Next Post
Super Simple Coconut Chicken Tikka Masala.
This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Better Than Takeout Dan Dan Noodles. For those nights when you’re craving spicy, warming, Chinese inspired noodles, but don’t want to wait for takeout. Crispy caramelized ground chicken in a sweet, spicy, and tangy mushroom sauce atop egg noodles in steaming, spicy broth. These quick vegetable-filled Chinese inspired noodles can be made and ready in just about 30 minutes. Not only are they a touch healthier, but these noodles taste so much better than your average takeout!
Tuesday night just got better with these yummy takeout noodles. Yep, switching things up again this week and swapping out my usual sweet recipes for something a bit more savory. Not typical of me, but I was way too excited to share these Dan Dan inspired noodles with you guys.
First things first. I want to put it out there that I’m very well aware that these noodles are not authentic Chinese. I do know this, and I don’t mean to offend anyone by sharing this recipe. This recipe is just my take on Chinese style Dan Dan noodles. My easier, much, much simpler, “short cut” take. These noodles are saucy, spicy, so very warming, and beyond delicious.
Quick and easy enough for a weeknight, but fun enough for a Saturday night Halloween movie marathon.
Some background.
If you’re not familiar with Dan Dan noodles, they are spicy Chinese noodles with a dark sauce that usually contains preserved vegetables, chili oil, minced pork (I’m using chicken), and green onions. From everything I’ve read, the meat is caramelized and made crispy, then served over noodles. You can serve the noodles either dry or in a spicy broth…
I went for the spicy broth, because it’s been snowing here and it’s cold. So spicy broth wins. Always.
Here are all the details on making these noodles.
As I said, these are not authentic Dan Dan noodles. I took some short-cuts to make the noodles weeknight-friendly, but still delicious.
Start with the chili. You can buy this of course, but I’ve yet to find a great chili oil I love. Plus it’s so easy to make. Simply simmer sesame oil with garlic and red pepper flakes until the garlic is fragrant. This takes only five minutes. Simple.
While that’s happening, make the sauce. It’s s a simple mix of hoisin sauce, honey, rice vinegar, and peanut butter or tahini. Hoisin is not traditional, but it adds so much flavor without having to add a million and one ingredients to the sauce.
Side Note: I’ve yet to find a great hoisin sauce that doesn’t contain tons of sugar…so I began making my own. If this interests you, the quick sauce mix-up is in the recipe notes!
Next, boil the egg noodles. You can really use any kind of noodle, but a good egg noodle is probably best. If you are gluten-free, use your favorite rice noodles. Those will be great too!
Drain the noodles, then add the broth and some of the sauce mix to that same pot. This is your “spicy broth” to mix the noodles with. Keep this on low while you brown the chicken.
The final step is to brown the chicken in a skillet with the remaining sauce and mushrooms. Finely chop the mushrooms, as they add not only a vegetable, but also flavor. You don’t even realize they’re there, but they add SO MUCH. Trust me.
Once the sauce coats the chicken, let the chicken get a little crisp in the skillet and begin to caramelize around the edges.
To assemble, ladle the spicy broth into bowls, add the noodles, and toss with the broth. Then top with that crispy caramelized meat, spoon over additional chili sauce, and add fresh green onions.
Find a spoon, find chopsticks. ENJOY.
A couple notes…
Be sure to serve the noodles as soon as you toss them with the broth. The broth is minimal and really thickens up once you toss it with the noodles.
If you want to make these noodles vegetarian, just double the mushrooms. I haven’t tested that, but I’m sure it would be so delicious.
And that is it…simple, quick, and easy. The ultimate cold-weather Chinese style noodles. Not really a soup, more like extra saucy noodles. AND SO GOOD!
If you make these better than takeout Dan Dan noodles, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Better Than Takeout Dan Dan Noodles.
Servings: 6 6
Calories Per Serving: 550 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or smashed
- 1-2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce (make sure to use GF, if needed)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter or tahini
- 8 ounces Chinese style egg noodles, or rice noodles
- 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1/2 pound ground chicken or pork
- 2 cups mixed mushrooms, chopped
- black pepper
- 1 medium shallot, chopped
- 4 green onions, chopped
Instructions
- 1. To make the chili oil. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the 1/3 cup sesame oil, the garlic, and chili flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally until the garlic is fragrant, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and very carefully transfer the oil to a heat proof bowl or glass jar. 2. Meanwhile, combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, honey, vinegar, peanut butter/tahini, and 1/3 cup water in a bowl. 3. Cook the egg/rice noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside. To the pot used to cook the noodles, add the broth and 1/2 of the soy sauce mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stir in the spinach. Keep warm. 4. Place the skillet used to make the chili oil, over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons oil and the chicken. Season with black pepper and brown all over, breaking it up as it cooks, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and shallot, and cook another 2-3 minutes. Slowly pour in 1/2 of the soy sauce mixture. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until the sauce coats the chicken and the meat begins to caramelize and get crispy, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2-4 tablespoons chili oil. Remove from the heat. 5. Ladle the broth into bowls. Add the noodles and toss combine. Spoon the meat over the noodles. Top with green onions and additional chili oil. Enjoy!
Notes
Homemade Hoisin: in a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce, 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon molasses, 1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder, and a pinch of black pepper.
