Café China’s Dan Dan Noodles Recipe (2024)

There is another recipe here in the NYT for Dan Dan Noodles and the author uses peanut butter instead of sesame paste. It seems to have good reviews on the whole. Obviously, you would need to leave out the sesame oil he uses. Hope that helps!

Please feel free to make one and tell us all about it.

This was a great recipe. I reduced the pepper flakes and cayenne as suggested here, but I wish I hadn’t. Given that you are largely infusing the oil and adding other ingredients, I would suggest making it as outlined in the recipe. As written, the recipe seems complex and has many step, but it is rather simple (a great thing). I would recommend making the sauce and setting it aside and then work on the pork and noodles, rather than trying to juggle so much at once.

Almost really good. Used Asian sesame paste, and the toasted flavor was awesome. I grew up with Maggi seasoning so subbed fish sauce, which we prefer. MAJOR PROBLEM. I used the dark mushroom soy sauce in a smaller amount than indicated. It was so extremely salty that we threw the dish out. My brother, who lived in China for 25 years, said that one should never use more than a dash of this. I’ll just get a different recipe in the future because we love Dan Dan noodles.

This was fantastic. I had to substitute blanched sprouted bean sprout greens and baby spinach for the snow pea shoots, but it was wonderful. The suimiyacai was a new ingredient for me, but I really liked it. :) I love heat and thought the sauce was amazing, but for those that don't like it too hot you might want to halve the red pepper flakes when making the chili oil.

My heart burst when I saw this was the featured recipe. My boyfriend and I stumbled upon Cafe China seven years ago on a visit to NYC and we had one of the best meals of our vacation there. A project for this weekend, while our hope stays high for a return to the real thing. Thanks for this.

Used leftover chicken breast and questionable arugula, noodles were ramen. Anything made with the infused oil in this recipe would be fantastic.

I use the recipe from Woks of Life. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you look at it, It’s fabulous!

We loved the dish at dinner! Definitely will make again! Had a bit leftover and put a crispy sunny side egg on top and it was a heavenly breakfast!

I have a beloved version of this recipe I've made many times and the chili oil includes sichuan peppercorns. That's what makes it truly special. I'm surprised it's missing here.

This really needs Szechuan peppercorn and Chinkiang black vinegar to taste like the versions I’ve had in Xi’an and Chongqing. Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe that’s similar to this but gets the details right.

Puzzled. I don’t see egg listed as an ingredient.

I made this less authentically and decidedly more low-rent, with plain soy sauce, peanut butter instead of tahini, bagged baby spinach instead of pea shoots, cheap ramen noodles, and without the mustard greens. I also just threw the chili oil and other sauce ingredients into the pan with the cooked pork and stirred it together, which made this feel more achievable for weeknight dinner. I do think the Maggi was worth ordering online though.Even with those changes, this was amazingly delicious!

Yes; they are almost the same recipe.

Wow. This was great, and easy. Definitely a keeper. I worried about the preserved mustard greens because they are so intense, but they just add a nice background note.

This was outstanding and we'll definitely make it many more times. I usually make all recipes exactly as specified the first time around, but could not find a local source for the pea shoots or suiyimacai, so I used baby bok choy and finely chopped kimchi pickles (dill pickles prepared and seasoned kimchi style) instead. It was delicious! I look forward to trying it again with the correct ingredients when I find a source for them.

My best friend, me and my kids are looking for the ultimate Dan Dan noodles recipe and this one is in the running to date. Nothing special with the noodles or the minced pork but the sauce is remarkable and is a marvelous mixture of aromatics, heat and nuttiness. A definite keeper.

Brilliant recipe. Made exactly as written, but subbing vegan pork crumbles for piggy bits and adding chopped sautéed mushrooms. Better even than Fuscia Dunlops’s recipe. Perfect spice level. Worth a trip to your local Asian grocery for suimi yacai, mushroom soy sauce, and any spices missing from your pantry. Will make again as a new addition to the regular rotation!

Didn't have the preserved mustard greens on hand so subbed kimchi. It worked!

This recipe is seriously good. I won't bore you with my minor modifications (eg ground cloves rather than whole cloves, peanut butter and tahini) but it turned out really well. For years I have been looking for a dan dan mein that is as good as the one served at Jing Jing in Palo Alto and this is it! (Jing Jing's version is different though - more peanut butter, baby spinach.) Thank you!

I’m on a sodium restricted diet. Any suggestions for reducing the sodium without losing the umami. The preserved greens sound good but their saltiness makes them a questionable addition. Any alternatives with the funk but reduced sodium?

Dan dan noodles is one of my favorite dishes from my business travels to China, and this recipe brought back all of those yummy flavors. I actually cooked up mine with ground turkey (no ground pork was in the freezer), and the flavor and texture turned out to be very similar to pork. The dish comes together very quickly, is great on the palate and very satisfying.

Garnish with walnuts

Used some Trader Joe’s umami/mushroom blend on ground Turkey, and decided to be flexible with no maggi or fermented greens on hand: used string bean, cabbage & Brussels. I’m sure we missed out on the fun/funky/fermented note but it was honestly so delicious, we were delighted!

Might have made this with turkey…might have ignored the fermented greens and subbed fresh… Def loved it

Traditionally, this recipe calls for a good dose of MSG in the chili oil (about a 1/2 teaspoon per serving). That's what I do, suggest you do too! MSG - so much maligned, for no good reason.

Used watercress (great substitution), halved the red pepper, used Chinese (toasted) sesame paste, and beef Better than Bouillon instead of the Maggi. I could not find the fermented mustard leaves (will keep looking), but the whole thing was so delicious that I will be making this often. Can't wait to make it for guests.

There’s a trend of including hard to get ingredients. The options are usually Amazon and, if you’re lucky, a nearby H Mart, which is the largest Asian market in the U.S. So I began with H Mart and had the assistant manager help me find what I needed. Even with help, it was a challenge and the store did not have everything. So I turned to Amazon, but the missing item was “unavailable”, which meant Google it and hope for best. Note to The Times: Please consider this when offering new recipes.

Delicious recipe. I couldn’t find suimiyacai for the pork so I roughly chopped dandelion greens and massaged them with soy sauce and some mirin, then let them sit for about 30 mins. I also caramelized the pork with about two tablespoons of honey and a little soy to get it crispy and bring out its sweetness. This was a good contrast with the chili oil sauce and the bitter taste of the dandelion.

If you're getting anything at a Chinese market, pick up the Chinese sesame paste. It is not like tahini, which tastes okay, but it isn't really a substitute for the roasted Chinese paste.