Dan Dan Noodles get their name from the spicy sauce and noodles found on either side of a stick (dan) spanning the shoulders. The merchant would combine the ingredients from each of the two buckets to serve the spicy noodles. What makes Dan Dan Noodles so notable is the combination of flavors and textures from the sesame paste, minced pork, chili oil and especially the Szechuan peppercorns.
I first discovered Dan Dan Noodles around 2010 at Han Dynasty with my friends Aimee, Bernie, and Yancy. I had never been more happy to be sweating from such delicious spicy foods. Szechuan peppercorns arenāt so much spicy as they are numbing. Itās hard to describe but once youāve experienced their tongue tingling effects youāre instantly addicted. This recipe is my best attempt to replicate the best damn dan dan noodles ever.
Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty is a Philadelphia based Szechuan style Chinese restaurant. They have six restaurants in the Philly region and two in Manhattan. Funny story about Han Dynasty; their website is handynasty.net, not handynasty.com. Use your imagination and you can see why this used to be a porn site. This mix up was used as a plot device on Itās Always Sunny In Philadelphia – S07 E05, āShadynasty”.
Since youāre already on youtube, go check out this informative 2015 Munchies episode starring Han Chiang from Han Dynasty. Han talks a bit about his restaurant, his philosophy about Chinese / American cuisines, and stops by a few places in town to get his eats on. This is one of the more enjoyable videos Iāve seen about Philly, food related or otherwise. Warning: thereās cursing, edible eyeballs, pig loving, and Jason Kelce.
Back to the Noodles
Itās no exaggeration to claim that Han Dynasty Dan Dan Noodles are legendary. I mean, my friend Aimee has ensured this to be true all on her own. I would never claim this recipe is better than the real deal but they are pretty darn close; especially if youāre not near a Han Dynasty.
Thereās three main components to Dan Dan Noodles; the sauce, the noodles, and the minced pork. The sauce is the more complex of the trifecta so Iāll get to that in a minute.
For the noodles, I used fresh Shanghai Yang Chun noodles from my local asian shop. Theyāre not the perfect Han Dynasty dan dan noodles but theyāre close. Any medium thickness round asian flour noodle (not rice) should work. In a pinch, you could use linguini. Prepare the noodles per the package directions then run them under cold water to stop the cooking. Drain them thoroughly so no extra water dilutes the sauce and so the sauce sticks well to the pasta. Proper draining is a critical step.
The minced pork is traditional and pretty easy to prepare. Rather than packaged ground pork, which I rarely see available but you could ask your butcher, quickly chop up a half pound of pork loin. Just mince the pork then sautĆ© with ginger, garlic, and a splash of soy sauce (for seasoning and color). Just as you turn off the heat, throw in a handful of chopped scallions. Taste for seasoning especially if youāre using low sodium soy sauce. You could skip this or use mushrooms if you want to make it vegetarian.
The Dan Dan Noodle sauce is the key component here. Iāve found over a dozen variations on how to make this but none seem to come close Han Dynastyās. This sauce is spicy and numbing with a bit of sweetness and lots of umami from the sesame paste. Within the recipe for the sauce is a recipe for homemade chili oil. It only takes a few minutes to make but youāre going to have to source some ingredients from an asian store or the internet. Iāve posted the recipe for Szechuan Chili Oil in a separate article here. If youāre going to buy the chili oil in a jar, all I can say is good luck. Thereās not much constancy out there and most of them use food dyes to make them red.
Thereās a traditional way to prepare the dish of which Iām not sure Iāve determined the purpose.Ā Rather than pouring the sauce over the noodles, you first put the sauce in the bowl, then the noodles, and finally the pork and some scallions on top. It seems to work well and I havenāt been brave enough to do it differently.
Dan Dan Noodles
2
servings10
minutes10
minutes20
minutesThis recipe for Dan Dan Noodles is inspired by one of the greatest Philadelphia restaurants, Handynasty. Hunt down some Szechuan peppercorns from your local asian market or the internet, otherwise you’re just making Meh Meh Noodles.
