Chinese sesame chili noodles with ground pork, carrots, and spinach

This outstanding sesame chili noodle bowl is topped with one our favorite sauces. It’s savory, nutty, salty, and balanced with a hint of sweet. This easy recipe pairs the noodles with ground pork, carrot ribbons, fresh greens, and paprika-spiced peanuts.  These sesame chili noodles are inspired from Chinese dandan noodles, but made with easy-to-find ingredients.

Don’t let the word chili scare you if you don’t like spicy foods. You can easily adjust the heat to your preferences!

I hope you enjoy this recipe for sesame chili noodles as much as we did!

Ingredient notes:

Trying to get an authentic flavor with ingredients that are easily available isn’t always easy and, of course depends on where you live. So, just in case, here are a few notes about ingredients that may or may not be readily available in your local grocery store:

• Five spice powder: This spice has a unique flavor, combining star anise, fennel seed, cloves, cinnamon, and Szechuan pepper. If you can’t find any in your grocery store or don’t want to buy a whole jar just to use ½ teaspoon, you can grind your own mix and use black pepper instead of Szechuan. See the recipe notes for a suggestion!
• Chinese noodles: Chinese cuisine features a vast array of noodles. Rice and wheat noodles are the best known, but there are many other varieties, including potato, mung bean, and millet. Here, any Chinese (or even Japanese) wheat noodle will work, but preferably one that is wide and flat or thick and round. Italian linguine could work in a pinch, but the texture and flavor of Italian noodles is not identical. One notable difference between Italian pasta and Chinese wheat noodles is the presence of about 1% salt in many Chinese noodles. Aside from boosting the flavor, the salt helps make the noodles whiter in color and firmer in texture. The wheat varieties and preparation methods are also a bit different.
• Rice wine or white wine: You can use sweet white wine as a direct substitute for the rice wine. Rice wines such as Chinese Shaoxing or Japanese mirin will work. Dry white wine with a pinch of sugar will work, too.

Feel free to customize this recipe with other vegetables of your choice. I like using carrot ribbons and either fresh spinach or bok choy because they can easily cook in the same water as the noodles. If you want to try with bok choy instead of spinach, the stems (quartered vertically) boil for 4 minutes and the leaves 60 seconds. I have also tried with ground beef – the result was tasty but the beef dried out faster whereas ground pork stays nice and juicy.

Print Recipe

Chinese Sesame Chili Noodles

Deliciously savory and nutty Chinese-style noodle bowl

Total Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: noodles, pork, sesame

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Meat:

• 400 g ground pork (1 lb)
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp rice wine or white wine

Peanuts:

• ¼ tsp neutral oil
• 60 g roasted, salted peanuts (6 tbsp)
• ½ tsp paprika

Sauce:

• 1 ½ tbsp peanut butter
• 2 ½ tbsp water
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 ½ tbsp sesame seeds
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• ½ tbsp rice wine or white wine
• ½ tsp black pepper or ground Sichuan pepper
• ½ tsp Chinese five spice powder see note 1
• ½ tbsp chili paste see note 2
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• ¾ tsp sugar

Noodles & vegetables

• 300 g Chinese wheat noodles
• 4 carrots
• 2 handfuls of spinach leaves
• Cilantro and scallions to garnish

Instructions

• Cook the meat: Heat a pan over medium heat, and cook the pork with the 2 minced garlic cloves until slightly browned and no longer pink. Deglaze the pan with 2 tbsp rice wine or white wine.
• Flavor the peanuts: Mix the peanuts with a ¼ tsp oil and ½ tsp paprika to coat the peanuts.
• Mix the sauce: Mix the peanut butter and 1 tbsp water to thin out the texture. Mix in the remaining 1 ½ tbsp water. Then mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients. The sauce will be thin.
• Cook the noodles and vegetables: Bring a large pot of water to boil (see note 3).
• Meanwhile, peel the carrots and shave them lengthwise into ribbons with a peeler. Wash the spinach, then chop it or leave in larger pieces, as desired.
• Once the water is boiling, cook the noodles and vegetables in the same pot: Cook the noodles for the time indicated on the package, and add the carrot ribbons for the last 60 seconds and the spinach for the last 15 seconds of cooking. Swirl the noodles around occasionally to reduce sticking.
• Drain the noodles and vegetables, rinse, and mix in a couple tablespoons of sauce to help avoid sticky noodles.
• Serve: Arrange the noodles and greens on a plate, and top with the meat, peanuts, scallions, and cilantro. Drizzle sauce over everything.

Notes

1. To make your own Chinese five spice powder, crush 1 star anise, ½ tsp fennel seed, 1 clove, 3 peppercorns (either Szechuan pepper or black pepper) with a mortar and pestle. Add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon. You could also grind whole cinnamon, if desired.
2. Chili pastes such as sambal oelek or sriracha will work, though many other options exist. Adjust the amount to suit the level of heat you desire, depending on what chili paste you pick. I used ½ tbsp sambal oelek, and it was mild in the finished dish.
3. Use a large pot to boil the noodles in step 4. Flat Chinese wheat noodles tend to stick together if not stirred and separated just after putting in the boiling water. This can leave some noodles cooked and others hard. A large pot will help avoid this problem.