Air fryer Buffalo Tofu

This spicy air fried buffalo tofu is a crispy and tasty vegan main. Serve it as an appetizer or snack, you will love it.

Tofu is super high in plant-based protein.

It is also something that I have warmed up to cooking more often.

I love this air fryer teriyaki tofu, Kung pao tofu, salt and pepper tofu air fryer and tandoori tofu.

It is an easy recipe that can be served in many ways.

You may also like cauliflower steaks in air fryer, Air fryer radishes, Air fryer Turnip Fries, Air fryer Parsnips, air fryer mushrooms, cheesy broccoli bites in air fryer.

Ingredients

1. Tofu: Use firm tofu. It is very important that the tofu be dry so that it turns crispy and not soggy after air frying.

2. Flour: I use wholewheat flour for breading.

3. Plant-based milk: Soy milk or almond milk works well here. If you consume dairy, you can use regular milk too.

4. Breadcrumbs: Panko or regular breadcrumbs work very nicely here.

5. Hot sauce: Frank’s hot sauce, Sriracha sauce or any other hot sauce that you like works well here.

6. Vegan butter: This is used to give sheen and thickness to the hot sauce. You can skip this if you are looking to reduce calories.

Variations

This is a vegan recipe. If you are vegetarian you may use paneer or cottage cheese in place of tofu in the recipe.

You can also use ghee or butter in place of vegan butter if you are vegetarian.

This recipe is not gluten free as it used flour. 

Tips

1. Do not overcrowd the air fryer basket. This is to enable the tofu to get crispy.

2. Ensure that tofu is completely dry before you start breading it.

3. Use parchment paper so that the tofu cubes do not stick to the air fryer basket.

Also spray/brush air fryer basket with oil.

4. You can use Panko or regular breadcrumbs. You can season them any way you like.

5. If you are watching Calories, you may skip vegan butter from the recipe or reduce the quantity used.

6. To retain the crunch on the tofu, I do not apply Buffalo sauce heavily to the air fried tofu.

But, I serve a lot of it on the side for dipping.

Serving suggestions

1. Appetizer: The buffalo tofu is a perfect appetizer for game day or otherwise.

Serve with carrot and celery sticks with your favourite dip on the side.

2. In a salad: Toss air fried buffalo tofu in a nice cabbage and carrot salad or avocado cucumber salad.

3. In a wrap, taco or sandwich: Add the buffalo tofu to a wrap, taco or sandwich with lettuce, tomato, roasted vegetables, beans and a vegan mayo or aioli.

4. As a pizza topping: Add air fried buffalo tofu to a vegan pizza crust with your favorite toppings, tomato sauce and vegan cheese.

5. As a bowl: Serve buffalo tofu over a bed of steamed or roasted veggies, quinoa, or rice, with avocado, toasted nuts and some pickled beets on the side.

As a pasta side: Serve buffalo tofu with pasta in marinara sauce.

How to Press Tofu

When cooking tofu, a very important step is in pressing it to remove as much moisture as possible.

This is important to make crispy tofu and also to help seasonings or sauces to adhere to it.

I generally press tofu for at least 10 minutes to up to an hour till it is almost dry.

Take a tofu block and place it on a large plate. Press it down using a heavy pan.

Place some cans on top to apply more pressure on the tofu block to squeeze out all water.

Now wait for it to release water that you can wipe off with paper towels.

Be careful not to put too much weight on the tofu or it may crumble or break.

Now take your pressed tofu and cut in desired shapes to use.

FAQs

Instructions

Press tofu block well to remove moisture. I normally press for 10 minutes using a heavy pan on top.

Then dry tofu using kitchen towels.

Cut tofu into cubes. Don’t keep the cubes large or the tofu will taste bland inside and may not crisp up easily.

Some of the cubes may break but that's fine. You can use them.

I cut them into ½" cubes.

Arrange the breading station: Take 3 shallow dishes of flour, vegan milk (or milk) and breadcrumbs. 

Season the breadcrumbs with salt, cayenne, garlic powder and paprika. You can also use Italian seasoning.

Preheat air fryer at 180C or 360F for 5 minutes.

First dip the tofu cubes in flour to coat well. Shake off any excess flour.

While we are using ¼ cup flour, most of it actually will not go into the final recipe.

Then dip them in soy milk so that they are well coated with vegan milk. 

This helps to adhere breadcrumbs to the surface.

Now press the cubes in seasoned breadcrumbs to coat well.

Repeat this for all the tofu cubes that will be air fried at one go.

You may need to do two batches.

Place tofu cubes in preheated air fryer basket in one layer.

I have used perforated parchment paper to line the air fryer basket.

Air fry at 360F or 180C for 8-10 minutes till the tofu cubes are crispy.

There is no need to flip them midway during air frying.

By now, tofu stays soft while the outer coating is quite crunchy.

While I have not used any oil on tofu cubes, you may spray some oil while air frying for a golden appearance.

For Buffalo sauce, mix together melted vegan butter and hot sauce.

Take out air fried tofu cubes. Toss them in hot sauce.

Buffalo tofu in air fryer is ready to serve. Enjoy.

Here's the recipe card:

📖 Recipe Card

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