Loosely inspired by Sichuan dan dan noodles, this saucy, spicy, satisfying, and meatless recipe starts with tofu that’s been torn into small crumbles, then seared hard on the stove. Don’t be afraid to go full Hulk on the tofu as you squeeze out every bit of water. You’re going to be obliterating it anyway, and getting out as much moisture as possible is critical to achieving the final ground-meat-like texture.
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What you’ll need
Large Nonstick Skillet
$50 At Amazon
Whisk
$10 At Amazon
Kitchen Towels
$16 At Amazon
Mini Tongs
$20 At Williams-Sonoma
Recipe information
Yield
2–4 servings
Ingredients
¼
1
1
1
2
1
4
½
2½
1
2
4
8
1
1
2
10
Preparation
Step 1
Whisk soy sauce, brown sugar, tahini, sesame oil, black vinegar, 1 Tbsp. chili crisp, and ½ cup water in a small bowl or measuring glass until sugar is dissolved. Set sauce aside.
Step 2
Toss cucumbers, rice vinegar, and 1½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl to coat. Let sit, scrunching with your hands every few minutes, until cucumbers are softened and lightly pickled, about 10 minutes. Drain and set pickled cucumbers aside.
Step 3
Wrap tofu in a clean kitchen towel. Gather ends of towel together and squeeze with your hands over sink to extract as much liquid as possible. (Don’t worry if the tofu breaks apart—it’s going to get crumbled up anyway.)
Step 4
Crumble tofu into a medium bowl (it should resemble cooked ground meat with some larger pieces). Sprinkle with cornstarch and 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt; toss with your hands to evenly coat tofu.
Step 5
Heat 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over high. Arrange tofu crumbles in a single layer in pan; reserve bowl. Cook tofu, undisturbed, until golden brown underneath, about 5 minutes. Toss and continue cooking, tossing occasionally, until tofu is golden brown and crisp all over, about 4 minutes more. Transfer tofu back to reserved bowl.
Step 6
Add remaining 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil to same skillet and reduce heat to medium-high. Add mushrooms and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are browned and shallot is translucent, about 5 minutes; season with salt. Add ginger and garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Return tofu to pan and add reserved sauce; bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce is slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Step 7
Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to package directions. Drain and divide among bowls. Ladle saucy tofu over noodles and top with reserved pickled cucumbers and more chili crisp.
How would you rate Saucy Tofu Noodles With Cucumbers and Chili Crisp?
Leave a Review
Reviews (112)
Back to TopNice dish. There are more exciting noodle dishes on this site. Like it being meatless. If I make this again I will definitely double the noodles.
TheDadAbides
Rapid City, SD
1/5/2022
This dish was excellent and had great balance. I also loved cooking the tofu this way and will definitely use this preparation method again in the future.
StevieCooks
Saratoga Springs, NY
1/5/2022
Excellent dish. I took a bite of the tofu and was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful it was! Loved the combination of the soft, crumbled tofu and chewy, meaty mushrooms. Only issue was possibly reducing the sauce too much. I had no little liquid left after 2 minutes, so the mushrooms were sauced but the noodles were not. I might double the liquid next time, or save making the sauce until the end and using the starchy water instead of tap. Can't wait to try Christina's other recipes!
Genevieve
1/7/2022
Fantastic dish! I'm going to double the sauce next time. I used shredded cabbage for the pickle and it was great.
Mark
New Mexico
1/8/2022
My mom works long hours so by the time she comes home she doesn’t want to make dinner for herself. I made this when I visited her and she LOVED it—had two bowls! I can’t recommend it enough. Delicious!
Anonymous
New York, NY
1/9/2022
This was amazing. Reading the other reviews I doubled the sauce and increased the cornstarch to 4 tbs to correspond. Probably should have gone with 3tbs as it was quite thick and I ended up adding a little pasta water. I would always double the sauce as others have noted the tofu soaks up quite a bit. I also used homemade chili crisp as we had left over chili crisp from making the fabulous fried rice and stuffing recipe with chili crisp from Bon Appetit. That homemade chili crisp is incredible and lasts a month.
Debbie Satterfield
portland oregon
1/9/2022
This was delicious and super easy to pull together. The cucumbers are a must!
Anonymous
New York, NY
1/9/2022