To celebrate Chinese New Year, I wanted to make something special! It’s the year of the pig after all, so how appropriate that I can share indulgent recipes with you.
Here we have spicy vegan dan dan noodles made with an incredibly umami-ish sauce base. It uses szechuan peppercorns that have that magical mouth numbing effect, as well as black vinegar, chili oil, and Chinese cooking wine.
It’s worth popping over to your local asian supermarket to get the right ingredients for this dish. But if you’re unable, I’ve offered some substitutes in the recipe below. You can whip this one up real quick and be drowning in saucy noods in no time!
If you want to cap off your take-IN feast with something sweet, try my homemade fortune cookies too!
vegan dan dan noodles
These spicy vegan dan dan noodles are incredibly tasty and way better than take out!
Ingredients
- 1/2 C low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- 2 tbsp prepared chili oil (such as chiu chow chili oil)
- 2 tbsp black vinegar (or rice vinegar)
- 1/2 C ketchup
- 1/4 C shaoxing Chinese cooking wine (or cooking sherry)
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 6.5 oz / 185 g vegan chow mein noodles
- 4 stalks bok choy (or 8 baby bok choy stalks)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 C shallot, diced finely (or 1/2 a small white onion)
- 1/2 tsp ground szechuan peppercorn, ground in mortar & pestle or spice grinder (or ground white pepper)
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1 1/2 C veggie ground round (such as Yves original veggie ground round)
- 1 green onion, sliced thin (as garnish)
- 1/4 C fried soy beans or crushed peanuts (as garnish)
Instructions
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To make the sauce, in a medium bowl combine soy sauce, prepared chili oil, black vinegar, ketchup, shaoxing cooking wine, sugar, and cornstarch and mix well.
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Boil noodles according to package directions and drain, but do not rinse.
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In a large non-stick pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and cook shallot for 3 to 4 minutes until soft. Add ground szechuan peppercorn, garlic, and veggie ground round. Break up the veggie ground round into small pieces and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until browned on all sides.
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Add all of the sauce mixture to the pan and combine thoroughly with the ground round. Let the sauce come to a simmer for about 2 minutes, then add bok choy and toss to combine. Turn the heat down slightly, cover with a lid, and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes until the bok choy is wilted but still bright green in color.
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To assemble, add cooked and drained noodles to a large bowl or portion out into individual servings, add a generous portion of the veggie ground round, bok choy, and sauce. Toss to combine and garnish with green onion and roasted soy beans or crushed peanuts.
21 thoughts on “vegan dan dan noodles”
This. Is. BOMB. AS. HELLLLLLLL!!!
Do yourself a favor and squeeze a little lime juice on it, and get yourself some of the paper takeout boxes to eat it out of. If you make it right, there’s a good chance you can’t tell the difference between this and “real” takeout!
This was AMAZING! I didn’t have szechuan peppercorn so I substituted in the white pepper- I personally found 1/2 teaspoon to be too much and it took over the dish a little. If you find yourself having to make this substitute I would take it down to a 1/4 teaspoon and then work your way up if needed. Thanks for the great recipe, Lauren!
thanks for the feedback!!
Couldn’t find chili oil. Help! What should I substitute with? 🙏
its pretty easy to find every where? But just add some hot sauce or sambal oelek – chili paste
Omg I just made this dish, went less on the Szechuan peppercorn and from the previous comment adding lime to this took it to another level 😘, so good! I did not have tamari or low sodium soy sauce so I used a bit less soy sauce but the lime seems to balance out the flavor.
the peppercorns are an acquired taste!
I unfortunately had to do all the substitutions, but SUPER TASTY! Damn Julien for showing me this! Lol
thank god for Julien! 😀
Eating it right now. So good. I was surprised how much I loved it, and my non vegan friend loved it too.
In my opinion, the sauce is a little too “ketchup-y”, next time i will put in a quarter cup instead of half of cup. Also i sub the vegan ground round with diced mushroom. =)
absolutely delicious! very easy to find substitutes! can’t wait to make this again 🙂
just as delicious as it looks. so happy with how this came out, found the recipe through julien solomita 🙂
Wow! This one was such a surprise. It was quick, easy and extremely delicious. I am very impressed. It served 2 good portions and 2 small portions for lunch the next day (which was also terrific if you make the noodles the same day to eat).
We added cilantro as an additional garnish and we had lemon (we didn’t have lime on hand). I would say use a little less ketchup – just a little less. I think it really depends what kind of ketchup you’re using. We used Annies. Also we used coco aminos instead of soy sauce. And then we used half the amount of sugar called for. Lastly, I would call this recipe dummy proof. Anyone at any level could make this amazing dish. Impress your friends!
thanks for sharing the feedback!!!
I keep making this over and over because it’s amazing (and because I bought chili oil for it and am trying to get my money’s worth, lol). I made it for my dad the other day and he said legitimately it was the most enjoyable Asian style dish he’s ever had and was better than anything he’s ever had at P.F. Chang’s – and he loves that place. The only thing I did differently was throw cashews on top because that’s what I had. That said, this recipe needs nothing, do it exactly as described, it comes out perfect every single time.
This is soooo good. Had to use udon noodles because I couldn’t get my hands on any vegan chow mein noods – still good. The sauce is deliciousssss.
Omg… This recipe is absolutely amazing and delicious. I used wide rice noodles instead of egg noodles and substituted the “meat” with portobello mushrooms and it came out exactly like the recipe said. This is definitely a new favorite!
Hi, This used to be my favorite dish, until this 3 months ago, when I started to have an allergic reaction to nuts, beanuts, seeds family. Is there anything else that I can use instead.
Thanks for this fabulous dish! I know I can always count on your recipes to be consistently delicious, and this was no exception. I used Kai Lan (Chinese broccoli) leaves because that’s what I had on hand in the garden and also added some shiitakes for extra umami. Damn, so good!
I guess this wasn’t bad but really far off from what I was expecting. Strong ketchup flavor, too sweet, and actually not as spicy as I would like based on having Dan Dan noodles in restaurants. I bought all the ingredients and did not make any substitutions. Used Trader Joe’s beefless beef as my veggie ground. Going to try a ketchup free recipe next time. Sorry I still love you and will try your other recipes!