Mapo Tofu
Serves 2 Time 30 minutes Ingredients 12 Steps 5
Mápó dòufu (麻婆豆腐), also romanized as mapo tofu, is a classic spicy tofu and meat dish from the Szechuan province of China. It is a very flavourful, easy-to-prepare, and spicy dish.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 small piece of ginger, minced (about 2 tsp)
- 1–2 tsp crushed dried chile pepper
- 200 g (7 oz) minced beef, or pork
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 500 g (1 lb) silken tofu, cubed
- 2 tbsp chili bean paste (la doubanjiang)
- 1 tbsp Szechuan pepper, roasted and ground
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice wine
- 3–4 green onions, cut into 2 cm (1 inch) pieces
- 2–3 mushrooms (tree ears preferred; optional)
Steps
- Soak dried mushrooms, if using, in hot water for 10 min while preparing other ingredients. Slice.
- Sauté onion with ginger and crushed chili.
- Add minced meat and garlic. Fry until brown.
- Mix in other ingredients, including sliced mushrooms. Lower heat. Simmer 5–10 min.
- Serve over steamed jasmine rice.
Notes from the original
- Some extra chili pepper can be substituted for Szechuan pepper, but the taste and feeling will be different. Szechuan pepper has a numbing sensation, not heat.
- A little ground coriander and cumin is very nice in this dish, especially if you cannot find Szechuan pepper easily.
- A red bell pepper, a tomato, and fresh coriander leaves are all welcome additions, though not traditional.
- The meal is just as good with whole beans instead of tofu.
- A vegan/vegetarian version of this meal can be made by substituting the meat with textured vegetable protein (TVP) or ground tofu (e.g. Shiok Food's Vegetarian Ma Po Tofu)
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Mapo Tofu” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2026-01-05, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Mapo tofu.JPG (author listed on the file page), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.