I was first exposed to Korean Black Bean Noodles during my more youthful, bouncy days of K-pop fueled ardor, when I would routinely listen to Big Bang, 2PM, and Girls Generation, and binge-watch Korean dramas with subtitles between finishing homework assignments.
Watching all the Korean BBQ-eating, bibimbap-mixing, and jajangmyeon slurping made it pretty inevitable that I would try my hand at K cuisine, too.
A Chinese-Inspired Korean Dish
When we started hanging around Beijing more often, I was surprised to find that this dish is actually a Chinese dish first and foremost, and a beloved Beijing staple at that.
When it comes to the world of Asian food, one often finds that certain dishes have numerous iterations depending on whether you’re talking to a Chinese person, a Korean person, a Japanese person, a person from Malaysia, etc. A lot of Chinese dishes have made their way across borders and have been adapted for local tastes. Ever gone to an Indian buffet and had Chicken Manchurian, for example?
Black bean noodles is one such dish. Case in point, our recipe for Beijing Fried Sauce Noodles, Zha Jiang Mian, whose sauce involves mushrooms, pork, sweet bean sauce, and ground bean paste.
When you look at the Korean version—jajangmyeon (note the adjusted spelling, but similar sound)—it uses chopped pork belly, zucchini, potato, onion, daikon radish, and chunjang. It is just as delicious in its own way, despite being quite different!
Sourcing Ingredients
You can find this dish in Chinese Korean restaurants, but it’s easy to make at home once you’ve gotten your hands on the right paste.
Luckily, Korean pastes are packaged for dummies, so you’ll find that chunjang (black bean paste) is in a black plastic tub, gochujang (red pepper paste) is in a red plastic tub, doenjang (soybean paste) is in a brown plastic tub, and ssamjang (a combination of gochujang and doenjang used for Korean BBQ) is in a green plastic tub. Okay that last one is the least intuitive, but still! Pretty dummy-proof.
So make a batch of these black bean noodles before your next K drama session, or try your hand at some of our other Korean-style recipes: Korean BBQ, Salmon Bibimbap, Kimchi Jigae, Kimchi Pancakes, or Quick Dubu Kimchi!
Jajangmyeon: Recipe Instructions
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan over high heat. Stir fry the pork belly until it’s golden brown and crisped. The secret is high heat and minimal stirring! If there is a significant amount of pork fat pooling in the pan, you can drain that off.
Add the daikon radish and stir-fry for 1 minute, followed by the onion, zucchini, and potato. Stir-fry for another few minutes, until the potato is translucent.
Clear a space in the center of the wok or pan, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the chunjang (Korean black bean paste) and let it fry in the center of the pan in the oil for one minute. Now stir everything together.
Add 2 cups of water, and let the sauce come to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. (If your sauce is becoming too thick, you can gradually add up to an additional cup of water.) This is the perfect time to cook your fresh Korean noodles (follow the instructions on the package). I didn’t specify the quantity of noodles to use, because this recipe makes quite a lot of sauce, that can be reheated and served with freshly cooked noodles whenever you want them. Just cook the amount that you’d like to eat for each sitting.
After 10 minutes, check to make sure that the potato is cooked through. Once it’s fully cooked, add the potato starch or cornstarch slurry, and stir until thick and glossy. Finish off with the sesame oil.
Serve with the noodles, and garnish with the cucumber. On the side, serve you black bean noodles with that signature pickled radish and chopped onion.
Korean Black Bean Noodles (Jajangmyeon)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
- ½ pound pork belly or any marbled piece of pork (225g, cut into small cubes)
- 1 cup daikon or Korean radish (cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- 2 small onions (diced)
- 1 zucchini (cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- 2 small potatoes (peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes)
- ½ cup chunjang (Korean black bean paste)
- 2-3 cups water (depending on your desired consistency)
- Fresh Korean noodles
- 2 tablespoons potato starch (or cornstarch, combined with ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 small seedless cucumber (cut into thin matchsticks for garnish)
- Yellow pickled radish and some additional cut raw onion (for serving)
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok or pan over high heat. Stir fry the pork belly until it’s golden brown and crisped. The secret is high heat and minimal stirring! If there is a significant amount of pork fat pooling in the pan, you can drain that off.
- Add the radish and stir-fry for 1 minute, followed by the onion, zucchini, and potato. Stir-fry for another few minutes, until the potato is translucent.
