How to Make Tofu Taste like Meat

If you miss meat, use these simple tips to trick your carnivorous side.

Step 1: Choose a firm tofu
Choose tofu marked firm or extra firm. This will give you a more meat-like texture.

Tip
Freezing tofu will give it a firmer but chewier texture.

Step 2: Press and drain tofu
Press the tofu and drain it of excess water by wrapping it in a towel and placing a heavy weight on top of it. This will allow it to crumble more easily.

Step 3: Season or marinate
Season the tofu with your favorite spice blend, or marinate it in your favorite dressing or barbecue sauce.

Tip
Tofu is naturally bland and will absorb any added flavoring from seasoning and sauces.

Step 4: Use in sauces or stews
Replace the meat in spaghetti sauce, stroganoff, tacos, or stews with crumbled tofu.

Step 5: Grill or pan-fry
Grill or pan-fry the tofu for a great charred flavor and crunchy texture – your family will never know the difference.

Did You Know?
Did you know? The world consumes about 280 million tons of meat per year.

[fallenstar]

LOL Have you ever seen somebody cook a whole block of tofu!? Whoever made this video has literally never seen or eaten tofu in their life!

[giggles]

"Your family will never know the difference." Bullshit.

[evolutionknowledge]

um... my family noticed the difference :* (

[Wul-Lop]

Great education video. Your video may help save hundred lives or more. Thanks from Thailand.

[TheQueerGiraffe]

"Your family will never know the difference"
I can just imagine my brother saying "Eww, why is our meat square?"

[MikeConwayOfficial]

This is a good video for people who are transitioning onto a vegetarian diet. You might miss meat at first, but after awhile, that goes away. But tofu, because of its blandness, is so versatile in what flavors you add.

[DBoyTommie]

Freezing the tofu in the original package isn't good. Take it out and drain the excess water, then freeze in a plastic Ziploc bag. Personally, I first cut mine into cubes. Then I press all the water out. And after that I put the cubes in a bag and freeze. 

[sasukedante]

I like the taste of meat, but I like alive animals even more. Tofu ftw!

[Oneamongthefence]

I have tried it and it is very good! I used a panda express orange chicken marinade for my tofu and still can't believe how well it absorbed the flavor!!!

[GoodGuyNickPT]

This was very helpful! Thanks!!!

I've been a vegetarian since January 1st and I am starting to miss meat... This really helped me!!!!

[MNwabuoku]

Okie dokie! I am going to make this for brunch tomorrow with a package of those Sunbird seasonings they make for Chinese food. I find them at ShopRite mostly. Thanks!

[RADIOactive]

*Your family will never know the difference.*

I know howcast is known to make a lot of stupid accusations on how to do things but come on, that's just stupid. Meat and Tofu texture is always way too different for people to not know the difference. The only way that would work on are those who never eaten meat before and never knew how meat tastes like.

[masterrace]

Throw it in a low degrees (32 Celsius) fan oven for 2-5 hours. This reduces the water content as well as helps the texture.

[kayla]

Interesting, I might try this out on some relatives and see what they think.  I usually like meals with more black beans as tofu can be a pain, but I think I'll give this a shot and see what happens. Don't know about the spaghetti part, though-- I just use TVP for that usually. 

[DireHammer]

Why do people keep insisting that they can make tofu taste like meat? I went to an expensive vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco (one of the people I was with was vegetarian) and they had all this "fake" meat shaped like real meat. Didn't taste even a little bit like meat. Tofu tastes good enough without you pretending it's meat. If you're a vegetarian and you miss meat, tough. You are never going to find anything to replace it.

[musicalwayshere]

It's incredible how uninformed people are

[WillShackAttack]

I do eat meat, but the culinary side of me would still like to try this!

[deathsevil]

Why you would want tofu to taste like anything else is beyond me. I'm no vegetarian, far from it, but I fucking love tofu. Little bit of soy sauce dressing over it after lightly boiling/frying it, stir fry with kimchi and pork or some kind of asian style soup. Possibly the best thing ever.

[perpexel]

thanks for finally making a useful video!

[charleswife]

Great video. I'm a new vegan and, this rocks! Tofu rocks. It's delicious!