there’s nothing to fear in terms of eating undercooked tofu. That being said, tofu tastes best when it’s nice and crispy.

You’ll know your tofu is cooked when it has a golden-brown and crispy outer layer.

How to Make Sticky Orange Sauce for Tofu

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Make Your Cornstarch Slurry

In order to get that thick and sticky sauce, you’ll need a thickener. In this case, we are using a cornstarch “slurry” to get the perfect consistency for our sauce.

Start your sauce by stirring 1 teaspoon of cornstarch into 2 teaspoons of water and set aside for later use.

Use a Fresh Orange

This sauce recipe calls for 1/4 cup of orange juice, which is typically the amount of juice you extract from 1 fresh orange.

Pro tip: While I usually get more than enough juice from 1 Florida orange, a reader from the northeast told me she needed 2 ½ oranges to get enough juice! So, depending on the region you’re getting your oranges from and the juiciness of them, the number of oranges you need for this recipe will vary!

Use a freshly squeezed orange rather than buying orange juice. Any additives like sugar and preservatives will change the flavor of the sauce.

Fresh citrus goes a long way in making this zesty and subtly sweet sauce just right.

Boil Your Sauce

Bring the garlic, orange juice, Tamari, rice vinegar, honey, and ground ginger to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Once the sauce starts to boil, add your cornstarch slurry that you made earlier. As you continue to heat, the cornstarch slurry will thicken your sauce.

Cornstarch doesn’t begin to thicken sauce until it surpasses 200°F, so be patient.

Continue to stir occasionally, monitoring the consistency of the sauce. Once it’s thick and sticky, remove it from heat.

Toss the Tofu in the Sauce

Add your crispy tofu to a large mixing bowl. Pour the sauce over the tofu and toss to coat.

It’s best to not add the sauce until you are ready to eat it. The longer the tofu sits in the sauce, the more likely it is to start to get soggy.

So, when you’re ready to eat, toss it in the sauce and then serve immediately.

Serving Your Sticky Orange Tofu

This Sticky Orang Tofu is super flavorful, and pairs really well with plain white rice or coconut rice.

It’s also great over noodles, like these 15-Minute Spicy Garlic Noodles.

Properly Storing and Reheating Orange Tofu

This Orange Tofu will last up to one week in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can also opt to freeze it for up to 3 months.

To reheat, preheat your oven to 350°F and place the orange-glazed tofu on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a reusable baking mat for about 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

You can also air fry it at 375°F for 3-5 minutes.