Easy Marinated Tofu

June 30, 2025

This easy marinated tofu recipe requires no cooking and delivers incredible umami flavor with low effort! Flavored with soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger, it’s perfect for meal prep and healthy weeknight dinners.

I’ll admit it—I wasn’t always a tofu believer. But then I discovered this game-changing marinated tofu (and a few other easy tofu recipes) that completely transformed my relationship with this plant-based protein!

This marinated tofu is packed with savory umami flavors from toasted sesame oil, fresh ginger, garlic, and soy sauce, plus green onions and sesame seeds for texture and freshness. The best part? You don’t even need to cook it! Just press, marinate, and enjoy. It’s become one of my favorite meal prep staples! Throw it in a bowl with rice, soba noodles, or quinoa and some fresh veggies, and you’ve got an instant healthy lunch or dinner!

How to make this easy marinated tofu recipe

Alex and I actually got the idea for this marinated tofu recipe from a dinner we ate at the Chicago Midway airport. Wait: an airport? Yes, I know, I can confidently say that this is the first and only recipe on this website that has ever been inspired by airport cuisine!

O, so we were at Chicago Midway and we needed a healthy dinner fast. Miraculously, Alex found some sushi and a box of marinated tofu. After the first bite, neither of us could stop eating it! It was seriously savory and satisfying, but tasted fresh and healthy at the same time.

This marinated tofu is the definition of easy: there are basically two steps. Press, then marinate. There’s quite a bit of water in tofu, so in order to infuse it with flavor you’ll need to press it. However: we’ve developed a quick way to do it!

A tip for pressing tofu—fast!

Many tofu recipes require pressing tofu for about 1 hour to drain it before starting the recipe. This is tricky on a weeknight, so I decided to research faster ways to press the water out of tofu. There’s actually a surprising trick for speeding up pressing tofu: the microwave!

Oddly enough, if you microwave tofu for 2 minutes, it extracts quite a bit of liquid. Then place the pieces on a dry towel, place a cutting board on top, and top it with a heavy object. The weight will extract more water, and it will be done after just 15 minutes.

How to marinade tofu

After pressing the tofu, all you have to do is marinade the tofu for 30 minutes. Simply let it sit in a bowl with the marinade. The flavors are balanced with savory, sweet, tangy, and spicy: soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil, tangy rice vinegar, maple syrup and a touch of gochujang hot sauce for a hint of heat.

Throw that all together with some minced green onion and sesame seeds, and it’s so flavorful, you won’t know what hit you. When we first served this marinated tofu to our 2 year old, it disappeared immediately!

No cooking required (but you can if you like)

With this easy marinated tofu, you don’t cook it. This makes it 100% easier than any baked the method. Since it’s firm tofu and you’ve pressed all the water out of it, the tofu has a great texture.

Of course, you can cook it if you’d like to! You can pan fry it or make baked tofu. But this easy marinated tofu recipe really doesn’t need to be cooked: it’s extremely flavorful without the fuss.

Is tofu healthy?

Yes! Tofu is part of a healthy diet. According to Harvard, soy is a nutrient-dense source of protein that can safely be consumed several times a week. It’s likely to provide health benefits—especially when eaten as an alternative to red and processed meat.

Serving suggestions for marinated tofu

This marinated tofu is so simple because it’s mostly hands off: there’s really only about 10 minutes of active time. This gives you ample time to prepare the rest of a meal. Because it can store refrigerated for up to 5 days, it’s perfect for lunches! How would we serve this marinated tofu? Try serving it:

Lunch bowls: I love pairing this tofu with seasoned quinoa and pan fried broccoli for a protein-packed lunch. Add some tahini dressing to bring it all together.

With noodles for dinner: Serve it with peanut noodles or quick soba noodles with steamed vegetables.

Grain bowls: Layer it over brown rice with easy edamame and fresh vegetables. I often add sliced cucumber and shredded carrots.

Stir fry addition: Toss it into fried rice or cauliflower fried rice during the last minute of cooking for extra protein without additional cooking time.

Healthy snacking: Enjoy it straight with chopsticks—it’s that good! It’s great for office lunches with some crackers and vegetables.

Dietary notes

This marinated tofu recipe is vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and plant-based.