Dan Dan Mian as known as Dan Dan Noodles is the signature Sichuan street food in Sichuan, China.
Traditional dan dan noodles don’t have much soup but mostly just spicy bold flavor sauce. Back then in China, the food vendors carried their food items and ingredients to sell on the street, and carrying soup around was very inconvenient and too heavy. So they came up with a brilliant idea of minimum soup noodles so they can carry more of the noodles to sell more bowls. That’s how dan dan noodles were born and nowadays it’s one of the most loved noodle dishes all around the world!
you will see the true face of dan dan mian!
Dan dan noodles are surprisingly easy to make, so let’s get started!
Mix ground pork (you can use beef, chicken, or crumbled tofu for vegetarian option), chopped garlic, ginger, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and black pepper. Let it marinate while preparing other ingredients, about 10 minutes.
Combine tahini, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chili oil with chili flakes, toasted and gained Sichuan peppercorns, and sugar in a mixing bowl. This sauce can be stored in a refrigerator for 5 days.
Sichuan peppercorn has a very different flavor than regular other peppercorns. It gives a numbing feeling to your tongue. Yes, I said numbing feeling! It’s a signature flavor of Sichuan cuisine.
Heat a wok over high heat, add 1 tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the pork mixture and stir fry until pork is fully cooked, has no more moisture on the bottom, and slightly has brown edges, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add preserved mustard green and stir fry for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and keep it warm.
Cook noodles by following the directions of the package you’re using.
At the last minute of cooking noodles, add yu choy or your choice of green vegetables into boiling water with noodles. Cook all together for 1 minute, drain.
Place half of the sauce (approximately 3 tbsp) on the bottom of a serving bowl and lay the noodles on top of the sauce. Arrange the blanched green vegetable on top of the noodles then cooked the pork mixture.
Pour hot chicken broth around the edge of the bowl. Garnish with chopped green onions and crushed peanuts or sesame seeds.
Enjoy!
Dan Dan Mian
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Dan dan mian or dan dan noodles is the signature street food from Sichuan, China.
Ingredients
For the Pork
- 1/2 lb ground pork, beef, chicken or crumbled tofu
- 1 tbsp chopped garlic (approximately 3 cloves garlic)
- 1 tsp chopped ginger
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1tbsp shaoxing wine, dry sherry or rice wine
- pinch of black pepper
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 oz Chinese preserved mustard green, chopped (You can omit this or substitute with any pickled mustard green or kimchi – after washing)
For the Sauce
- 1 tsp chopped garlic (approximately 2 cloves garlic)
- 2 tbsp tahini (preferred made with toasted sesame seeds) or peanut butter https://amzn.to/332nJVk
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp chili oil with chili flakes
- 1 to 3 tsp toasted and grinned Sichuan peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
For Assemble
- 2 portions fresh egg noodles or spaghetti
- handful of yu choy, bok choy, napa cabbage or any green leafy vegetables
- 3 Tbsp sauce (approximately half of the sauce)
- 1/4 cup hot chicken or veggie broth
- green onion chopped
- crushed peanuts or sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients for the pork except 1 tbsp cooking oil and preserved mustard green. Let it marinate while preparing other ingredients, about 10 minutes.
- Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a mixing bowl and set aside. This sauce can be stored in a refrigerator unto 5 days.
- Heat a wok over high heat, add 1 tbsp cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the pork mixture and stir fry until pork is fully cooked, no more moisture on the bottom and slightly have brown edges, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add preserved mustard green and stir fry 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and keep it warm.
- Cook noodles by following the directions of the package you’re using. At the last minute of cooking noodles, add yu choy or your choice of green vegetables into boiling water with noodles. Cook all together for 1 minute, drain
- Place half of the sauce (approximately 3 tbsp) on a bottom of serving bowl and lay the noodles on top of the sauce. Arrange the blanched green vegetable on top of the noodles then cooked pork mixture. Pour hot chicken broth around the edge of the bowl. Garnish with chopped green onions and crushed peanuts or sesame seeds. Mix everything throughly, enjoy!
Notes
Toast Sichuan peppercorns on a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes or until you can smell the aroma. Transfer to a mortar and grind with pastel as your desired fineness. I like it to be more fine texture for this recipe.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
46 comments
Seonkyoung where do you buy your stirring spoons for stir fry?
This was amazing. My husband loved it. Sesame tahini is the way to go! Thank you so much.
The video cannot be accessed. I did find it however by doing a search on youtube. But on your site I couldn’t find it. Love your videos. You are adorable! I love cooking Asian food. So THANK YOU for making this available!
Live this recipe and I’m making it for the second time in two weeks. One request is to remove the ads from the print page so that I can print the recipe without big ads or blank spaces showing up
Well worth a trip to the Asian market! This was my gateway into authentic Chinese cuisine, I’ll be back for more recipes.
YAY! so glad to hear that!
