Easy Mapo Tofu Recipe
By S. H.November 3, 2026One Min Read
A gentle kick from Sichuan pepper 🌶️
I love spicy food in general, but there are so many different kinds of spice to choose from. Sichuan food isn’t the kind of spicy that burns your throat; it has more of a gentle kick, with a numbing feeling from the Sichuan peppers.
So don’t worry if you can’t eat spicy food, mapo tofu is a much safer choice! Usually people use silken tofu, but I prefer the texture of firm tofu, so that’s what I’ve used in my recipe.
Mapo Tofu
- Serves:
- 2-3 (over rice)
- Prep Time:
- 10 Minutes
- Cooking Time:
- 15-20 Minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1Cut the tofu into 1.5cm cubes and put them into cold water, then bring to the boil for 1-2 minutes before taking them out.
- 2Mince the garlic, black beans and ginger, and cut the spring onion into 1-2cm sections.
- 3Fry the Sichuan peppercorns in the wok on a low heat until they turn brown/red and fragrant, then take them out.
- 4Use a rolling pin to crush the peppercorns into a fine powder.
- 5Add the beef mince and fry until the fat comes out, then add the toban djan. Keep stir frying until you see red chilli oil releasing from the sauce.
- 6Add the minced garlic, black beans, ginger, spring onion, chilli flakes and soy sauce, and mix with the beef.
- 7Add some water, the salt and the sugar, and bring to the boil.
- 8Add the tofu and some potato starch water to thicken, then gently stir the tofu and beef together, making sure the tofu doesn’t break.
- 9When it reaches the thickness you like, top with the peppercorn powder and the green part of the spring onion.
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