Why Woks of Life’s Mapo Tofu Is My Go-To Recipe

I have wanted to make mapo tofu for years. This traditional Sichuan dish is made of ground meat, silken tofu, lots of Sichuan chili oil, and a fermented broad bean and chili paste called Pixian doubanjiang (more on that later).

For me, mapo tofu has been a sort of a forbidden fruit. I’m allergic to soy and tofu, and for these reasons, I thought this was a dish I would never get to eat. It would remain in my mind as a fantasy, on my long do-not-eat list. 

When I researched mapo tofu recipes online and clicked on the sites I trusted the most, I noticed that not only is this dish filled with tofu, but most of the recipes also included soy sauce. Between the tofu and my assumption that soy sauce was an integral part of this dish, I couldn’t really see a workaround that would accommodate my food allergies. 

Upon further inspection, reading the comment sections below these recipes on major food sites, there were comments from people mentioning that soy sauce was not an ingredient used in this dish or widely in Sichuan cooking. Many sites also recommend using a black bean paste (another soy-based ingredient) as an alternative, but commenters called that out, too. 

Time and time again, the commenters would say Woks of Life has a good recipe, check that out. So I did. I was delighted to see that their recipe didn’t have soy sauce or black bean paste and favored the more traditional fermented fava (broad) bean-based paste, Pixian doubanjiang. In fact, the only soy-based product in the entire recipe was the silken tofu.

Get the recipe: Woks of Life Mapo Tofu

It was around the same time that my friend Lukas Volger posted about Pumfu, a new faux tofu product made out of pumpkin seeds on his Instagram stories. A pumpkin seed-based faux tofu product is the actual answer to all the prayers I have made to the kitchen goddesses for so long. As soon as I saw that story, I immediately purchased a four-pack, and I knew I was going to make my mapo tofu dreams come true.

The Woks of Life site is run by a Chinese American family — Judy, Bill, Sarah, and Kaitlin — who started it as a way to keep their heritage food alive while living apart and abroad. What started out as a family project now is a wildly popular food site. Their Instagram has more than 240,000 followers. They have a robust recipe collection, as well as shopping and ingredient guides, and a travel section.

Their mapo tofu recipe starts with a chili oil made with ground Sichuan peppercorns. Sichuan peppercorns are known for the mouth-numbing quality called mala. This mala in the chili oil is a distinctive part of this recipe. 

Once the chili oil is sorted (I like to keep some stored in my fridge at all times), the rest of the recipe comes together in a few easy steps. Add aromatics, like fresh ginger and garlic, then brown the ground pork. Stir in the Pixian doubanjiang, and add some stock, and bring to a simmer. Stir in a cornstarch slurry to help the mixture thicken and add a generous amount of chili oil. Add the chopped silken tofu (or Pumfu) and let the mixture simmer for a few minutes. Now it’s ready for the finishing touches like a little sugar, sesame oil, and scallions to balance the savory. It all came together in less than a half hour.

Did it live up to my dreams? A resounding HELL YES! The Pixian doubanjiang paste is deeply savory and unlike anything I have ever tasted. It’s an integral part of the dish, but luckily we live in a day where these products are not so difficult to source anymore. You can have Pixian doubanjiang delivered to your home in 48 hours. Aside from this paste being an integral part of mapo tofu, its flavor profile is so special and delicious that I now keep it in my pantry to use all year-round. It’s a great flavor-booster for many dishes I make in my kitchen.

This is also an easy dish to customize to your eating preference, Don’t eat meat? Use your favorite plant-based ground meat and use veggie stock! Not allergic to soy? Use the silken tofu. Whatever you do, the Woks of Life mapo tofu recipe should be your go-to recipe for making this iconic dish.

At Kitchn, our editors develop and debut brand-new recipes on the site every single week. But at home, we also have our own tried-and-true dishes that we make over and over again — because quite simply? We love them. Kitchn Love Letters is a series that shares our favorite, over-and-over recipes.