Today’s recipe is dubu-jorim (spicy braised tofu). It’s tofu braised in a savory-spicy sauce and pan fried with caramelized onion, garlic, and green onions, making it juicy, a little spicy, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. It’s a delicious side dish for rice, noodles or porridge, and tastes meaty even though it’s a totally vegetarian dish.

This is something you can easily put together in a short amount of time that will please pretty much everybody, and especially vegetarians. You can refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 to 4 days! This dish is good hot or cold, so you don’t even need to heat it up again if you don’t want to, just bring it out and serve.

It’s also a standard in Korean dosirak (lunchbox) item because it keeps well until lunchtime and it gives any meal a little kick. Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients

For the sauce, mix in a small bowl:

Directions

  1. Rinse tofu in cold running water and dry it with cotton or paper towel. Cut it into ¼ inch thick bite size pieces.dubujorim
  2. Add the cooking oil to a non-stick pan and heat it up over high heat.
  3. Gently set the tofu onto the pan and cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Rotate the pan to cook the tofu evenly. When the bottoms get a little crunchy, flip them over one by one with a spatula. Let cook another 7 to 8 minutes until both sides of each tofu piece are a little crispy and golden brown. fried-tofu
  4. Transfer the tofu to a plate. Keep the leftover oil.
  5. Heat up a small pan over medium high heat and add the leftover oil.
  6. Add chopped onion, garlic, and green onion (less 1 tablespoon, to be used for a garnish later). Stir with a wooden spoon for a few minutes until the onion gets a little crispy.fried vegetables fried-onion
  7. Add the sauce and keep stirring until it reduces a bit and thickens.dubu jorim sauce
  8. Add tofu and braise for a minute until the tofu absorbs some of the flavor of the sauce. Add some toasted sesame oil and stir.braised tofu (dubu jorim: 두부조림)
  9. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over top and the rest of the chopped green onion. Serve right away with rice.dubujorim (spicy braised tofu: 두부조림)

Posted on Monday, February 15th, 2016. Last updated on June 24, 2023.
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82 Comments:

  1. Meenz United States joined 8/22 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 6th, 2022 at 2:38 pm | or create a profile.

    I’ve made this about 3x so far and it’s always a win. I can’t find the hot pepper flakes so I’ve been substituting with chili flakes. It’s sooo good together with a veggie stir fry and rice.

  2. martian Canada joined 4/22 & has 3 comments
    Posted April 8th, 2022 at 2:41 am | or create a profile.

    I have made this recipe so so so many times. One of my all time favourite ways to make tofu now. I add some gochujang and it’s perfect. Thank you Maangchi!!!


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  3. Diletta Bologna, Italy joined 4/20 & has 2 comments
    Posted January 13th, 2022 at 8:56 am | or create a profile.

    Always so delicious, your dubu jorim, Maangchi, thanks!
    Today I served it with multigrain rice, my homemade kimchi and a simple bok choi banchan… lovely lovely lunch!


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  4. entropicage United States joined 12/13 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 12th, 2021 at 12:04 pm | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, I just made this recipe to pack in my dinner for work and oh my gosh it is DELICIOUS and so easy! I think this is going to become a favorite of mine for a busy morning prep.

  5. Therapy Jefferson, MD joined 5/20 & has 3 comments
    Posted January 1st, 2021 at 12:15 pm | or create a profile.

    I just made this, very easy recipe. I like the texture of the fried tofu and the spice was just right. Thank you!


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  6. ajaykaran New York joined 11/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted November 27th, 2020 at 10:29 am | or create a profile.

    Maangchi – this is such an easy recipe, and came out delicious.
    And it took less than 20 minutes to make.


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  7. snailpolish United States joined 8/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 5th, 2020 at 5:17 pm | or create a profile.

    This is my favorite recipe!! It’s so easy and delicious; I make this for my girlfriend at least once a week. I’ve done a few different variants, but my favorite way is to sub the gochugaru for gochujang and fry the tofu in coconut oil for a little sweetness. This recipe made me love cooking in a way I never did before. Thank you Maangchi!!!


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  8. JANELC57 TORONTO joined 7/20 & has 2 comments
    Posted July 5th, 2020 at 1:28 pm | or create a profile.

    This was amazing! I used a medium tofu and cut the pieces in bigger cubes so once cooked it would be firm on the outside and soft on the inside. I also more than doubled the sauce. With the doubled recipe, I used 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes and 1 of gochujang paste. It was a bit too hot for us so I added more water, soy sauce, sugar and a bit of corn starch and water to thicken it up (which is why the sauce was more than double). It was outstanding! Served over rice with braised bok choy as a side. My daughter was disappointed the small amount of left overs got eaten before breakfast the next day. Will make again and often. Thank you again Maangchi!

  9. Faycrawford Florida joined 6/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted June 8th, 2020 at 12:39 am | or create a profile.

    I made this couple time..My husband don’t eat tofu so much but for this recipe ..he luv it


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  10. Nathan Heuton Vancouver, WA joined 2/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted February 16th, 2020 at 12:44 am | or create a profile.

