Can soft tofu be substituted for firm tofu?

The general answer is no. Soft tofu and firm tofu both exist because they are meant for different uses in cooking. That’s why recipes specify if you need one or the other, or some other tofu variety for that matter.

I recently found out, however, that there is at least one recipe where soft tofu can be used in place of firm tofu. There is a caveat but I’ll get to that later. I’m talking about dishes that use tofu as a replacement for ground meat.

The technique is simple enough. Press a cake of firm tofu — again, that’s firm tofu — between stacks of paper towels to remove as much water as possible, rub the tofu on a grater, spread the ground tofu in the air fryer basket lined with a sheet of baking paper then pop into the air fryer until browned and crisp.

Using tofu that way has fascinated me for a long time and I’ve been trying to find an excuse to try it (I do need my daily supply of animal protein, you see). I finally did earlier today. I slit open a pack of tofu (my husband bought it and the label simply says Japanese tofu) and found myself touching the softest tofu I have ever encounterd in my life. Oh, my.

For a few seconds, I thought about miso soup. I checked the pantry and discovered we were out of dried wakame. Nope, there was going to be no miso soup for lunch. But what to do with the tofu? Agedashi tofu we all love… but deep frying in the sweltering noonday heat? Nah.

I pulled myself together and decided to cook what I originally intended to serve for lunch. Pad krapow tofu. It’s a Thai stir fry with holy basil as the star ingredient. The protein can be chicken, pork or beef — often minced. I wanted to make the dish with tofu. But how to mimic ground meat using soft tofu when every recipe on the web says use firm tofu?

Instead of grating firm tofu, I simply crumbled the soft tofu directly into a strainer set over a bowl. I swirled the strainer gently several times to allow the water on top to slide to the edges and drip into the bowl.

The drained soft tofu was spread in the basket of the air fryer lined with non-stick paper. I asked my daughter Alex to set the temperature at 350F and the timer to ten minutes. After ten minutes, she said the tofu was still watery. Give it another ten minutes, I said, and she did. No more water after a total of 20 minutes at 350F (note that drying the tofu could have taken less time had I bothered to press the tofu between stacks of paper towels before crumbling).

Next, browning the tofu. It took another 20 minutes, and the tofu was stirred halfway through. Alex reported that the tofu had browned in spots but there were still pale portions. I checked and I was shocked at the shrinkage. After losing all the water, all that was left was a handful of crumbled lightly crisp tofu. So, this is where I post my observation.

If crumbling and air frying tofu to mimic ground meat, firm tofu is best. But if soft tofu is all you have, don’t fret and use it anyway. But be prepared to end up with much less tofu. If the amount of tofu after air frying is a priority, use twice as much soft tofu. If a recipe says 300 grams of firm tofu, substitute 600 grams of soft tofu.

In my case, did I have enough tofu to feed three? Barely. But I was going to serve the stir fry with egg so it should all work beautifully on the table. But stop it with the air frying frying already. Another ten minutes in the fryer might have resulted deeper-colored and crispier crumbled tofu, but more shrinkage and there wouldn’t be enough tofu for three people. So, a total of 40 minutes of air frying with stirring during the second half.

The rest of the process was the same as making the dish with minced chicken. The only difference is the length of time spent on the first stage of cooking. Because there is no raw meat to cook, the sauteeing is quite short. Saute shallots, garlic and chili in oil until softened, add the air fried tofu and toss around to allow the flavors of the spices to permeate the bean curd.

Pour in the sauce, toss to give the tofu a chance to soak up the liquid, throw in the basil leaves and stir fry just until the greens wilt.

Scoop rice into a bowl, top with a fried egg and ladle the pad krapow tofu on the side. A lovely dish, really. In case you’re wondering where the recipe is, I’ll reserve that for another time. I plan to make pad krapow tofu again using firm tofu. But if you feel that all the above tips arm you with enough information to successfully substitute tofu for chicken, see the linked recipe below.