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
- Sauce
2 tsp light brown sugar
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp fresh ground szechuan peppercorns
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp sesame paste
3 Tbsp chili oil
1/4 Tbsp fishsauce
- Minced Pork
1/2 lb. pork loin finely minced
2 gloves garlic minced
1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 green onions chopped and divided
Directions
- Sauce (2 servings)
- Combine all ingredients and whisk well.
- Minced Pork
- In a pan over medium high heat, add 1 tbs vegetable oil and sautƩ pork.
- Add a few drops of sesame oil if you have some.
- Halfway through, add the garlic and ginger.
- When almost done, add the soy sauce and sautƩ well to coat pork.
- Turn off the heat, add half the scallion and combine.
- Reserve half the scallion for garnish.
- Noodles
- Prepare 1 lb noodles according to packaging instructions.
- Rinse with ice cold water and drain thoroughly.
- Assembly
- Add the sauce to a large, empty service bowl. Add the cold noodles on top and then the pork.
- Mix well before serving to individual bowls. Garnish with Scallions.
Notes
- For my Szechuan Chili Oil recipe, visitĀ https://eatup.kitchen/szechuan-chili-oil/
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Looking forward to making these as I’ve been addicted since I first had them in NYC last year. No one around me makes a Dan Dan noodle that’s even close. How about a copycat recipe of their dry chili chicken too?
I first had Dan Dan Noodles at Han Dynasty back in 2012 in Philly and loved them. Since then, I’ve moved around the country because of the Navy and have never found Dan Dan noodles that met my expectations. I was a bit skeptical of this recipe because I’ve been let down many times before (and this dude is white). But I gave it a shot because it seemed simple and mentioned Han Dynasty. I can not tell you how amazing these Dan Dan noodles are. Anthony really nailed it. My husband tasted these and said “Wow, these are the best dan dan noodles I’ve ever tasted”. Thank you Anthony for recreating this amazing recipe. You really brought joy to our household.
PS: I did play around with a couple of substitutions. I tried using chinese dark soy sauce instead of regular, and I used Chinese black vinegar, instead of regular and I thought it was a nice variant.
Wow! Thank you Jane! Iām so glad you and your husband enjoyed these and shared your story. It means a lot. The black vinegar was a great call ?
Han Dynasty Noodle doesnāt taste sour. I tried your recipe, but it tasted weird with vinegar. I wonder how the noodle has very bright yellow color comparing to the sesame that is brown.
The tiny bit of vinegar just adds a some brightness to an otherwise thick and rich sauce. It shouldnāt be sour at all. Thanks for the feedback. I havenāt made this in a while so Iāll try it again and see if it can be improved.
I’m the instructions it says to add soy sauce to the pork when it’s almost done but there’s no other mention of this soy sauce in the ingredients so I have no idea how much you’re calling for with the pork.
2 Tbs Soy Sauce can be found under the ingredient list for Sauce. Thanks for reading š
The recipe is a little confusing. Iām reading as if anything from āSauceā down to the āMinced Porkā is part of the sauce recipe. Is that not the case?
Yikes! Some formatting issues during a conversion process. Should be better now. Thanks!!
I’m seeing that too. Do we need 2 tablespoons of soy sauce for the sauce AND while cooking the pork?
How embarrassing. Thank you for being the third person to bring this to my attention, Ashley. I’ve updated the recipe to include 1 tablespoon of soy sauce for the minced pork. It should be just enough to season and add some color to the pork.
You can find the actual Han Dynasty recipe here from an 2012 Phila News Article – https://www.inquirer.com/philly/food/20120913_50_recipes_straight_from_primo_Philly_dining_tables.html
Fantastic article and recipe…love szechuan peppercorns and haven’t cooked with them for a while. As always, thanks Anthony!