Mapo Tofu. Evidence ranking
Vegetarian Tomato Mapo Tofu
#1 among published recipes we could fairly measure. We use this ranking to build The GüdDish when the method is cook-validated.
Ranking verdict
Split Decision
Current evidence cannot confidently separate the top two. Treat this as a shortlist, not a single crown.
#1 ranked recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
· top 2% of 56 analysed
5.00 from 411 ratings
Open recipe at cooking.nytimes.com →Answer for citation
#1 published Mapo Tofu by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): Vegetarian Tomato Mapo Tofu from cooking.nytimes.com (of 56 rated recipes across 30 sites). Verdict: Split Decision, limited corpus. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
Among published Mapo Tofu recipes we could fairly measure, #1 is Vegetarian Tomato Mapo Tofu from cooking.nytimes.com (56 rated recipes across 30 sites). GüdScore orders them by how far each outperforms its own publisher. That ranking is how we decide what to learn from when we build The GüdDish.
Why it ranked first
This recipe
5.00
cooking.nytimes.com avg
4.66
Ahead of its publisher by 0.34 stars. That gap, not the raw rating alone, drives the rank, because a 4.99 on a site where everything is 4.99 means little.
- 411 people rated it, enough that the score is not resting on a handful of opinions.
- That combination puts it in the top 2% of every Mapo Tofu recipe we analysed.
Runner-up: Mapo Tofu, the Authentic Way (麻婆豆腐) (redhousespice.com), ★ 5.00 from 126 ratings.
What this takes
15 ingredients · 4 steps
- Vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1 yellow onion, halved and cut into ½-inch wedges
- 6 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved or quartered, depending on size
- Salt and pepper
- 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 to 2 whole dried red chiles (such as er jing tiao or chile de árbol) or ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 2 to 3 tablespoons doubanjiang (fermented spicy broad bean paste) or Chinese black bean sauce
- ½ to 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns (to your liking)
- 1 pound tomatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 (14- to 16-ounce) packages silken tofu, drained
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- Cooked rice, to serve
The GüdDish · draft · cook QA in progress
GüdDish Mapo Tofu
This is the mapo tofu we cook at home when we want the best result without juggling ten tabs. We read the strongest recipes we could find, kept the ingredients and techniques that overlap again and again, and cut the rest. What is left is one combined method: the best of the best, easy to handle, easy to run, and built to come out right every time.
serves 4 to 6
65 min total
4 steps
Needs cook QA
Preview draft GüdDish →
We already drafted The GüdDish from the field. It is not cook-validated yet, so Rank stays primary until QA is green. We do not ship a half-tested recipe as the answer.
Full evidence ranking
Showing 10 of a 10-slot list for this dish’s pool of 56 scored recipes. First 10 clear the full CrowdScore floor (at least 8 ratings and 4.5+ stars), ordered by how far each beats its own publisher after we adjust for rating volume. Star ratings and counts are the publisher’s public evidence when present. Close places can still reverse with more data.
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1Vegetarian Tomato Mapo Tofu5.00 from 411 ratings
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2Mapo Tofu, the Authentic Way (麻婆豆腐)5.00 from 126 ratings
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3Spicy Mapo Tofu: Szechuan Style Wood-Fired | Arteflame4.90 from 7,094 ratings
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4Mapo Tofu Recipe5.00 from 114 ratings
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5The Mapo Tofu My Dad's Made 100,000 Times4.90 from 818 ratings
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6Mapo Tofu4.90 from 419 ratings
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7Authentic Mapo Tofu (麻婆豆腐)4.92 from 95 ratings
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8Mapo Tofu4.94 from 49 ratings
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9Weeknight Mapo Tofu with Ground Pork4.80 from 19 ratings
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10Mapo Tofu4.93 from 13 ratings
Major publishers (ratings not CrowdScore-verified)
Some major publishers show star totals without review-level data we can audit. Those aggregates never enter CrowdScore. They can still appear here as honest publisher claims or as method references. Below: top claims for this dish.
Behind the evidence
56Recipes rated
30Sites
14,086Ratings
LimitedOrdering confidence
What enters GüdScore
We only put a recipe in GüdScore when we can check the evidence behind its rating at the review level. Sites that only publish closed aggregate stars, without recoverable reviews, stay outside that score rather than being quietly down-weighted. Where we can rebuild ratings from raw public reviews, we do that before a recipe competes. Full methodology: How GüdScore works.
FAQ
What is the best Mapo Tofu recipe?
#1 published Mapo Tofu by GüdScore (as of 2026-08-17): Vegetarian Tomato Mapo Tofu from cooking.nytimes.com (of 56 rated recipes across 30 sites). Verdict: Split Decision, limited corpus. That ranking is evidence for building The GüdDish.
How does GüdDish pick a winner?
We search the open web for methods, measure rated recipes with GüdScore (evidence engine), study ingredients and techniques that set the strongest ones apart, then build one GüdDish. GüdScore does not hand you a single best recipe alone. Details: https://guddish.com/method.html
What does the verdict mean?
The Rank verdict describes the published-recipe competition, not a grade for The GüdDish. Clear Winner means number one is well ahead. Close Contest, Photo Finish, and Split Decision mean the top recipes are hard to separate. Limited corpus means we analyzed fewer recipes than a mature dish.
Why are some big publishers missing from GüdScore?
GüdScore only includes ratings we can audit at the review level. Sites that only expose closed aggregate scores, without recoverable review data, stay outside that score. Their recipes may still inform technique. See How GüdDish works for the full rules.
How often is this updated?
This page’s data was last scored or re-synced on 2026-08-17.
The public Rank is the top 10. The rest of the scored pool lives in the JSON API, not on this page.