Air Fryer Salt & Pepper Tofu

Salt and pepper — jiu yan in Cantonese — isn't a seasoning so much as a technique, a Hong Kong and Guangdong way of finishing crisp-fried food with a toss of toasted salt, white pepper, fried garlic, and slivers of chili and scallion. You've almost certainly met it as salt-and-pepper squid or pork ribs at a Cantonese restaurant: fried hot, then tumbled in a wok with that fragrant, peppery dust until every surface is coated. It's one of those deceptively simple dishes that lives entirely in the details of the seasoning.

Done with tofu, it becomes a fast, vegan snack that doesn't feel like a compromise. The honest tradeoff: a wok and hot oil give you a craggier, more uneven crust and that whisper of smoke from the heat — the air fryer trades smoke for cleanliness and a fraction of the oil. But the soul of the dish is the salt-pepper toss and the bloomed garlic and chili, and those translate perfectly. Press your tofu well, keep the garlic just shy of golden, and don't drown the cubes in cornstarch — a thin, even coat is all the crunch needs.

Use our go-to air fryer to crisp the tofu before it hits the seasoning.