This post was originally published on October 22, 2019
I LOVE this recipe and make it on repeat!! 🙂
Hey Amy,
Happy Monday! I appreciate you trying this recipe so often and your feedback, love to hear it always turns out well!
Absolutely delicious! The whole family devoured it!
Hey Lindsay,
Awesome! Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I’m so glad it turned out well for you! Happy Tuesday! x
Flavors of the dish are great. I have made this twice, and actually misread it last time but preferred it the first time when I messed it up. I had added all of the liquid to the meat in the step where it caramelized and ended up with the meat being very saucy & tossed with the noodles. Like most HBH recipes I would not say that the portions & prep time feel accurate (esp if you actually do make your own chili crisp), I think this is more like 4 servings (generally 2oz dry noodles = 1 serving). Now that I have made this a few times I will come back to it and make adjustments, and I would say it is even better as leftovers.
Hi Anastasia! Thank you so so much for all of this input, I really appreciate it! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! xT
Great recipe! Kids loved it, I’ve added it to our family rotation. I used to get Dan Dan noodles regularly from a lunch place near my work, this recipe replicated that taste! A few suggestions, these probably come down to personal preference.
1). Use udon noodles. The fatter noodles really get nicely coated by the thicker sauce.
2). Finish by adding chopped peanuts and baked sesame seeds, in addition to the scallions. That’s what the lunch place did, and it always added a nice crunch to it.
3). Definitely go Tahini instead of peanut butter. I imagine peanut butter is a good replacement if you don’t have Tahini, but this is a sesame-heavy dish and Tahini complements it extremely well.
4). Add the noodles to the pot and stir it around instead of adding them to the bowl. They really pick up the broth flavour by adding them to the pot.
Very tasty, will definitely make again!
Hi Pete! So happy to hear this recipe brought back that flavor you love! Love your suggestions too, udon noodles, extra crunch with peanuts and sesame seeds, and tahini instead of peanut butter all sound so delicious. Tossing the noodles into the pot is such a great tip as well. Thanks for sharing your tweaks, I’m sure others will find them so helpful! xT
The flavor was good , but it was too salty for us. I think decreasing the amounts of some of the salty ingredients would help like the hoisin &/or soy sauce & add more water. And maybe add only 1 T of rice vinegar, since it was a little too strong, but that’s preference. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hi Melissa! Thank you for trying out the recipe, I’m so sorry if it was too salty for you! I always appreciate the input! xT
Pretty salty. I think I’ll try a more traditional Dan Dan noodle recipe next time.
Hey Nelly! I’m so sorry this didn’t turn out for you, thank you for the input! xT
This was sooo yummy! I used 1 full lb of ground turkey (and found it to still have plenty of good sauce), 8oz of linguine noodles (because that’s what I had), peanut butter (rather than tahini) and a full 32oz box of low-sodium chicken broth + extra spinach for the broth. These minor subs still resulted in a perfectly delicious dish — which I really appreciate, as I tend to follow recipes pretty loosely! I also added just a bit of chili oil (Fly by Jing) directly to the noodles to loosen them up once drained but didn’t add any to the sauce, then let folks add spice to their bowls per individual taste (either chili oil or sriracha). This dish came together quickly and easily, and delivered great taste for the effort. Thank you, Tieghan!
Hey Laura,
Yay! Thank you so much for trying this dish and your comment, I’m so glad to hear it was a hit! Have the best week!
Thank you for another great recipe!
Complex flavors, broth was yummy, meat/mushroom mixture was delicious.
Lots of fun ways to vary it depending on what extra veggies you have or want to add–we subbed swiss chard for the spinach, added garlic scapes and cilantro to the green onion mixture, added snow peas after the meat was cooked because we had just been to the farmer’s market.
(Psssttt… the homemade chili garlic oil was better than you know who’s. Planning on having the left over chili garlic oil with scrambled eggs tomorrow.)
Hey Ellen,
Happy Sunday!! I appreciate you giving this recipe a try and your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed:)
Been thinking about this recipe since I made it! I only made one adjustment – added szechuan peppercorn to the ground meat seasoning. Going into regular rotation in our house.
Thanks so much, Taryn:) So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it! xx
This has to be my favorite HBH recipe of all time. Other than using more broth, I make it exactly as written and we love it.
Hey Lisa,
Happy Friday! Thanks for making this dish so often and your comment, love to hear it always turns out well for you! XxT
Absolutely excellent. So much flavor. I was able to tone down the spiciness for the kids and everyone loved it.
Hi Nichole,
Thanks so much for trying this dish and sharing your feedback, I’m so glad to hear it turned out well for you! Happy New Year!🥳🥂 xx
The low sodium part for Soy Sauce and chicken broth is critical for this dish.
Thank you for this input Ivan! xT
Excellent! I’ve made this so many times, and alternate how I make it for my family of 7. We like more broth so we double the meat and sauce and even triple the chicken broth. Great for a cold night or anytime really. The ingredients are simple but so flavorful. Thank you!
Hey Amanda,
Love to hear this recipe is always enjoyed:) Thank you so much for making it so often and your feedback! Have a great weekend! xx
When do you add the spinach?
Hi Paula,
You are going to add the spinach in step 3. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
How long does the chili oil last? And where should it be stored?
Hi Jules,
You can keep the chili oil in an airtight container at room temp for 2 weeks. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT