Pan-fried crispy tofu with black bean sauce（豆豉豆腐）. It is a very simple tofu dish require any 5 ingredients but taste super yummy. And most important it is super fast, easy, and requiring just basic cooking skills. 
Fermented Chinese black beans is the underrated star for Chinese cuisine. However in Cantonese cuisine and Sichuan cuisine, it is one of the most ingredients. In Sichuan cuisine, fermented black beans is the key seasoning for lots of famous Sichuan dishes like Mapo tofu, twice cooked pork and other water boiled dishes. Thousands of miles away, in Cantonese, people love to steam dishes with those yummy beans, like steamed ribs with black bean sauce and steamed chicken feet. With the magic flavors bought by the fermentation process, we can turn regular and plain ingredients like tofu into yummy stuff in minutes.
Cook’s Note
- Don’t cut tofu into too thin slices. An appropriate thickness can help to create a crisp shell and soft inside. Thin slices usually dry out after pan-frying.
- Roughly chopping the fermented black beans can make take full flavors. For convenience, you can make a sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 block of firm tofu
- 2 tbsp. cooking oil
- 1 tbsp. fermented black beans or black bean sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. stock or water
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- a small bunch of garlic sprouts (蒜苗) or scallion
Instructions
Cut tofu into thick slices (around 2 cm thick). 
Prepare a non-stick pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, place the tofu slices in. And fry tofu until crispy one one side and then slow down the fire and fry the other side until crispy and golden brown too.
Transfer tofu out and leave the oil in. Place garlic and chopped fermented black beans or black bean sauce in and fry for 10 seconds over medium to low fire until aromatic.
Place tofu, light soy sauce, stock or water and garlic sprouts. Fry and toss until each piece is well coated.
Serve hot!
Other tofu dishes
- Mapo tofu
- Steamed tofu
- Crispy sesame tofu
- Kung pao tofu
- Sweet and sour tofu
- Scrambled tofu
- Pan-fried tofu with chive and egg
Super delicious pan-fried tofu with black bean sauce
- 1 box firm tofu
- 2 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil
- 1 tbsp. fermented black beans or black bean sauce
- 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
- 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. water
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- a small bunch of garlic sprouts (蒜苗) or scallion
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Cut tofu into 2 cm thick slices.
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Prepare a non-stick pan, pour in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, place the tofu slices in. And fry tofu until crispy one one side and then slow down the fire and fry the other side until crispy and golden brown too.
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Transfer tofu out and leave the oil in. Place garlic and chopped fermented black beans or black bean sauce in and fry for 10 seconds over medium to low fire until aromatic.
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Place tofu, light soy sauce, stock or water and garlic sprouts. Fry and toss until each piece is well coated.
How long can you keep an unopened jar of Black Bean Sauce? More than a year?
Do you mean the store bought black bean sauce? Usually in fridge no more than 1 month. We use this sauce very quickly in daily cooking.
This tastes delicious! My tofu always sticks to the pan and breaks when I turn it over. It is not as pretty in the bowl as yours. Thank you for your wonderful recipes. They are the most authentic to China that I ever see.
Maureen,
Easily broken tofu pieces is caused by the extra water in the block. Next time, place a weight on the tofu block and remove water and try again. Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback.
I was planning on making this a couple of weeks ago after I cooked your Kung Pao Chicken recipe but just got around to it last night. This was another really good recipe from your site. I will be making it again soon. I may add an extra tablespoon of stock next time just to create a little more sauce but that is just a personal preference. Thanks again for the recipe.
Robert
Thanks Robert for the feedback. This is a hidden star in my kitchen. Very quick and humble.
Just made this now. This is very tasty and fragrant! I added bell peppers, didn’t have scallions.
Thanks Andrea!!
Made this tonight and really enjoyed it. I did add some red bell pepper just because I’m trying to get more vegetables on the table. My family really enjoyed it. Thank you!
Sure, Joann. You can add lots of vegetables and make this a healthier dish. Happy cooking!
This is 2nd time I made this dish. First time I used tau kwa cos I thought that was the right one… turned out very beany taste, too beany for my liking lol.
2nd time I used firm tofu as instructed and it was good (no strong beany taste). I also crushed the dou chi instead of chopping and it seems to distribute flavors more evenly, and added some torn pieces of dried chilli (chao tian jiao). Turned out awesome.
Amazed something so simple turns out so good. Much better than the fare we get outside. Thanks for sharing!
<333
ps: the chillis I have look like your Bullet Head Chili (Zi Dan Tou, 子弹头) instead of chao tian jiao which is what it says on the packaging lol.
Can be used alternatively in most cases.
Thanks Lk for your lovely feedback. I often cook unbelievably delicious flavors with very simple ingredients. I believe this one is on the list. Adding dried chili is a brilliant idea. Happy cooking.
So, if I just use the black beans from the bag should I rinse or soak them? I usually do, but for this quick recipe I’m not sure.
If you want a lighter version, you can soak them to remove the some salt. But I don’t do this in all of my recipes.
We have made it twice. My family loves it. We add red pepper fakes for a little kick.
*flakes
I love your website and your recipes. Would like menu suggestions. As in what to serve with this dish. Especially vegetables.
Andrew
Good suggestion, Andrw!