Dan Dan Noodles
These Dan Dan inspired noodles take the flavours of the classic Sichuan street food dish and turn them into an easy weeknight meal. Ramen noodles get tossed through a chilli crisp and peanut sauce, then topped with browned beef mince, blanched bok choy and crisp spring onion greens.
It’s ready in 35 minutes, and most of that is the beef browning while you whisk the sauce together. Grating the garlic and ginger rather than chopping keeps everything smooth enough to cling to every strand of noodle.
This is one of those dishes that gets better with time — the sauce keeps developing in the fridge, so it’s a genuinely good one to prep ahead for lunches through the week.
Dan Dan Noodles
BEEF · DINNER · EASY
Tastes Even Better By Day Three
The sauce is built cold, not cooked — peanut butter, chilli crisp, both soy sauces, garlic and sesame oil whisked together with a splash of reserved noodle water until it's completely smooth. Keeping the sesame oil raw means you actually taste it, since heat kills its aroma almost instantly.
The beef gets left alone in a hot pan for a few minutes to build a proper crust before it's broken up — that's what gives you deep, caramelised flavour instead of just grey mince. Deglazing with Shaoxing wine picks up everything stuck to the pan and folds it straight back through.
This genuinely makes a better meal prep than fresh eat — the sauce keeps deepening in flavour over a few days in the fridge, so day three beats day one. Add the bok choy, cucumber and spring onion greens fresh after reheating and it holds up all week.
Dan Dan Inspired Noodles
Ingredients
Beef
- 750 g Beef Mince 5% Fat
- 5 Spring Onions (Scallions) Sliced
- 25 g Ginger Grated
- 30 ml Shaoxing Wine
- 15 ml Low Sodium Light Soy Sauce
- 15 ml Low Sodium Dark Soy Sauce
- 5 ml Avocado or Neutral Oil
Dan Dan Sauce
- 48 g Peanut Butter
- 30 ml Chilli Crisp
- 8 g Sugar
- 30 ml Low Sodium Light Soy Sauce
- 15 ml Low Sodium Dark Soy Sauce
- 5 Garlic Cloves Grated
- 5 ml Sesame Oil
- 15 ml Rice Wine Vinegar
- 50 ml Reserved Noodle Water
Noodles & Garnish
- 450 g Ramen Noodles
- 2 Bok Choy Halved
- Cucumber Julienned
- Chilli Crisp To Serve
Method
- Bring a large pot of well-salted water to the boil.
- Grate the garlic into a bowl and add the peanut butter, chilli crisp, sugar, both soy sauces, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar. Mix until completely smooth and set aside.
- Finely grate the ginger. Finely slice the white parts of the spring onions. Place the green stems into ice cold water and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat until smoking. Add the beef mince and leave completely undisturbed for 3-4 minutes until a deep brown crust forms. Break it up and cook until no longer pink, well coloured all the way through, and reaching an internal temperature of 71°C (160°F).
- Add the white parts of the spring onion and ginger. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Add both soy sauces and deglaze with Shaoxing wine, scraping up all the caramelised bits. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the beef is glossy and tight. Remove from heat.
- Blanch the bok choy in the boiling water for 60 seconds, remove with a slotted spoon, and set aside. Cook the ramen noodles in the same water according to packet instructions. Reserve 50ml of noodle water before draining.
- Whisk the reserved noodle water into the Dan Dan sauce until smooth and pourable. Drain the noodles and toss immediately into the sauce until every strand is fully coated.
- Divide the noodles between containers. Top with the beef mince, bok choy and spring onion greens from the ice water. Finish with extra chilli crisp.
