Easy Mapo Tofu you can prepare in 15 minutes. Made with ground pork, tofu, and green onions, this saucy and flavorful dish is a family friendly crowd pleaser. It's a local-style mapo tofu, so not too spicy but very tasty. Enjoy with rice!
I'm a fan of the weekly newsletters from The Local General Store in Kaimuki. The give updates on local meat and pastry availability, special offerings, and occasionally recipes. They recently featured a great recipe for mapo tofu, and we've already made it twice this week.
I adapted the recipe below. It's simple and SO delicious. Unlike Sichuan-style mapo tofu, this version is more local-style. Less spicy, a touch sweeter thanks to the hoisin sauce. And just super flavorful and tasty. It got a big thumbs up from every single of member of the family at the dinner table...all four generations!
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Green onions
- Ground pork
- Doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste)
- Firm tofu
And for the mapo tofu sauce:
- Water
- Cornstarch
- Hoisin sauce
- Soy sauce
- Sake or shaoxing wine or chicken broth
- Sesame oil
Instructions
Let's get cooking!
First, make the sauce. In a medium bowl, mix together the water, cornstarch, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sake or shaoxing wine (or chicken broth), and sesame oil. Set aside.
In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, add some oil.
Then add the minced garlic and ginger. Stir fry for a minute.
Add the green onions and cook for 30 seconds.
Then add the ground pork and cook until the pork is browned. Make sure to break up the pork so that it's in small pieces.
Add the doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste). Stir to mix.
The add the cubed tofu.
Gently mix.
Pour in the bowl of sauce (which you prepared in Step 1) and mix to combine. Mix well but gently so that you don't break the tofu cubes too much.
Keep cooking until the sauce reduces and becomes thicker. Then remove from heat. Eat hot and enjoy! Best with a big bowl of rice.
Top Tip
Keep in mind this recipe is super flexible. You can easily double it for a larger group. Or use more tofu or more pork.
In place of ground pork, feel free to use ground beef or turkey...or even a combination of ground meats.
Make it more spicy by increasing the amount of doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste). Or less spicy by using less.
No sake or shaoxing wine? No problem. Use chicken broth. Or even a little bit of chicken boullion or better than boullion.
No hoisin sauce? Substitute oyster sauce in a pinch! Different flavor but equally tasty.
FAQ
Leftovers keep 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments.
You can find doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste) at pretty much every Asian supermarket. Some markets have multiple different brands to choose from while others might just have one.
The Lee Kum Kee brand seems to be the most common and that's what we used in this recipe.
If you plan to make mapo tofu often, or like to prepare other dishes that call for doubanjiang, it's fun to try different brands. They are all quite different! There are even fancy doubanjiang options that taste amazing.
For dinner, I like to serve mapo tofu with a simple vegetable side dish.
A few go-to dishes include Bok Choy Stir Fry, Moyashi / Japanese Bean Sprouts (great if you really love sesame seeds), and Choy Sum (super easy to make).
Mapo Tofu Recipe
Mapo Tofu
Ingredients
- 1 1-inch piece ginger minced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 bunch green onions chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste)
- 1 block firm tofu cut into ½-inch cubes
Mapo Tofu Sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons sake or shaoxing wine or chicken broth
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
Instructions
- First, make the sauce. In a medium bowl, mix together: water, cornstarch, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sake or shaoxing wine (or chicken broth), and sesame oil. Set aside
- In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, add some oil. Then add the minced garlic and ginger. Stir fry for a minute.
- Add the green onions and cook for 30 seconds.
- Then add ground pork and cook until the pork is browned.
- Add the doubanjiang (spicy chili bean paste). Stir to mix.
- Add the cubed tofu. Gently mix.
- Pour in the bowl of sauce (prepared in Step 1) and mix to combine. Mix well but gently so that you don't break the tofu cubes too much.
- Keep cooking until the sauce reduces and becomes thicker. Then remove from heat. Eat hot and enjoy! Best with a big bowl of rice.
Love Mapotofu! But I don't make it much since only me will eat it. Lol! And besides, you gotta eat it with rice and I try to limit my intake of carbs.
Hi Alan! Haha I know what you mean, mapo tofu needs LOTS of rice 🙂
- Kathy
Yeah, rice is the best for Ma Po, but I have found that I like eating it in the morning w/o rice (or maybe just a half cup or so) as a somewhat spicy egg substitute. Dang, I love this stuff, without or with rice (especially with!)