- Clear a space in the center of the wok or pan, and the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the Korean black bean paste (chunjang) and let it fry in the center of the pan in the oil for one minute. Now stir everything together.
- Add 2 cups of water, and let the sauce come to a boil. Turn the heat down and let it simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. (If your sauce is becoming too thick, you can gradually add up to an additional cup of water.) This is the perfect time to cook your Korean noodles (follow the instructions on the package). I didn’t specify the quantity of noodles to use, because this recipe makes quite a lot of sauce, that can be reheated and served with freshly cooked noodles whenever you want them. Just cook the amount that you’d like to eat for each sitting.
- After 10 minutes, check to make sure that the potato is cooked through. Once it’s fully cooked, add the potato starch slurry, and stir until thick and glossy. Finish off with the sesame oil.
- Serve with the noodles, and garnish with the cucumber. On the side, serve with that signature pickled radish and chopped onion.
Do you know what is that sweet and tangy black sauce they give you for dipping the pickle radish and onions?
I assume its just some fried black bean paste thats seasoned with sugar and vinegar. Its traditional to serve on the side of those pickled radish. I saw a Korean chef make a side dish with korean sliced yellow pickled radish + thinly sliced onion + thinly sliced green onion seasoned with vinegar and sugar. The sour compliments the fatty heavy sauce :P yummy yummy!
Hi there, I believe that it’s actually straight chunjang! I’m not sure if they further season it though, so for any well informed Koreans passing through the comments, please advise! Wilson may be correct, but I once saw Maangchi just dipping her pickled radishes in just the plain chunjang.
It’s nice there is a breakdown of nutrition facts, however, what’s missing is the serving size. So one does not know what quantity you are speaking of. Is it 1 cup, 1/2 cup, or the whole batch. Could you update that. Thank you
Hi Chris, the serving size is 1/4 of this recipe, as the card specifies 4 servings. We aren’t food manufacturers or scientists, so we don’t measure out the number of cups a recipe yields.
Hi Kaitlin, thanks for the delicious and simple recipe. I can’t wait to try it out! Thanks for reminding me I can keep the unused sauce in the fridge for next time, as I’m the only one in the family who eats jjajangmyeon. Quick question, what’s the black sauce on the side, with the pickled radish and onion? Is it the uncooked chunjang?
Hi Jena, yes! It’s a popular way to serve the noodles for anyone who wants the extra salty kick. Try dipping the raw onion and radish in and eat it along with a chopstick-full of the noodles!
hallo!
ik ben 14 jaar en ik ben van belgie, ik leer koreaans en de koreaanse cultuur dus ook de koreaanse keuken. Ik heb dit vandaag gemaakt en ik vind het super lekker!
I have a question. I enjoy made this twice. And it’s great! But the directions can all fall or 2 cups of water, which I used the first time I made this. But the second time I made this (today), I used the 3.5 cups of water in the ingredient list. Which is the correct amount of water to use? For us, it seems like the 2 cups of water, which produces a thicker sauce, is the way to go.
hallo!
ik denk dat dit je eigen keuze is, ik vond 3’5 kopjes beter dan 2.
natuurlijk is dit je eigen keuze :)!
The post has been updated to reflect 2-3 cups depending on your desired consistency. Thank you for catching that, I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner!
Hi, i have a question
i was looking for a recipe of jajangmyeon that is the best and yours is pretty good
but recently a korean show just started titled “4 wheeled restaurant: China” where famous Korean chef Lee Yeon Bok cooks Korean Chinese food and sell it in china
One of the best seller is jajangmyeon, and it shows in detail how the famous chef cooks it
I noticed he uses a particular sauce called “Hwangdujang” (황두장), I searched and it is called soybean sauce in English, in fact I found it on Lee Kum Kee US webpage
do you know what is this sauce?
I tried to search it in page but didn’t find any resemblance
Please enlighten me, like how does it taste, maybe a substitute that very close in taste (cause I haven’t been able to find it in Indonesia), or what else could you use this for
thanks
Hi Gery, so sorry we missed your comment! I’m not sure what hwang du jang is; I’ll have to ask around, but if Lee Kum Kee has it, sounds like an easy bet! The main ingredient for my recipe is the classic black bean paste, chunjang, which hopefully is easier to find in Indonesia!
It is yellow bean paste
It’s Huang Dou Jiang its a fermented soybean paste, you can just substitute doenjang/miso paste.