Mapo Tofu Lasagna Recipe

Most lasagna does not agree with me. I’m mildly lactose intolerant, and the dairy fat overload makes my tummy rumble big time. But I enjoy making lasagna — layering its components into a casserole and baking it up into a crusty bubbly hot delicious mess. Over the years, I’ve realized that the ricotta gets me most (not the low-moisture mozzarella), so I’ve taken to replacing it with tofu. My lasagna repertoire has been red meat sauce oriented. 

However, two things in the past 12 months got me thinking about making a mapo tofu lasagna recipe. Chef Mei Lin’s signature mapo tofu lasagna at Nightshade restaurant in Los Angeles is an architectural feat with thin layers of pasta, a deeply savory sauce, tofu cream and fragrant Sichuan peppercorn that caught my attention when the waiter walked past with an order.

Replicating Mei’s creation was not something I wanted to do often, but Anna Hezel’s wonderful Lasagna cookbook presented the Italian noodle dish as something with infinite possibilities. In the tightly written, small book, she and the editors of Taste present lasagna blueprints and offers riffs that expand the doable world of lasagna. I promised myself to make mapo tofu lasagna before 2019 ended. So, here we are. This is how I did it.

Creating a Saucy Mapo Sauce

Mapo tofu is already saucy but for lasagna, I needed to separate the meat from the tofu (which would be my ricotta substitute). I also needed a lot of sauce — 4 cups for a standard 9 by 13 inch pan. In the recipe below, you’ll see proportions that differ from my favorite mapo tofu recipe that’s. But the seasonings are the same. And, yes, there is chile bean paste involved!

I also cooked the sauce in a pot, the same pot that would then use for boiling the pasta. I like to minimize dishes when I cook and this is a great opportunity to do so. 

Making a Cheesy Tofu Filling

To mimic the texture of ricotta, I selected medium-firm tofu. My go-to is Trader Joe’s “regular” organic tofu, sold as 19-ounce blocks. It’s great tofu with a tender firmness that mashed up easily. There’s just enough moisture in the tofu block to mimic ricotta.

You can combine medium-firm with firm to get your 2 pounds, but the texture will be a more firm-tender than tender firm. Don’t go with all firm tofu because the “cheesy” layer will be on the dense side. 

As for the cheese, I opted for an Italian blend of cheeses, sold at Whole Foods. The Trader Joe's four cheese blend is very good too. The slightly funky flavor and melty texture is just right for mapo. It came pre-shredded, and I didn't need to add Parmesan. If you do not eat cheese at all, use a vegan cheese.

To season the tofu layer, I added Sichuan peppercorn and a little green onion — to match the characteristics of mapo tofu.

Rice-based Lasagna Noodles

And, I tried a brown rice lasagna noodle by Jovial, which also makes a capellini that’s a wonderful sub for bun round rice noodles. I can bake the lasagna with unboiled noodles but I preferred to check them out first by boiling for 4 minutes. I’ve had bad luck with no-boil lasagna noodles. 

Boiling lasagna is a pain in the butt with the large pasta sheets, but it goes quickly. You can use  regular wheat lasagna noodles, if you like. The rice seemed to go with the tenor of mapo tofu better. 

The only thing is there are only 8 ounces per Jovial box — 12 pieces once all the broken ones get patched up. It’s fine because you cannot see the patches. Just make sure the first layer on the bottom are all solid pieces so you can serve easily.  My top layer of noodles, in the photo above, has some broken pieces. No one knew when eating it.

Strategically Layering the Mapo Tofu Lasagna

I never gave much thought to how layering lasagna until reading the Lasagna cookbook. Sauce goes on the bottom to moisten and season the pasta but how about the rest? When I make mapo tofu, Sichuan peppercorn and green onion go in last so they can hit your senses. How do I mimic that in a casserole? And the sauce needs to season the tofu cheese layer too. 

The solution was simple — noodle, tofu cheese, sauce, green onion for each layer. Then on top, before baking, a sprinkling of Sichuan peppercorn to make sure it gets baked into the cheese. Each bite should get a gentle hit of its numbing heat. 

