LOCAL FOOD GUIDE

Stinky Tofu 臭豆腐

Chou Doufu

Stinky Tofu is featured among the local specialties of Taiwan.

Plate of fried stinky tofu cubes with chili sauce and pickled cabbage
Deep-fried chou dou fu (stinky tofu) from Taipei's Nanjichang Night Market · 台北南机场夜市油炸臭豆腐 Source-recorded photograph date: 18 August 2004 (original upload date). Photo credit ↓

Stinky Tofu (臭豆腐) is fermented tofu whose pungent smell is part of its identity. In Taipei (台北), a version described in a 2018 report at Ningxia Night Market (寧夏夜市) is fried until crisp and served with pickled vegetables.

Crisp tofu and a layer of pickles

Central News Agency (中央社) describes the signature dish at Li Zhang Bo (里長伯): crisp fried tofu sits on a layer of pickles. Its strong smell travels beyond the stall, while customers queue to order the shop's speciality.

A night-market craft

Central News Agency identifies Li Xiunan (李秀男) as the shop's third-generation owner. He connects the flavour with careful work by successive generations of makers. The tofu is part of Taipei's late-night eating culture: the 2018 report describes the owner still serving customers at eleven in the evening.

Sources & reading

Written from the linked sources and fact-checked against them on 2026-09-30. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.

Image credits & notes (1)
  1. Deep-fried chou dou fu (stinky tofu) from Taipei's Nanjichang Night Market · 台北南机场夜市油炸臭豆腐 Source-recorded photograph date: 18 August 2004 (original upload date).Photo: The original uploader was Richy at Chinese Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Resized for the web; the photo itself has not been edited. Thumbnails may show a cropped view.