Our Super Spicy Mapo Tofu recipe uses four different kinds of chilies—dried chile peppers, fresh Thai peppers, chile flakes, and chili crisp. And don't get us started on the Sichuan pepper and spicy bean paste. Point is, this is one heckin’ hot and numbing dish.
Here at Garlic All Day, not only do we love garlic, we’re also obsessed with SPICE.
And this spicy meaty tofu stew will definitely make you sweat.
Mapo tofu is originally a Chinese dish, but now there are Korean and Japanese versions too.
However, this is an authentic Chinese mapo tofu, specifically Sichuan style. Be warned, the spice level is not watered down at all. If you’re unsure about handling the heat, use less of the chile pepper ingredients.
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Ingredients + Substitutions
A few important notes on some of the ingredients used in this Spicy Mapo Tofu recipe:
Oil and Chili Crisp: We start with some regular cooking oil to fry the pork and aromatics. A high smoke point oil like grapeseed oil, avocado oil, or peanut oil is best. Then we supplement that with chili crisp for extra richness but more importantly, that delicious nutty spiciness.
Ground Pork: In our opinion, pork mince is essential for an authentic flavour. We’ve tried making vegetarian mapo tofu, but it just doesn’t hit the same. If you must, you can use medium-fat ground beef—that’s the one substitute we’ll accept. But minced pork is best.
Silken Tofu: Traditional Sichuan-style mapo tofu uses silken tofu for a smooth, creamy contrast to the spicy fried meat sauce. But you can also try it with firm tofu if you’d like.
Garlic and Ginger: This recipe features two whole heads of garlic and a good chunk of ginger.
Dried Chile Peppers: We use tien tsin pepper which is a very hot Chinese pepper. You may find them simply labelled as Chinese red peppers. They’re called 朝天椒 in Chinese, which translates to “facing heaven pepper.” Why are they called that? No clue. But anyway, if you can’t find these specific peppers, chiles de arbol or dried Thai chili peppers work well.
Fresh Thai Peppers: Also known as bird’s eye chili. This tiny lil pepper packs an insane ton of heat. You can also use habanero peppers or scotch bonnet peppers, if you’re really feelin’ spicy.
Doubanjiang: This is a classic condiment of Chinese cuisine, a fermented bean paste. The most famous variety is from Pixian, a city in Sichuan. Like everything out of Sichuan, Pixian doubanjiang is spicier than regular doubanjiang.
Sichuan Peppercorns: Ground Szechuan pepper is the source of that numbing sensation (called mala in Chinese) that’s characteristic of Sichuan cuisine. We prefer to use around 2 teaspoons, but if you’re really hardcore you can double it.
See recipe card for quantities.
Directions
Step 1. Drain tofu and slice it into cubes, no larger than 1 inch. Whisk together the pepper flakes, water, Sichuan pepper, cornstarch, and sugar. Set these aside.
Step 2. Heat oil in a wok. Fry garlic, ginger, chile peppers, doubanjiang, and chili crisp until aromatic.
Step 3. Add pork and break it apart with your spatula, cooking until the pork is no longer pink.
Step 4. Stir in the Shaoxing wine and let it sizzle until nearly completely evaporated.
Step 5. Add the sliced tofu to the wok and pour over the pepper-cornstarch mixture.
Step 6. Stir it all together until the sauce thickens.
Step 7. Sprinkle with scallions and serve over white rice.
Storage Tips
Fridge: Since mapo tofu contains cooked meat, refrigerate leftovers for up to four days.
Freezer: Freezing mapo tofu will change its texture slightly, but you can freeze it for up to one month without major issues.
What to Serve with Spicy Mapo Tofu
First and foremost: lots and lots of freshly cooked rice.
But if that’s not enough, here are some other sides to pair with:
More Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a rating or comment below to give me feedback and help out other readers.
Recipe Card
Super Spicy Mapo Tofu
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 ½ pounds soft or silken tofu see Note 1
- 2 heads minced garlic around 20–25 cloves
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 5 to 10 dried chile peppers see Note 2
- 5 to 10 fresh Thai chile peppers
- 2 tablespoons doubanjiang
- 2 tablespoons chili crisp *optional
- 6 to 8 ounces ground pork
- 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon chile flakes see Note 3
- ½ cup water or chicken stock use ¾ cups if you're on a gas stove
- 2 teaspoons ground Sichuan pepper
- ½ tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 scallions diced
Instructions
- Drain 1 ½ pounds soft or silken tofu and slice into cubes, no bigger than 1 inch. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon chile flakes, ½ cup water or chicken stock, 2 teaspoons ground Sichuan pepper, ½ tablespoon cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set these aside.
- Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a wok on medium-high heat. Add 2 heads minced garlic, 2 tablespoons minced ginger, 5 to 10 dried chile peppers, 5 to 10 fresh Thai chile peppers, 2 tablespoons doubanjiang, and 2 tablespoons chili crisp. Fry for about half a minute, just until aromatic.
- Add 6 to 8 ounces ground pork and fry it until the pork is no longer pink.
- Stir in 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine and let it sizzle until nearly completely evaporated.
- Add the sliced tofu to the wok and pour over the cornstarch mixture. Stir it all together until the sauce thickens.
- Sprinkle with 2 scallions and serve over white rice.
Notes
- Tofu: Traditional Sichuan-style mapo tofu uses soft or silken tofu for a smooth, creamy contrast to the spicy fried meat sauce. But you can also try it with firm tofu if you’d like.
- Dried Peppers: We use tien tsin pepper which is a very hot Chinese pepper. You may find them simply labelled as Chinese red peppers They’re called 朝天椒 in Chinese, which translates to “facing heaven pepper.” Why are they called that? No clue. But anyway, if you can’t find these specific peppers, chiles de arbol or dried Thai chili peppers work well.
- Chile Flakes: Use regular red pepper flakes for more heat, or a milder pepper like gochugaru or Aleppo pepper for less spicy.
K says
Good recipe
Kelly Zhang says
Thanks for the review, K!