This is one of the best dishes I’ve ever made. I can’t find the words to explain how good this is. I used bucatini noodles because I have a case of them and they held up in the sauce well. Had to order in the mustard greens and glad I did- love what they add to the meat. This will be in regular rotation in our house. My husband is dying to add a slice of American cheese to his leftovers. Eww… but I’m sure he will enjoy it. Tonight I’m making the pan fried kimchi dumplings.
I’ll rate it 4 for now until I make it. It looks fabulous! Nice team too!
I made them two days ago, using a thicker rice vermicelli to make it gluten-free. I’d never used the sichuan peppercorns before so I took it too mild with the regular chili (adjusted by adding sriracha). So yummy! Thanks 🙂
Thank you For trying my recipe!
SO GOOD. Had all of the ingredients on hand and was so easy to make! My roasted sesame paste was a little thick, so I added sesame oil to loosen it up. Also added broth directly to the sauce to make it easier to mix afterwards. Will definitely be making this over and over. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed one of my recipes!
Delicious!!! I had never tried Sichuan peppercorns before and now I crave that numbing/tingling feeling so much that I have to make this recipe all the time! My husband and I can’t get enough of these noodles! Thank you so much for this and all your recipes. I love watching your videos and cooking your food. I always know if it’s a Seonkyoung recipe, it will turn out amazing 🙂
YES! Me and my husband LOVE Sichuan Peppercorn too, The cooling numbing feelings make it that much better!
This is amazing recipe, I am new to your videos, but I’m in love with Asian food at home………,.you guys are adorable!!
Thank you so much for the support! Means the world to me! Make sure you check out all my other recipes too!
I was so excited about this recipe. Sadly, I grabbed green sichuan peppercorns instead of red. It was not pleasant. I will try again after I get the right peppercorns. I’m sure it will be delicious.
I keep making this recipe. Its so yummy!!
So glad you like it!
I have made this 6 times now….I finally tripled the recipe and have a jar of the sauce in the refrigerator. The chili oil absolutely makes this dish a star. It’s my favorite quick lunch recipe now that I’m working from home.
Made this so many times during quarantine because of how delicious this is!
So glad you enjoyed!!! This recipe is delicious (:
Can I use chili garlic sauce in place of the chili oil?
Yes you can!
Looks delicious…just have a question on the portion size. It says this yields serving for 4, but you use 2 portions of noodles. When assembling, does that mean each bowl is 2 servings? And does each bowl use 1/4 cup chicken broth, or is that for the total? I just want to make 1 bowl at a time, and just am a bit confused with how to adjust the ‘assembly’ portion of the recipe.
So yes, this does make two bowls, however its “recommended” serving size is half a bowl per serving. So if you would like to just make one at a time, I would suggest halving the recipe and following it that way (; Hope this helped!
Tasted really good! But I might try making my own chilli oil next time. I’d also recommend swapping the sugar for honey as the sugar didn’t dissolve and left a gritty texture.
Which Wok pan do you use and which camping stove? could you give links? i want to buy them ..do you use carbon stell wok? it doesnt seem to be thin like other carbon steel wok pans. many thanks
I can’t wait to make your dish but I can’t find the Chinese preserved mustard green (cabbish) that you used. I would like to make it exactly the same as your with the same ingredients. I have gone to every Asian market in the valley and still nothing. Can this be ordered? Thank you
5-Star recipe all the way. Well written and very easy to make. I doubled the recipe, but used only 1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorn total, and used Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chili Oil rather than homemade. This was absolutely delicious. I will make this again and again. Thank you so much.
So glad I could help!
This is a wonderful recipe! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious. My family loved it.
Seonkyoung, love your web page, you have some incredible dishes, you get my taste buds watering. Thank you for sharing.
So glad I could help! (:
Amazing recipe, I’ve made this multiple times already for my husband and I, def a constant repeat, will be making it again tonight! 🙂
So easy and delicious! Making it again tonight.
I love noodles. Anything with noodles. I am so excited with your recipes. I am going to collect and cook all of your recipes. They look beautiful and delicious at the same time. Mahalo
I made this because the photos just look too good. Taste delicious and even my 3 year old son loves it (because of the spice I just put in a little bit of the sauce for him). Definitely would make it again.
OMG YAY! SO glad I could help (: Thank you so much for the rating!
This was insane! Loved it. I just did 1 tsp of the toasted pepper corns and the heat level was perfect for us, (aging retired women from San Diego.). Bok Choy worked for our greens as we didn’t have the other. We also used kimchi as a substitute. Wish the sodium content wasn’t so high, but what the heck, we will have this on special occasions.
SO glad I could help! Hope my other recipes are just as helpful!!
I feel quite annoyed. I’m at the Chinese market and I have no idea how to buy “2 portions” of noodles. That isn’t exactly a measurement I can figure out!
Excellent recipe! More noodle recipes, please!
This recipe is SO good, it’s my favorite dan dan noodle recipe. I make this every now and then and it’s always so delicious.
The best Dan Dan recipe. I use ground chicken instead of pork & my own chili oil recipe. Quick & easy meal, so delicious.