Impact of different frying methods on volatile compounds in tofu

To investigate the effects of different frying methods on tofu aroma, sensory evaluation, electronic nose analysis, GC-IMS, and GC-MS combined with chemometric methods were employed to characterize volatile compounds in control, deep-fried, air-fried, and pan-fried samples. Sensory evaluation showed that pan-fried tofu achieved the highest overall acceptability. GC-IMS revealed distinct volatile fingerprints among samples, reflecting marked compositional shifts induced by different frying methods. Furthermore, GC-MS identified 153 volatile compounds, with esters being the predominant group. The integrated analytical approach demonstrated that frying methods significantly affected the generation and transformation of aroma-active compounds, with pan-fried tofu exhibiting the richest and most desirable aroma profile.