Dan Dan Noodles Recipe (keto, paleo, Sichuan-inspired)
Dan dan noodles (dan dan mian) with keto saucy dan dan noodle sauce is a flavor explosion that’s beyond delicious and easy to make!
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 0.75 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1.5 tbsp avocado oil
- 0.7 oz garlic cloves finely chopped, about 4 chubby ones
- 0.3 oz ginger finely chopped
- 4 pinches coarse sea salt
- 2 tbsp Chinese sesame paste or tahini (stir-well. see notes)
- 0.5 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder or 1 tsp whole Sichuan peppercorns
- 2 cups chicken stock
Others:
- 1-2 bulbs scallions chopped
- 14 oz shirataki noodles or 2 medium spiralized zucchini noodles
- Toasted almonds or pine nuts
- Blanched bok choy or Chinese broccoli or Yu choy sum
For the dan dan noodle sauce (divide equally to 2 bowls):
- 2 tbsp Garlic chili sauce or more to taste
- 4 tbsp coconut aminos
- 2 tbsp chicken stock
- 2 tsp aged balsamic
- 4 tsp Chinese sesame paste or tahini (stir-well)
- 0.5 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, season the pork with coconut aminos and sesame oil. Mix well and set it aside.
- Prepare the garlic and ginger in one bowl. Scallions in another bowl and rinsed noodles on a plate. Preheat a wok or large saute pan over medium-low heat until it feels too hot to place your palm near the surface. Boil a pot of water to blanch the vegetables.
- Add the avocado oil to the wok and fry the pork over medium-high heat. Season with 2 pinches of salt. Break it to fine bits and cook until the pork is browned and turns into crisp crumbles, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add garlic and ginger to the pork. Saute for 10-15 seconds with 2 more pinches of salt, then add sesame paste and peppercorn powder. Continue sauteing for 30 seconds.
- Add the stock. Scrap the bottom of the pan to lift up the brown bits and nothing sticks to the pan. Cover with a lid. Lower the heat to medium-low. Allow it to come to a gentle boil, about 3 minutes. Keep the broth hot.
- In the meantime, assemble the dan dan noodle bowls. Divide the ingredients from Sichuan chili oil to peppercorn powder equally into two serving bowls. Stir well.
- Divide the noodles equally into the bowls. Place the vegetables next to the noodles. Ladle the pork mince and the broth over. Sprinkle with scallions and nuts. Drizzle with more hot chili oil and peppercorn powder, if desired. Stir the noodle bowl well and enjoy while it’s hot.
Notes
- Stir the sesame paste well in the jar before mixing with other ingredients so that your paste won’t be too thin.
- Garlic chili sauce - I highly recommend you have a jar of my homemade version handy! If you opt for using store-bought, a brand called Blank & Slate has no added sugar.
- Sichuan peppercorn powder
- The powder dissolves well in the dan dan noodle sauce. You can also use it to sprinkle on top of the noodles for extra flavor.
- If you use whole Sichuan peppercorns, you can lightly dry roast the whole peppercorns and grind them to fine powder. Just remember that the flavor will be more concentrated as you’ll bite into whole peppercorns as opposed to mix into the sauce in a powder form. Locals often do a combination - powder + whole peppercorns.
- Chinese sesame paste + substitute
- Chinese sesame paste tastes different from tahini. It has a toasty flavor. The version I love is from Mala market. If it’s out of stock, there are a few more choices on Amazon. Link above.
- If you are okay with peanut butter, this will be the next best thing to use. Mix the peanut butter with a few drops of toasted sesame oil.
- If you can’t have peanuts, then use Soom brand tahini. Although tahini tastes different from Chinese sesame paste, you can still make this dish and get a similar flavor profile even if you don’t have everything handy.
- Sui Mi Ya Cai – or preserved mustard green + substitute
- I didn’t use it in my recipe because it’s harder to find even in Chinese grocery stores. It also has added sugar. You can make the dish without it. If you really want to be extra authentic and can’t find Chinese pickled mustard greens, a simple substitute is to use pickled cucumbers. Chop them up to a tablespoon or two and add them to the pork when you saute it.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 947kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 40g | Fat: 78g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 123mg | Sodium: 721mg | Potassium: 824mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 3mg
