Black Soybean Noodles Korean

Pinterent Juli 28, 2023 Comment

Jajangmyeon is a popular Korean-Chinese dish. Learn how to make these delicious black bean noodles at home with this easy to follow recipe!

Whether you grew up on these Korean black bean noodles or learned to love them as an adult, I’m sure you get strong cravings for this beloved dish every so often. Good news is that you can easily make this restaurant favorite at home as long as you have the black bean paste called chunjang (춘장)!

Jajangmyeon (자장면), also called jjajangmyeon (짜장면), is a noodle dish in a black bean sauce. Along with jjamppong (짬뽕, spicy seafood noodle soup) and tangsuyuk (탕수육, sweet and sour pork or beef), it’s a popular Korean-Chinese dish. Called collectively as Junghwa Yori (중화요리), Korean-Chinese cuisine was developed by early Chinese immigrants in Korea. It’s a huge part of Korean food culture.

Korean Cold Soybean Noodle Soup (kongguksu)

Growing up, jajangmyeon was the dish that our parents treated us with on special occasions, such as graduation, exam days, birthdays, etc. It was every child’s favorite food! Still probably is.

As you might have seen on Korean dramas, it’s also the most popular dish for home delivery in Korea, just like pizza delivery in America. It’s the dish Koreans call to order on a hectic moving day.

As a more recent phenomena, jajangmyeon has become a symbolic dish that single people eat with their friends on Black Day (April 14) to commiserate with each other over black noodles for lacking a romantic relationship.

Noodles With Black Soybean Sauce / 짜장면

Jjajangmeyon (짜장면): When there’s no other word in front of it, it simply refers to regular jajangmyeon, also known as yetnal jajangmyeon — yetnal meaning from the past or old-fashioned. For this type, water or stock is added to the sauce as well as some starch slurry to thicken it. The resulting sauce is liquidy.

Ganjjajangmyeon (간짜장면): The dish is made without the addition of any water or stock or thickening for the sauce. As a result, the sauce is dry with more solid ingredients per serving.

Samseon jjajangmyeon (삼선짜장면): Samseon means fresh delicacies from 3 sources — land, sea and sky, but in Korean-Chinese cuisine, it commonly refers to a dish with various seafoods. There’s usually samseon ganjjajangmyeon (삼선간짜장면) on the menu as well.

Vegan Jjajangmyeon (noodles In Black Bean Sauce)

This recipe is for regular jajangmyeon, but I didn’t add a lot of liquid. If you want your sauce to be more saucy/liquidy, you can add more stock or water.

The sauce is made with chunjang (춘장), which is a Korean-style black bean paste made with fermented wheat flour, soybeans and caramel sauce. Its use is pretty much limited to Korean-Chinese dishes. I know some have asked if a Chinese black bean paste can be a substitute for this dish. The answer is NO, if you want to make jajangmyeon as Koreans enjoy.

You can find chunjang at Korean markets, usually next to doenjang (된장, fermented soybean paste). Depending on the brands, some are saltier, sourer, and/or sweeter than others.

Korean Black Bean Sauce Noodles (jajangmyeon)

When chunjang is fried in oil along with meat and vegetables, it becomes a jajang sauce. You first need to fry the black bean paste in oil. This process helps remove the bitter and sour taste of the bean paste. Some are sold pre-fried, so check the directions on the package. But, it would never hurt to fry it again.

In the past, and probably still the case at many restaurants, chunjang was fried in pork fat as a flavoring, so there’s your option if you want to try!

Pork is the classic option for the meat, but you can substitute it with any chicken, beef, and/or seafood. You can, of course, use lean meat, but some pork fat will add lots of flavor to the sauce.

Korean Jajangmyeon (black Bean Noodles)

Typically, jajangmyeon includes lots of vegetables such as onion, green cabbage, zucchini, and potato. Onion and cabbage, especially, give the jajang sauce a delicious sweetness. I didn’t use potatoes in this recipe, but you can if you want. Carrots and green peas are also good options.

In this jajangmyeon recipe, I used good quality chicken stock to give the sauce extra flavor. I think it makes a big difference, but water is okay too.

Nothing is better than restaurants’ hand-pulled noodles, which are nicely thick and chewy. For home cooking, you can find ready-made fresh noodles in the refrigerator section of Korean markets, which are preferred. There are also frozen and dried noodles. These noodles are generally labeled for udon and jajangmyeon (우동 짜장면) or jungwhamyeon (중화면).

Samyang Chacharoni Instant Noodles 140g

1.If you're adding some potatoes, dice smaller than other vegetables, and add to the pan when the onions are added. Or you can briefly cook diced potatoes in the microwave because it takes longer to cook potatoes than the other vegetables.

2. Ganjajang is a drier sauce made without the addition of any water or stock. Some people prefer it this way, but this will yield less servings. (See the body of this post for types of jajangmyeon.)

3. If you want your sauce to be more liquidy/watery, add an addition 1/2 cup of stock or water with a little more starch when you make starch slurry (about 1 teaspoon more).

Korean Noodles With Black Bean Sauce Recipe

This jajangmyeon recipe was originally posted in May 2011. I’ve updated it here with new photos, more information, and some changes to the recipe.It is a popular noodle dish served with black bean sauce, which consists of chunjang (춘장, a salty black soybean paste), diced pork (or other kinds of meat) and vegetables. You can find it easily at a Korean Chinese restaurant.

While there are many theories about when it was first introduced to Korea, officially the first known Jajangmyeon is from a restaurant called Gonghwachun (공화춘) in Chinatown of Incheon, Korea back in 1905. It was introduced by Chinese merchants but the flavor evolved to suit Korean’s taste buds over time.

It is a very common and easily accessible dish now. But when I was a child I only ate this on special occasions such as school carnival day or school entrance and graduation ceremony day. So you’ll understand how special this Jajangmyeon is to me and also to most Koreans.

Jajangmyun Black Soybean Paste Noodles

So here is a good excuse for making this delicious noodle dish and giving you an opportunity to participate in this Korean food culture! 😉

1. Rinse the pork in cold water and pat it dry with kitchen paper. Add the pork marinade sauce onto the pork. Mix them well and leave it for 15 mins.

1. Pre heat the wok until the bottom is heated well. Add the lard (or cooking oil) and melt it in the wok. Add the black bean paste and stir it constantly on medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes. (Try not to burn it.) Add the brown sugar and stir it for an additional 2 to 3 mins.

The Best Chicken Jajangmyeon

2. Scoop out the black bean paste (without the oil) and set it aside. Leave the oil in the wok to use in the next step.

6. Add the black bean paste (from step 2) into the wok and mix it in with vegetables. Stir for 1 to 2 mins.

7. Add the chicken stock, water and rice wine then simmer it for 5 to 7 mins on medium heat. (Cover the wok with a lid if possible. This will make the cooking process faster.)

Instant Topokki Rapokki Rice Cake With Ramen Noodles Popular Korean Food Various Flavors ??? ??? (black Soybean Sauce_topokki, 240g 1 Pouch (2 Servings))

8. Add the slurry into the wok then stir it. (This will thicken the black sauce. It is the final stage of making the black bean sauce.)

9. (While working on step 7) Boil some water in a pot and add the noodles when it starts to boil. Boil them until the noodles are cooked (for 3 to 5 mins).

11. Add the black bean sauce (from the step 8) on top of the noodles. You can serve it as it is or decorate it with some cucumber slices, green peas or sweet corn or hardboiled egg.

Jjajangmyeon Is A Type Of Korean Cuisine That Is Noodles In Black Soybean Paste Sauce. Stock Image

12.Mix the sauce and the noodles well with chopsticks. Dig in. (It is ideal to have them with some (yellow) pickled radish. Apparently, it helps digestion. Also, eat it up quickly before the noodles get swollen.)

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Korean Noodle With Black Bean Sauce (jajangmyeon)

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Welcome to my Korean kitchen! I’m so happy that you're here. I am Sue, the creator behind My Korean Kitchen (since 2006). I love good food and simplifying recipes. Here you will find my best and family approved recipes. Thanks for stopping by!