Rolled and Cut Noodles · FFET10115
Beijing Zhajiangmian (Fried-Sauce Noodles)
Beijing zhajiangmian: noodles with a pork sauce fried from soybean paste and sweet bean sauce, served with cucumber, sprouts and other vegetables.
A white porcelain bowl holds thick pale wheat noodles with a spoonful of glossy dark fried sauce and diced pork piled in the middle, ringed by cucumber strips, carrot strips and white mung bean sprouts.
Noodles made by rolling a dough into a thin sheet and cutting it into strips.
Zhajiangmian is noodles topped with a sauce fried from soybean paste, sweet bean sauce and diced pork, served with raw or blanched vegetables such as cucumber, radish and bean sprouts. The Beijing style combines yellow soybean paste with sweet bean sauce and a lot of scallion white and diced pork, fried slowly until the oil rises. The dish is linked to northern China and sometimes coastal Shandong, with one account tracing its origins to Shandong and its arrival in Beijing to Shandong-cuisine restaurants; these accounts give no dated early record. The dish later spread to Korea and Japan, where each place made its own version.
What
Zhajiangmian is noodles topped with a spoonful of sauce cooked from fermented soybean paste and diced pork, served with raw or blanched vegetables such as cucumber, radish and bean sprouts.1,2,4,5
When
No dated early record was found. The estimate that old-Beijing zhajiangmian is about 100 years old comes from a January 2026 brand article with no source given; one study holds that bean-paste noodles and Beijing fried-sauce noodles appeared at about the same time.1,3
Where
The Beijing version is the one people usually think of; the dish is also linked to Shandong and northern China, and Tianjin, the Northeast, Guangdong, Korea and Japan each have their own versions. The place of origin is given differently: Beijing or Shandong.1,2
How
The main points of the method: the Beijing style combines yellow soybean paste with sweet bean sauce, plenty of scallion white and diced pork, fried slowly until the oil rises. It is spooned over thick noodles with crunchy vegetables.2,4,5
Why
The word for fried refers to what the pot looks like: the sauce sinks and the oil floats on top, as if it were fried in oil.2
Impact and influence
Zhajiangmian later spread to Korea and Japan, where each developed its own version.1,2
No tale about this food has been found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
The sauce for zhajiangmian needs slow frying, and everything else is simple. This is the way I make it at home, for 2 people: pork belly with the skin removed and diced, soybean paste and sweet bean sauce loosened with warm water and fried slowly until dark and oily, and cucumber, carrot and bean sprouts as the vegetables. The ingredients and method follow two English-language recipes, and the amounts and timings below are my own choices at home.
Ingredients
- Fresh wheat noodles, a thicker kind 250 g
- Pork belly 200 g, skin removed, cut into cubes of about 1 cm
- Yellow soybean paste 3 tablespoons, about 45 g
- Sweet bean sauce 1 tablespoon
- Warm water 100 ml
- Scallion whites 2 stalks, chopped
- Ginger 1 teaspoon, minced
- Star anise 1 piece
- Cooking wine 1 tablespoon
- Cooking oil 1 tablespoon
- Cucumber 1, cut into thin strips
- Carrot half, cut into thin strips
- Mung bean sprouts 100 g
Steps
- Put the soybean paste and sweet bean sauce in a bowl, add 100 ml of warm water and stir until smooth.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan over low heat, fry the star anise, scallion whites and ginger until fragrant, then add the pork and cook over medium-low heat until the fat renders and the pork changes color. The pork must be fully cooked through. Add the wine.
- Pour in the loosened paste and cook over low heat, stirring often, for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the sauce turns dark and the oil floats on top. If it gets too dry while cooking, add a little water.
- While the sauce cooks, prepare the vegetables: cut the cucumber and carrot into strips, and blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for about 1 minute, then drain.
- Boil a separate pot of water, cook the noodles for the time on the package, drain and put them in bowls. Spoon over the sauce, add the vegetables and toss before eating.
Tips
- The soybean paste tastes salty enough to me, so I add no salt while frying and taste before deciding.
- I blanch the bean sprouts for about 1 minute so they stay crunchy against the soft sauce.
Allergens: wheat, soy