How was it?

The reddish hue of the meat sauce gets absorbed by the tofu and noodles so the dish didn't look fiery. However, a pleasant level of heat was there — my husband and neighbors, said. I used great beef (the classic meat used for mapo tofu) and it shined in the sauce. The mapo tofu flavors came through in an Italian baked pasta casserole. Hooray!

Now it's time for you to make it yourself!

Related posts:

• Chile bean paste and sauce
• Instant Pot Sichuan Beef Noodle Soup
• Want to do a vegetarian mapo tofu lasagna? Replace the meat with chopped shiitake and frozen tofu, like I have in this vegetarian mapo tofu recipe. Prep 2 ½ times the quantities specified.

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Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Mapo Tofu Lasagna

Layer up to make this Sichuan-Italian baked pasta dish. It's fun and great for a crowd. Beef tastes great but you can opt for pork or turkey. See the end of the main post for a vegetarian option.

Servings: 8 to 10 people

Ingredients

• 2 ½ generous teaspoons Sichuan peppercorn
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 12 to 16 ounces ground beef, fattier kind preferred, roughly chopped to loosen
• 2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon dried chile flakes optional
• 1 ½ tablespoons fermented black beans optional
• ¼ to ⅓ cup chile bean sauce, such as Pixian kind (for fire) or Lee Kum Kee Doban Djan (milder taste)
• ½ cup chopped yellow or red onion
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons regular soy sauce
• 2 ½ cups water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 3 tablespoons water
• 8 ounces Jovial gluten-free lasagna noodles, or 12 ounce regular lasagna noodles, uncooked
• 2 pounds medium-firm tofu, such as Trader Joe’s brand of “regular” tofu
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup chopped green onions, green and white parts
• 3 cups (12 oz) shredded Italian cheese blend, divided

Instructions

• In a 5 or 6-quart pot over medium heat, toast the Sichuan peppercorns until very fragrant; a little smoke may appear. Cool, then ground or pound to a coarse texture. Set aside.
• Reheat the pot over high heat. When hot, swirl in the oil. Add the ground meat and mash and stir until crumbly and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add the ginger, chile flakes, fermented black beans, and chile sauce. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the beef is a rich reddish-brown color and the oil has a red hue. Add the onion, sugar, soy sauce, and water. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat to simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes, to develop flavor.

  Feel free to lower or turn off the heat to taste and test the flavor. It will concentrate further as it sits and cools but you want it strong to carry the mapo flavor to the tofu and noodles.
• Give the cornstarch one last stir, then pour into the pan. Cook for about 15 seconds to thicken a lot, then turn off the heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the Sichuan peppercorn, reserving the rest for later. Transfer to a 4-cup measuring cup or bowl, partially cover, and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Wash the pot then partially fill it with salted water. Bring to a boil then add the lasagna noodles. Cook according to package directions; the Jovial ones need only 4 minutes. Drain or use tongs to retrieve. Regardless, let the noodles lay flat on a dish towel.
• While the pasta cooks, put the tofu blocks in a bowl then mash with a potato masher. Add the eggs, 2 tablespoons green onions, 2 cups cheese, 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn, and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. Stir to combine well.
• Put 1 cup of mapo sauce in the bottom of a 9 by 13-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. Arrange about one-third of the noodles on top, overlapping slightly. Patch if you have to. Plop half of the tofu mixture on top of the noodles, spreading it out into one layer. Top with 1 cup of the mapo sauce, spreading it out evenly; sprinkle on one-third of the green onions. Repeat with more noodles, tofu, sauce and green onion. Arrange the remaining noodles. Then top with the remaining sauce and green onions.
• Sprinkle the lasagna with the remaining 1 cup of shredded cheese a and the remaining Sichuan peppercorn. Bake until the top is browned and the edges of noodles are crusty, 35 to 45 minutes. Let rest for 20 minutes before cutting and serving.

Notes

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