Zha Jiang Mian Recipe (Chinese fried sauce noodles) (2024)

Have you ever had Zha jiang mian, aka Chinese fried sauce noodles? This noodle dish is so easy to make and so delicious too! Minced pork in savory and sweet bean sauce, ginger, green onions and julienned cucumber!

I’m very excited about this dish because it’s so awesome to store a batch of this sauce in the fridge, and then be able to make it at any time.

We got the recipe from my mom’s friend from Beijing China. She did an amazing job!

What is Zha Jiang Mian?

Zha Jiang Mian 炸醬麵 is a noodle dish that’s made with ground pork cooked in a savory and sweet sauce made of beans, ginger, and green onions, and is served with julienned cucumber slices.

In mandarin Chinese, Zha means Fried, Jiang means Sauce and Mian means Noodles – so Zha Jiang Mian directly translates to Fried Sauce Noodles!

In this recipe – I will show you how to make a batch of it (serves about 10), and then you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container, and make more Zha Jiang Mian noodles whenever you want!

Zha jiang mian vs Jajangmyeon

Fun fact – there is a very similar dish with a very similar name in Korean cuisine! The Korean version is called Jajangmyeon (aka jjajangmyeon). Jajangmyeon was introduced to Korean in the late nineteenth century, when workers from the Shandong province of China to Korea.

Both versions have pork, noodles and sauce made of some sort of soy bean paste, however, jajangmyeon usually uses Korean fermented black bean paste, where as Chinese zhajiangmian uses yellow soy bean paste.

Yellow Soybean paste

Yellow soybean paste, aka Huangdou Jiang (黃豆醬) or sometimes just Soybean Paste, is a fermented paste that is made from yellow soybeans, salt, and water. This paste is used in many Chinese cuisine – especially in Beijing and northern China.

In Chinese, Huang means Yellow, Dou means Beans, and Jiang means sauce or paste, so it directly translate to Yellow Bean Paste or Sauce. However, for short lots of people just call it Huang Jiang or Yellow Paste.

You should be able to find this sauce in your local Asian super market, but if not, you can also find some on Amazon, for example: Lee Kum Kee Sauce (Soybean Sauce (黄豆酱), 1 Bottle)

Sweet Bean Sauce

Sweet bean sauce aka Tianmian sauce 甜麵醬 is a thick, smooth, and dark brown or black paste that has a milk savory and sweet flavor.

The two most popular dishes that use this sauce is Zha Jiang Mian and also to dip Peking duck in!

Tian actually means sweet, mian means noodles, and jiang means sauce – so directly this sauce translates to sweet noodle sauce.

You should be able to find this sauce in your local Asian super market, but if not, you can also find some on Amazon, for example: Sweet Bean Paste Tian Mian Jiang – 10.6 oz (300g)

Type of Noodles

There are actually manydifferent types of Asian noodles. For this recipe we use wheat noodles. This is your most basic noodles made with wheat, and it’s the most common of Asian noodles. Wheat noodles can also have different shapes and sizes.

I usually already haveDragonMall Wu-Mu – Dry Noodleat my house because I also use it for noodle soups, so this is what I’m cooking with today.

You could also use egg noodles if you’d like, as it is similar. However, if you use glass noodles or rice noodles then it will be quite different from the traditional Zha Jiang Mian.

If you’d like to learn more about other types of noodles, check out my post here:

How long can you keep the Zha Jiang Mian sauce?

For us – It’ll stay good in the fridge for up to 5 days or if we freeze it for up to 1 month.

How to make Zha Jiang Mian?

As mentioned earlier, this will make a batch of the zha jian mian sauce, depending on how much sauce you want on it the servings can vary – but it’s about 10 noodle bowl worth at my house.

You will store the sauce in airtight container, and then you can take it out, cook the noodles and add cucumber and sauce to noodles any time you would like some zha jiang mian!

To make zha jiang mian, first, gather your ingredients:

Sauce:

• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 3 tbsp minced ginger
• 3 tbsp chopped green onions
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 lb pork
• 2 cups yellow soy bean sauce
• 1 cup sweet bean sauce

Noodles (per person):

• 2 oz dry noodles
• 1/2 medium cucumber
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• 1 tbsp green onions chopped (optional)

Mince garlic and ginger, and chop green onions.

In a wok or cooking pan, add cooking oil, and allow it to heat up at medium high. Then add the ginger and green onions (hold on the garlic).

Allow it to cook for about a minute, and then add the ground pork. Using a spatula, break up the pork in to smaller bits and stir fry until browned.

Add the soy bean sauce, and mix well.

Then add sweet bean sauce and mix well.

Now allow it to come to a boil, and then turn the heat down to medium low. Allow it to simmer for 20 minutes or until sauce thickens.

While this is happening, you can cook noodles according to the package.

Once the sauce thickens to your desired consistency, add the minced garlic, and mix well.

In a bowl, add sesame oil, chopped green onions, noodles, cucumbers, and the sauce to taste (don’t add too much in the beginning it is salty), and mix well and serve!

Place remaining sauce in air tight container and store in refrigerator to make this noodle dish any time!

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