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Dan Dan Noodles (担担面)

By Maggie Zhu
4.93 from 40 votes
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 6 servings
A real-deal dan dan noodle recipe that stays true to the authentic Sichuan flavor. My dan dan noodles bring together pork dry-fried with fermented black beans, a creamy Sichuan sauce built on sesame paste and chili oil, and a tangle of thin wheat noodles tossed with Sui Mi Ya Cai. This is my home cook take on the classic Sichuan street noodle bowl.

Ingredients

Noodle sauce

Pork topping

  • 1 tablespoon peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
  • 1 lb ground pork (*Footnote 3)
  • 1 tablespoon minced ginger
  • 2 green onions , chopped
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons fermented black beans , rinsed and chopped
  • 1/2 cup Sui Mi Ya Cai (Sichuan preserved mustard greens)
  • 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar

To assemble

  • 1/3 cup roasted peanuts , crushed
  • 14 oz Dan Dan noodles (or thin wheat noodles)
  • 1 small batch leafy green vegetables , roughly chopped (spinach, choy sum, baby bok choy etc.)
  • Homemade chili oil , to taste (*footnote 1)
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare sauce

  • Whisk the sesame paste and light soy sauce together in a bowl until fully incorporated. Add the Chinkiang vinegar. Continue stirring until mixed. Then mix in the garlic, green onion, honey, and Sichuan peppercorns.

Prepare the pork topping

  • Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the pork. Cook and stir until the surface is lightly browned.
  • Turn to medium heat. Add the ginger, green onion, fermented black beans, Sui Mi Ya Cai, cooking wine, and sugar. Cook and chop the pork into small pieces, until all the liquid has evaporated and the pork turns a dark brown color. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Prepare the noodles

  • Cook the noodles according to instructions. Once done, transfer the noodles to a colander, rinse with cold running tap water to stop cooking, then drain again and set aside.
  • In the same pot, briefly blanch the leafy green vegetables, drain, and set aside.

To assemble the noodle bowls

  • For each noodle bowl, add 1/4 cup of noodle sauce to each individual serving bowl. Add the chili oil with some flakes according to your taste, from 2 to 4 tablespoons to mimic the restaurant result, or less if you prefer the dish is less spicy. Add some noodles, then top with a few spoonfuls of the cooked pork and green veggies. Garnish with peanut crumbles and chopped green onion. Sprinkle with a pinch of toasted ground Sichuan peppercorn, if you like the numbing taste. Serve at room temperature.

Notes

1. Do add some chili oil even if you prefer not to eat spicy food, because it will add aroma to the sauce and your sauce won't end up very spicy.
2. I usually roast the Sichuan peppercorns in a bit of oil until they turn dark brown. Then pat them dry with paper towel and grind them into powder. The oil-roasted peppercorns will be less pungent and have a more rounded flavor. I prefer the cooked peppercorns in cold dishes and sauces so they won't overpower the other ingredients.
3. Traditional Dan Dan noodles only use a very small amount of pork topping to add texture and flavor, and the main component of the dish is the noodles. In my recipe, I increased the pork by a lot so the dish is more substantial and I can serve it as a one-bowl main dish. I will save the leftover meat topping if I have any, and use it to make other noodle bowls or rice bowls.  

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 636kcal, Carbohydrates: 30.5g, Protein: 25.6g, Fat: 27.8g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 980mg, Fiber: 4.6g, Sugar: 9.1g