How to Press Tofu

When a recipe calls for pressing tofu, the goal is to remove as much of the moisture normally present in tofu by placing thin slices of tofu between layers of towels and mashing down on the towels to press out (squeeze out) the moisture.

To begin, if you are starting with a block of tofu, slice it into thin slices, each about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Prepare several layers of towels. I generally use about 4-6 all cotton kitchen towels, along with several layers of paper towels to lay directly against the tofu.

This picture shows four slices of tofu (one is not visible in the bottom right portion).

Once I have the thin slices layered between towels, I generally just lay both arms on top and press down firmly for several seconds, repeating this 2 or 3 times:

After doing this, the paper towel layers will be saturated. Replace those with dry towels, and repeat.

Once I've done the second pressing, I just leave the tofu right there in the towels while I prepare the rest of the recipe. Then, once you're ready for the tofu, just remove from the towels and use.