Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles)
Thick wheat noodles under a savory fried soybean-paste pork sauce, ringed by crisp raw vegetables you fold in yourself.
Chinese (Beijing) · easy · serves 3
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~602 cal · 35g protein · 47g carbs · 30g fat · 3g fiber · 3g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Zhajiangmian, 'fried sauce noodles', is a classic of Beijing and northern China: thick, chewy hand-pulled wheat noodles topped with a savory sauce of pork stir-fried in soybean paste, then garnished with fresh raw vegetables. Salty, rich, and satisfying, it is an everyday staple.
The dark, -heavy sauce ('zhajiang') is the heart, the pork and bean paste cooked down until thick and glossy. It is traditionally served with a colorful array of toppings, cucumber, radish, bean sprouts, edamame, mixed in at the table.
Eaten in homes and noodle shops across Beijing, zhajiangmian spread to Korea (as jjajangmyeon) and beyond.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
1 lb thick wheat noodles
10 oz ground pork
3 tbsp sweet bean sauce (tianmianjiang)
2 tbsp yellow soybean paste
1 tbsp ginger
3 cloves garlic
3 scallion whites
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or water)
3 tbsp
a small plate cucumber, in slivers
a small plate radish, in slivers
a small plate carrot, in slivers
a small plate soybeans
a small plate scallion, in slivers
Instructions
1
Fry the pork (or tofu and shiitake) in oil until browned and its fat renders.
2
Add the ginger, garlic, and scallion whites, then the bean pastes.
3
Fry the pastes gently for 8 to 10 minutes, until dark, glossy, and fragrant.
✎ Chef’s note
The slow frying of the bean paste is the whole dish. Keep the heat low and give it the full time to cook off its raw edge and turn rich and mellow.
4
Splash in the wine and a little water and simmer to a thick, spoonable sauce.
5
Boil the noodles, drain, and divide into bowls.
6
Spoon the sauce over and surround with the raw vegetable slivers, for each eater to toss through their own bowl.
Old Beijing home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Beijing. Peking duck has a long institutional history. Bianyifang, the first restaurant to specialise in it, opened in 1416, and the birds are air-dried and glazed before roasting so the skin lifts clear of the fat. The skin is served first, sometimes with a dish of sugar, before anything gets wrapped in a pancake.
🗺️
China. China holds eight great regional cuisines within one border, the fire of Sichuan, the delicacy of Cantonese dim sum, the wheat noodles of the north, and more. Techniques like stir-frying, steaming, and braising, plus soy, ginger, and rice wine, unify an endlessly diverse table.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles)?
Thick wheat noodles under a savory fried soybean-paste pork sauce, ringed by crisp raw vegetables you fold in yourself.
Where does Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) come from?
Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) is a Chinese (Beijing) dish from Beijing, China.
Can Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Zhajiangmian (Fried Sauce Noodles) take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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