Mapo Tofu Recipe in a Normal Frying Pan, Ready in 25 Minutes

Mapo tofu is one of those dishes that sounds hard and turns out to be easy. Soft cubes of tofu sit in a glossy red sauce with minced pork, garlic and chilli bean paste, and the whole thing is ready in about 25 minutes. This mapo tofu recipe is written for an ordinary kitchen: one frying pan, no wok needed, and a clear line between what you really need and what is only nice to have.

If you already made our Chinese eggplant, good news: you have the most important ingredient in your fridge already.

Ingredients you really need

Serves 2

• 400 g soft or medium-firm tofu, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 150 g minced pork (minced beef is the original, both work)
• 20 g doubanjiang, the Sichuan chilli bean paste (1 heaped tablespoon)
• 10 g garlic, about 2 cloves, finely chopped
• 10 g fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 30 g spring onion, about 2 stalks, white and green parts kept separate
• 250 ml water or chicken stock
• 15 ml light soy sauce (1 tablespoon)
• 10 g cornflour mixed with 30 ml cold water
• 30 ml neutral oil (2 tablespoons)

No extra salt. Doubanjiang and soy sauce bring plenty, so taste at the end before you add any.

Don’t use silken tofu for your first try. It tastes lovely but breaks the moment you touch it. Soft or medium-firm tofu holds its shape and still feels silky in the sauce.

Ingredients that are nice to have

• Sichuan peppercorns, 2 g (½ teaspoon). They give mapo tofu its famous tingling, slightly numbing feeling on your tongue. Without them the dish is spicy but flat. Toast them in a dry pan for a minute and grind them just before using. Sichuan pepper is sold in most Asian supermarkets.
• Fermented black beans (douchi), 10 g, rinsed and chopped. They add a deep, savoury layer under the chilli.
• Chilli oil, 10 ml. Drizzle it over at the end if you like more heat and a shinier finish.
• Shaoxing rice wine, 15 ml, and 3 g sugar. Add them with the stock. They round off the sauce, but the dish is good without them.

Tools you really need

• A deep frying pan, about 28 cm. Deep sides help, because you will be moving the tofu around in a fair amount of sauce.
• A sharp knife and a board to cut the tofu into even cubes, so they all heat through at the same time.
• A small pot and a slotted spoon to blanch the tofu. Any spoon with holes works, as long as you can lift the cubes out without breaking them.
• A wide spoon or spatula to push the tofu gently, not to stir it.

Tools that are nice to have

• A wok. It holds the heat better when the pork goes in, so the meat browns instead of steaming. A deep frying pan does the job for two people.
• A spider skimmer. Its wide, shallow basket lifts all the tofu out in one go, so the cubes don’t knock against each other. It is the first tool on our list of 10 most underrated kitchen tools.
• A spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. Freshly ground Sichuan pepper smells completely different from a ready-ground jar.
• A rice cooker. Mapo tofu is made to be eaten with rice, and a rice cooker gets it right while you cook. You can find the one we like in our shop.

How to make this mapo tofu recipe

1. Put a pot of water on to boil with a pinch of salt. Slide in the 400 g of tofu cubes and let them sit in the barely simmering water for 2 minutes, then drain. This firms up the outside so the cubes stay whole.
2. If you use Sichuan peppercorns, toast the 2 g in a dry frying pan over medium heat for about a minute, until they smell strong. Grind them and set aside.
3. Heat 30 ml of oil in the frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry the 150 g of minced pork for 4 to 5 minutes, breaking it up, until it is brown and slightly crispy at the edges.
4. Turn the heat to low. Add 20 g of doubanjiang and stir for 30 seconds, until the oil turns red. Add the garlic, ginger, the white part of the spring onion and the black beans if you use them. Stir for another 30 seconds.
5. Pour in 250 ml of water or stock and 15 ml of soy sauce. Bring it to a simmer, then slide in the tofu. Let it bubble gently for 5 minutes. Don’t stir, just push the tofu around with the back of the spoon now and then.
6. Stir the cornflour mixture once more and add it in three small parts, gently shaking the pan after each one. Stop when the sauce is glossy and coats the tofu.
7. Sprinkle the ground Sichuan pepper and the green part of the spring onion on top, add chilli oil if you like, and serve straight away with rice.

Cooking tips

Push, don’t stir. Tofu breaks easily. Moving it with the back of a spoon, or shaking the pan, keeps the cubes whole and the sauce clear.

Keep the heat low for the doubanjiang. Just like in our Chinese eggplant, the chilli in the paste burns in seconds over high heat, and burnt paste tastes bitter.

The sauce is too thin. Add a little more cornflour mixture and let it bubble for 30 seconds. It only thickens once it boils.

It tastes too salty. Add 50 ml of water and a pinch of sugar. Doubanjiang brands differ a lot in saltiness, so the next time start with 15 g.

The numbing feeling is too strong. Start with half the Sichuan pepper and add more at the table. Some people love the tingle, others need a few tries to get used to it.

Vegetarian? Replace the pork with 150 g of finely chopped mushrooms and use vegetable stock. Fry the mushrooms until they are brown and dry before the doubanjiang goes in.

Once you have a jar of doubanjiang, this mapo tofu recipe becomes one of the fastest weeknight dinners you can make. Looking for another dish from China? Try our Chinese eggplant recipe, which uses the same chilli bean paste. Or travel west with our seafood paella recipe, made in a normal frying pan too. Tried it? Leave a comment and tell us how spicy you made it!