Tofu and Green Beans With Chile Crisp Recipe (2024)

I've been using jars and jars of Trader Joe's "Chili Onion Crunch" that I now realize is a knockoff of the chile-crisp described here. There's nothing better on eggs, tofu, shrimp, rice....

“Best tofu I’ve ever had!” declared hubby, and I agree: it’s perfection! Instead of fussing with towels and plates and weights to drain the tofu, I took another reader’s tip (from a Japanese cooking show) and microwaved the sliced tofu in a bowl for three minutes on high. Amazing how much water drained out, leaving the tofu with perfect texture to soak up the delicious marinade.

Bon Appetit has a great recipe for chile crisp, you can make it at home yourself without any special equipment and it's not behind a paywall. It takes around 30 minutes to make and lasts for months.

Sifton mentions in the accompanying article (which you should read if you don't know about the chili crisp), that he includes ginger, but it's not listed in the recipe on 4/17/20. I almost left the ginger out, but as I was assembling the marinade, decided to mince about 2 tablespoons and included it. I'm so glad I did. It adds a sweet floral and necessary dimension. Also, be sure to pile the chunky marinade on top of the tofu as it will just burn on the baking sheet. Amazing and simple recipe!

As a long-time user of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, I was curious to try the Trader Joe version. For anyone who knows the full, rich, umami-laden flavor of LGM, the TJ stuff is far inferior and not worth buying.

Not at all. I've been using Lao Gan Ma chili crisp as my COVID coping food (I'm actually pretty distraught to see it here! It's already hard enough to find family size jars on Amazon!!!) and I consider it milder than all my other hot sauces. I put it on stir fried veggies (esp asparagus), freezer dumplings, and --best of all-- on top of a sunny-side-up egg on sprouted grain toast.

This might work for you? For years I've used a clean, dry cotton kitchen towel to wrap up my tofu and leave it on the drain board. Then into the wash and no waste, no trash.

Wonderful recipe, but a 450 degree oven is too hot! Twenty minutes at 400 is plenty. You can use firm tofu instead of extra firm. Also, replace the string beans with broccoli tossed with a mix of vegetable and sesame oil.

I cooked this and thought it was really good but could use some ginger. Then I read through it again and noticed that he mentions ginger in the introduction but it didn't get into the recipe, Add ginger!

Note: I am a huge Bittman fan and trust his advice to use what you have on hand.1. I used Chile Crunch (Chile crunch.com). 2. I used an Indian mash-up of Ginger and Garlic paste - I noticed that many chiefs have moved to pastes.3. Not having Chinese black vinegar, I used red wine vinegar.4. I used Blue Agave in place of the honey. (lower glycemic).5. Since cilantro tastes like soap to me I used a combo of parsley and basil from my aero garden.It all turned out really well. Very tasty.

I love the Fly By Jing chili crisp condiment Sam describes in his condiment review. I was given a jar of it as a sample and it's now a staple in my kitchen. I just had it on my egg & avocado toast this morning!

How fiery is fiery - does the condiment burn your mouth? Now for me then.

Cheap balsamic vinegar. Do NOT use your good stuff as it will be too sweet. If not that, then Sherry vinegar.

I made this almost exactly as written, except I didn’t have cilantro. A couple notes:1. I used tofu that had been previously frozen, which gave it a nice spongy texture to absorb the sauce2. The green beans needed some flavor - salt or a splash of soy sauce after they come out of the oven would be really helpful.3. Even though the chili crisp sauce is fairly spicy when raw, the final baked product had almost no bite to it.This was great. Will probably make another version of it again.

Chili Crisp is amazing! Cooks Illustrated posted a fabulous recipe for chili crisp this Feb - as soon as I finish one jar (max ~3 weeks) I make a new one. It doesn't need MSG, and you can doctor it as you like.https://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/12400-chili-crisp-lao-gan-maIt's easy to make and adding it to just about anything (Alison Roman's spicy noodle soup with mushrooms and herbs, for example) takes your meal to a completely different level.

Too salty - cut soy sauce next time, water down sauce. Would be good with mushrooms or peppers

Double the sauce - it's good to have on hand for a variety of uses like eggs, tortillas and most everything. Also, you can be flexible with the vegetables. Green beans are a good foundation but I usually also add mushrooms and red bell peppers for some variety and color. Enjoy!

Started to make but don't see the ginger that's mentioned in the headnote.

Im noticing a lot of five star reviews on NYT recipes that are easy, but not necessarily fantastic. This is one of them. The ingredients are not cheap - I stock a high quality chile crisp and the recipe uses almost the entire jar. I get that I could make my own next time - but to me this wasn’t good enough for a next time. To my taste, it was a one-note spicy/ginger face slap without nuance or saucy pleasure.

First time making tofu and this came out amazing! I used Hot Crispy Oil (a staple in our house) for the chili crisp condiment and the dish was delicious. I substituted dumpling sauce for the soy and vinegar. Also, I adjusted the oven time to 18 minutes at 450 since the green beans started blistering early. Instead of rice, we had a cucumber tomato salad on the side that complemented the spice well. This will definitely be a recipe on rotation!

Is there supposed to be ginger? It is listed in step one but not in ingredients.

This was spectacular with a few revisions. I'm a long time tofu person. I used 2 Tbs. chili onion crunch and skipped the sesame oil. For the veggies I used the green beans, Japanese eggplant cut in 1/2" rounds (amazing - tasted like little puff pillows), and add 8 large cloves of peeled garlic. Cut the tofu into 12 large cubes, marinated all day. Put in oven at 35 minutes, added the eggplant and garlic (coated with the marinade) at 25 minutes, then the beans also marinade coated at 15 minutes.

This is absolutely delicious, just as it’s written. Be sure to marinate the tofu for at least 30 min. I usually do it for an hour. So good!

I set the oven at 425 and put the pan in for 25 mins. Chili crisp was completely burnt and the tofu was terrible. The green beans were delicious. If I made this again, I'd put just the green beans in and then add the tofu later so it was only in the oven 10-15 mins. But I won't make this again.

Inspired by MB's note that this marinade is good on anything, I adapted this recipe for the fish I had handy. I used two filets of dorade in place of the tofu; left it in the marinade for the first 15 minutes of the green beans' roast, then added the fish to the pan and roasted undisturbed for the last ten minutes. Not as cheap as tofu, but also very easy and delicious.

i made this again for probably the 20th time. Did not have fresh ginger or cilantro, didn't matter - it is just fantastic. Don't forget the rice!

Fantastic flavors and such an easy meal! I upped the amount of sauce because I knew I'd want more. I substituted balsamic for black vinegar, used a chili crisp I found at World Market which was gluten free, and used gf soy sauce. I also threw in some mitake mushrooms on top of the green beans because I had them. Delicious, will definitely make again.

Basically double the amount of green beans asked for in the initial recipe, and increase the sauce proportion by 1.5

This is way more delicious than you think it will be. Double it!

450 is way too high for the chili crisp. It Started to burn. Great flavors! I will make it again at a lower heat.