Lee Kum Kee Mapo Tofu Sauce (2.8 Oz - 12 Pack), Spicy & Tasty Flavor, Ready-to-Use Sauce, Perfect for Mapo Tofu, Sauté, Marinades, Pasta & Rice Dishes & Sauces

I love this sauce. The flavor tastes authentic and bold, with the right balance of heat and numbing spice. It makes mapo tofu easy and comes out tasting like a restaurant dish. The sauce coats everything well and brings a deep savory flavor without needing much extra seasoning. It saves time and delivers consistent results every time. I will keep buying this and always keep it on hand. and i got it on sale super value for the price!

I am a HUGE fan of Lee Kum Kee (try their Chiu Chow Chili oil, the BEST!). But that is a huge disaster. It only tastes super concentrated ginger and it kills your dish. It is not the nice kind of "spicy" you expect, it makes the dish uneatable as it is so gingery in taste (despite no ginger)... worst than biting into a pure piece of ginger as it is like chemical taste ginger. This is because of sichuan peppercorn which is uneatable to me (kills a dish and overpower the whole dish). Avoid at all cost!

A good sauce

As a pro Italian/French chef who loves this dish and has prepared it hundreds of time for myself, this is the worst version of ma po that I have ever tasted packaged or not. I have tasted other simple sauces packaged for retail that were at least as good as greasy spoon versions but this is most definitely not one of them. Salty, bitter, it tastes more like pure bean paste than a fully made sauce and I suggest using it this way if you must use it all. Strongly suggest avoiding this one. Ma po is easy enough to make from scratch with just bean paste, chili paste and powder and szechuan peppercorns so I'll try to keep them on hand and look for shortcuts for a quick snack elsewhere.

This tastes like taking 20 or so peppercorn seeds and crushing them in your mouth. There is only one flavour, and that is burn. Straight to the bin after one bite. This isn't what mapo tofu is like.