A popular appetizer menu at Izakayas and Japanese restaurants, Agedashi tofu is crispy deep fried tofu served in flavorful tsuyu sauce with grated radish, green onion, and bonito flakes as toppings. If you don’t mind deep-frying, this tofu dish is incredibly easy to make at home.
Agedashi Tofu (揚げ出し豆腐) is soft tofu coated with potato starch and deep fried so that the outer shell is crispy. It is typically served with grated daikon, katsuobushi (bonito flakes), scallion, and grated ginger on top. Then Tsuyu (sauce) made of dashi, mirin, and soy sauce is poured over the toppings and soaks the tofu to enhance its flavor. If you like spicy, you can add shichimi togarashi to spice up the taste.
Watch How to Make Agedashi Tofu 揚げ出し豆腐の作り方
Golden crispy deep fried tofu in delicious tsuyu and topped with grated radish, green onion, and bonito flakes.
This unique appetizer is crispy on the outside and creamy and soft inside. Soaked in the savory sauce, the combination tastes amazing! This light yet savory dish is served piping hot, so be careful not to burn yourself.
Agedashi tofu is a popular appetizer menu at Izakayas and Japanese restaurants. It is actually not difficult to make if you don’t mind deep frying. Sometimes it’s hard to believe a delicious dish like this is easy and simple to make at home yourself.
My family loves tofu dishes but my son especially is crazy about agedashi tofu. This is one of his favorite tofu dish that I make for him along with Mapo Tofu.
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- 1 block medium firm tofu (1 block = 14 oz) (or soft tofu, see Notes)
- 4 Tbsp potato/corn starch
- 3-4 cups neutral flavor oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 1 daikon radish (1 daikon = 2.5 cm)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (optional, and skip if vegetarian)
- Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Wrap the tofu with 2-3 layers of paper towels and place another plate on top. Drain the water out of tofu for 15 minutes.
- Peel and grate the daikon and gently squeeze water out. Cut the green onion into thin slices.
- Put dashi, soy sauce, and mirin in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Turn off the heat and set aside.
- Remove the tofu from paper towels and cut it into 8 pieces.
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Heat the oil to 350F (175C) in a deep fryer or medium saucepan. Coat the tofu with potato starch, leaving excess flour, and immediately deep fry until they turn light brown and crispy.
- Remove the tofu and drain excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels or wire rack.
- To serve, place the tofu in a serving bowl and gently pour the sauce without wetting the tofu. Garnish with grated daikon, green onion, katsuobushi, and shichimi togarashi.
Tofu: If this is your first time making Agedashi Tofu, use medium tofu instead of soft tofu since it's easier to cook without breaking it. Once you're more comfortable making Agedashi Tofu and prefer silky tofu texture inside crispy outer layer of Agedashi Tofu, use soft tofu.
For vegetarian agedashi tofu, use kombu dashi.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on June 13, 2011 and has been updated with new pictures/video and revised recipe instructions.
