Dry first, or nothing else matters
Wet tofu steams. Water leaving the surface holds it at boiling point, and nothing browns at boiling point. Fifteen minutes under a weight is enough — see the pressing guide for how long is actually useful.
Tear it, don't cube it
A clean-cut cube has six smooth faces. A torn piece has ragged edges, and edges are what crisp.
Marry Me Tofu tears by hand after freezing. Mediterranean Chickpea Ragù tears into rough 2cm pieces. BBQ Tofu Bowl tears or coarsely grates, because the ragged surface holds glaze that a cube sheds.
Cornstarch is the coating
A thin dusting of cornstarch dries the surface further and fries into an actual crust. It goes on after the marinade and just before the pan — starch first and the marinade washes it off.
Tofu 'Chicken' with Spinach Sauce tosses marinated pieces in cornstarch before baking. Peanut Noodles with Crispy Tofu is explicit about the order — soy sauce first, let it absorb, then dust and fry.
Then stop touching it
This is the one that costs people the result. Tofu needs uninterrupted contact with the pan to brown; every stir breaks that contact and drops the surface temperature.
Mapo Tofu Udon says it outright: crumble it in and cook for about ten minutes stirring as little as possible, so the pieces have time to brown. Spread it in one layer, leave it, turn it once.
Sauce goes on at the end
Anything sweet — BBQ, teriyaki, maple, agave — burns long before the tofu is done, and anything wet undoes the crust you just built. Brown first, then lower the heat and add the sauce for a minute or two. BBQ Tofu Bowl does exactly that.
Oven and air fryer
Both work and both need the same preparation. The oven is more forgiving for a large batch — 200 °C, single layer, don't crowd the tray. Crowding is the sheet-pan version of stirring: pieces touching means steam trapped between them.