The Definitive Guide to Tofu! (Plus a Breakdown of HH Tofu …

With all the holiday baking that's been going on, I've received a lot a questions about recipes that use tofu -- especially which kind to use.

Happy Herbivore recipes call for two different types of tofu: tofu that is refrigerated and sitting in water or shelf stable and packaged in Tetra Paks.

Here's a quick run down of the different tofu types...

Firm/Extra Firm: Extra-firm is much firmer than Firm. Firm and Extra-Firm tofu work best for when the tofu needs to hold together such as in stir-fries, or when you're making Baked Tofu, or crumbled like in a scramble. This tofu comes packaged in water and can be found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store (all stores vary, but it's usually near the produce or dairy section). You generally can't substitute the silken for firm or extra-firm (i.e. subbing extra-firm silken tofu for extra-firm tofu in the Torkey will probably result in it being a really soft, sloppy mess :( )

Silken: Silken tofu is just how it sounds, silky. It is great for making sauces and creams because of it's smooth and pudding-like texture. You can find silken tofu in the refrigerated section of the store or in a Tetra Pak on the shelf in an aisle (Mori-Nu is the most common shelf-stable brand). With Mori-Nu and silken tofus in general, there is not much difference between them, levels of firmness is marginal, so don't worry too much about what kind you have. Silken is silken.

Now that you know the basics, here's a list of HH recipes and which kind of tofu they call for! (For page numbers, download our newly updated Master Table of Contents)

Note: Any brand will do, I just waned to give you a visual reference so you know what to look for in stores :)