How to Drain Tofu

When I cook with tofu, I drain it. You would think that draining it means that you put it in a strainer, or simply remove the liquid from the package. But that is not what recipes mean when they instruct you to drain your tofu.

Once you remove the tofu from the package and the liquid that it's packed in, cut the tofu into the pieces that you will need for the recipe. For my photos in this post, I have cut tofu steaks. I divided my brick of tofu into seven steaks.

Step 1: Lay the tofu pieces on either a towel, or a bunch of paper towels.

Step 2: Cover the tofu pieces with another towel, or a bunch of paper towels.

Step 3: Place a board on top of the covered tofu.

Step 4: Put a heavy object on top of that board. Because you used the board first, the weight of the heavy object will be more evenly distributed.

When I don't have a lot of time, I may only drain the tofu for 15-30 minutes. an hour is plenty of time, but if you accidently drain it longer, that's fine. On this particular day I planned ahead and I wasn't thinking and it drained for 3 hours. My tofu good and dry! This was my final product:

Make sure that if your towells are completely soggy, that you change them. They can only soak up so much liquid.

With three hours of draining, the tofu steaks were significantly smaller and very dry indeed. It makes them have a chewier texture, which was exactly what I wanted for today's recipe: Coconut-Crusted Tofu.