This orange tofu recipe is a vegan, healthier, and easier adaptation of the popular Orange Chicken in Panda.

The first meal I had in US was orange chicken from a Panda Express in an airport. Panda Express don’t sell orange tofu. What a pity.

That was also the very first time I’ve heard about this dish.

Orange chicken is a very typical Chinese American food, which American people think was originated from China, while Chinese people have never heard about it before.

Jimmy Wang, Panda Express’s director of culinary innovation, said: “Orange chicken is probably one of the most genius creation in the past 30 years.” 

Well, today’s recipe is going to make this dish even more innovative!

We are going to substitute the deep-fried chicken with air fried tofu to make this dish much healthier.

And of course, we will keep the soul of this dish – the sweet, sour, and sticky sauce – to delight every single taste bud in your mouth.

Air Fried Orange Tofu

– Press the tofu or not?

• I usually press something heavy on the top of the tofu block to squeeze the extra water out from the tofu.

But, as you’ve probably noticed, I skipped this step this time. Because I used an EXTRA FRIM tofu, which contains much less water than regular firm tofu, and I used an air fryer, which would dry out the tofu as the air circulates.

• If you’re going to use a regular firm tofu (instead of extra firm), or a conventional oven, you can add the pressing step to help the tofu to release all its water.

Here is a nice tutorial teaching you how to press tofu easily.

– Hand torn tofu

• Unlike the usual knife-cutting method, the tofu block is torn manually into irregular pieces.

It’s not because that I’m too lazy to wash an extra knife, Mr He washes all the dishes anyway~

It’s because that hand pulling technique can create more surface area on the tofu pieces, so that they could coat more sauce and be more flavorful.

• What’s more, compared with knife-cut tofu cubes, hand-pulled irregular tofu pieces look more like chicken pieces.

– Marinate the tofu or not

Most of the recipes might tell you to marinate the tofu with soy sauce or spices for 30 minutes before frying, because, tofu tastes like tofu.

However, when we want food, we want food.

I believe that it shouldn’t take us more than an hour to make a tofu dish.

Since the tofu is eventually going to be coated with a thick layer of flavorful orange sauce, the marinating technique itself won’t make a huge difference.

So why don’t we just skip this step and save our valuable 30 minutes?

How to Make Orange Tofu

EQUIPMENT

• Air fryer (or oven)

• Large frying pan or wok

INGREDIENTS

• 16 oz extra firm tofu (1 block of tofu)
• avocado/olive oil spray (or you can dip and brush the oil over tofu)

– To make orange sauce:

• ⅓ cup orange juice
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil (or coconut oil)

• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• ¼ teaspoon salt

– To make cornstarch water

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water

– Food makeups (optional)

• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

• 1 teaspoon orange zest

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wipe the tofu block with some kitchen towel so that the surface is dry (* See Note 1 if you’re going to bake the tofu pieces with an oven).

2. Pull apart the tofu block into chicken-nugget size.

3. Add tofu pieces to the air fryer. Leave some space around each piece of tofu. Spray or brush oil over the tofu pieces.

4. Air fry at 400°F for 10 minutes. Take out the basket to flip each piece of tofu. Air fry at 400°F for 8 more minutes (*See Note 2 if you’re going to bake the tofu pieces with an oven).

 5. Add all the ingredients (see ingredient section above) for the orange sauce to a bowl, stir to mix.

6. In a separate bowl, add 1 tbsp of cornstarch and 2 tbsps of cold water and mix well.

7. In a large frying pan or a wok, add the orange sauce and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to low, add the cornstarch water mixture, stir until the orange sauce gets thickened.

8. Add air fried tofu pieces to the wok, stir until all tofu pieces are coated with the sauce. Turn off heat.

9. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of toasted sesame seeds and 1 tsp of orange zest as “food makeups”.

10. Serve over rice.

NOTES

1. Since extra firm tofu doesn’t contain too much water, and the air fry will further dry out the tofu, so that we do not need to press the tofu to release the water. Press something heavy on top of the tofu for 30 minutes to squeeze the water out if you’re using firm tofu (instead of extra firm tofu) or oven (instead of air fryer).
2. If you’re going to bake the tofu pieces with an oven: Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the tofu pieces, toss to combine. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of cornstarch over the tofu, and toss until the cornstarch is evenly coated. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes, flipping the tofu pieces at 15 minutes.