    I don’t usually like tofu but this recipe was very good!

  11. Katrina B. Tennessee, USA joined 2/20 & has 1 comment
    Posted February 3rd, 2020 at 2:50 pm | or create a profile.

    Maangchi, this was my first Korean dish that I’ve made! It was delicious. Unfortunatley, I have eaten and shared it all so I could not take a photo :).

    I had a large mushroom in the fridge that needed to be used, so I added it to this. The mushroom became extrememely rich. If you do this, I would recommend sauteeing the mushrooms seperatley, putting it in a bowl while you add the sauce and begin braising the tofu, and then adding it in close to the end. Otherwise, the mushrooms will soak up the flavor that you want the tofu to soak up and the mushrooms become too rich.

    I will will be trying more recipies soon. I’ve got my eye on mapo tofu for my second dish.

  12. ProfessorM New York city joined 8/19 & has 1 comment
    Posted August 27th, 2019 at 10:16 pm | or create a profile.

    This recipe is easy! My first dubujorim!
    I also added two hard boiled eggs in the mix.


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  13. Laroka& has 1 comment
    Posted July 6th, 2019 at 11:52 am | or create a profile.

    It’s delicious! Thanks for a recipe ❤️


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  14. aireeuh Washington State joined 6/19 & has 3 comments
    Posted June 15th, 2019 at 11:58 pm | or create a profile.

    This recipe was fantastic! I served it cold because I needed to make it in advance. Even one of my guests who doesn’t usually like tofu liked this recipe. Thanks so much


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    • Maangchi New York City joined 8/08 & has 12,045 comments
      Posted June 17th, 2019 at 12:10 pm | or create a profile.

      Sliced tofu with a slightly crunchy outside, and a soft and juicy inside! It’s a great side dish for rice! Tofu by itself is bland, so cooking it this way will make it turn out very delicious! I’m happy to hear that your guests loved it!

  15. TheGoogleGeek Chicago joined 5/19 & has 2 comments
    Posted May 28th, 2019 at 3:11 pm | or create a profile.

    Love this recipe!! I made it with Korean spinach and brown rice.


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  16. HappyBellyHappyNelly Honolulu joined 3/19 & has 2 comments
    Posted March 14th, 2019 at 8:01 pm | or create a profile.

    Aloha!!!

    This recipe was just perfect! I was looking for a simple, savory, vegetarian dish and this definitely hit the spot! This was a very satisfying g tofu dish.

    Thank you for the recipe. Can’t wait to try more


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  17. Prabha Hongkong joined 1/19 & has 1 comment
    Posted January 11th, 2019 at 5:54 am | or create a profile.

    Hi,
    I am new to korean food, I had it first time when i moved from India to Hongkong and i love Korean food. I have watched your so many videos have started cooking few.
    I tried making spicy braised tofu it taste so yummy.

    Thanks for sharing all your recipe and helping to open up a new world of taste for people like us


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  18. iTom Israel joined 5/14 & has 2 comments
    Posted January 5th, 2019 at 6:37 pm | or create a profile.

    Made this today, unfortunately didn’t have any green onion still came out yummy! I’ve been following you for many years and cooking your recipes thank you so much!


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  19. NaOllie Dickinson,tx,usa joined 12/18 & has 2 comments
    Posted December 24th, 2018 at 1:30 pm | or create a profile.

    Hi Maangchi!! I’ve been watching your videos for about a week. LOVE YOUR CHANNEL! I decided to try this dish because I have never had tasty tofu. I am so very glad I did. So good. I have made all my friends watch your videos and they have tried out a few as well! Thank you so much.

  20. ShayDougie Virginia joined 9/18 & has 1 comment
    Posted September 30th, 2018 at 5:03 pm | or create a profile.

    My husband and I began watching your videos about a year ago. Since then we have made many of your recipes, and love cooking the meals together! This weekend, we had the chance to cook a meal for our vegetarian friends who have never tried Korean food before – it was a success! We made the spicy tofu, spinach and bok choy side dishes, baby potatoes, kimchi pancakes, and rice, of course! Thank you for teaching us about Korean food and explaining how to cook so well. Looking forward to learning more…see you next tiiime, byeee! :-)


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  21. dydy0212 Bucharest, Romania joined 9/18 & has 2 comments
    Posted September 1st, 2018 at 6:00 am | or create a profile.

    Hello Maangchi, I am from Romania and I have been following your channel for some time now. I have made a few of your recepies before, but forgot to take pictures to post them. Today I made the braised tofu one and snapped a picture of it. It is also my first time posting on your site. Love you and will wait for more recepies in the future.


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  22. clydedatastruct Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines joined 3/18 & has 8 comments
    Posted August 29th, 2018 at 2:01 pm | or create a profile.

    Made this earlier, and when some of my neighbors and our landlady tried a piece, they said they loved the taste and the meaty texture. It tasted great even if I used soft tofu (찌개용).


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