Hello hello everybody! : )
I’m re-introducing jjajangmyeon recipe (noodles in black bean sauce) to you today with a new, updated video. I originally uploaded a video showing you how to make jjajangmyeon in 2007, not long after I started posting to YouTube. Yes, it was 5 years ago! Time flies too fast!
That video was so popular that I decided to make a new version that’s easier to follow, and also shows you how to make jjajangbap with rice instead of noodles.
Jjajangmyeon is everybody’s favorite food. It’s actually a very popular Korean Chinese dish, created by early Chinese immigrants in Korea, catering to Korean tastes. Tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) is another example. The almost caramel taste of the savory black bean sauce over the thick, chewy wheat flour noodles makes for a really unique taste and texture. When I was young, a plate of jjajangmyeon from a Chinese restaurant always made me excited. When you order it delivered they bring you the noodles in a special tin box in under 30 minutes! I usually ended up covered in jjajang sauce and my mom had to give me a Kleenex.
Koreans even have a nonofficial celebration for jjm on April 14th, when single people celebrate their shared loneliness on Black Day with a bowl of jjajangmyeon.
Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients for 2-3 servings
- jjajangmyeon noodles
- ½ pound pork belly, cut into ½ inch cubes (about 1½ cups’ worth)
- 1 cup of Korean radish (or daikon), cut into ½ inch cubes (about 1 cup’s worth)
- 1 cup of zucchini, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 cup of potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1½ cups of onion chunks
- 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- ¼ cup and 1 tablespoon of chunjang (Korean black bean paste)
- 2 tablespoons of potato starch powder, combined with ¼ cup water and 1 teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl, set aside
- 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil
- ½ cup cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks for garnish
- water
Directions for making jjajang sauce
- Stir-fry the pork belly in a large, deep wok (or pan) with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.
- Pour out the excess pork fat.
- Add radish and stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add potato, onion, and zucchini and keep stirring for about 3 minutes until the potato looks a little translucent.
- Clear a space in the center of the wok by pushing the ingredients to the edges.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil to the center of the wok, then add ¼ cup of black bean paste and stir it with a wooden spoon for 1 minute to fry it. Then mix everything in the wok and keep stirring.
- Add 2 cups of water to the wok and let it simmer and cook with the lid closed for about 10 minutes.
- Open the lid and taste a sample of the radish and potato. If they’re fully cooked, stir in the starch water little by little. Keep stirring until it’s well mixed and thick.
- Add the sesame oil and remove from the heat.
- Serve with noodles (jjajangmyeon) or steamed rice (jjajangbap).
Make jjajangmyeon
Noodles for jjajangmyeon can be found at Korean grocery stores. The noodles are thick and chewy.
- Boil the noodles in a large pot and drain. Rinse and strain in cold water.
- Put one serving of noodles onto a serving plate and add the jjajang sauce over top. Garnish with cucumber strips and serve immediately with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.
Make jjajangbap
I have a detailed recipe for jjajangbap but this is the basics:
- Make one serving of rice, and add the jjajang sauce over top.
- Garnish with cucumber strips on top of the jjajang sauce and serve it with kimchi or yellow pickled radish.
Buy this recipe's ingredients online
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Heyy Maangchi!!! Is the bean paste w/ noodles taste sweet or what does it taste like?? And if we don’t have bean paste can we use Hoisin sauce instead? http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2010/04/hoisin-sauce-for-pho-vs-for-cooking.html…thankx
Rawwr14, definitely seek out the black bean paste. It is salty with a round flavor almost like miso or soybean paste, but a little sharp at the same time. Hoisin sauce is just a condiment, so it would be too much of a good thing in this. Keep looking for the black bean paste and get the right flavor profile. You won’t be disappointed.
Annyong Haseyo!!!!
it’s hard for me to find zucchini here in our place,..can i skip it or is there anything that i could replace on it,,,..
:)
Skip zucchini and use squash. If squash is not available either, just skip it. Use more onion or potato then. Good luck with making delicious jjajangmyeon!
Hi!What cut of pork do you use here? Can I use pork tenderloin which is more lean? Thanks:))
Yes, pork tenderloin sounds great! I usually use pork belly though to make this dish more rich. Yum! : )
I made this recipe for my friends and they loved it!
I plan on making this again very soon ^o^
Is there a Black Bean Paste available without Caramel coloring? I looked in H Mart and all the pastes have caramel. I purchased a jar of Black Bean Paste/Roasted in a round glass jar made by Haioreum. Is this the right product? The term roasted made me question it.
I returned the Roasted Black Bean Paste for a non roasted type in a brown plastic tub also made by Haioreum.
Why do you fry the Black Bean Paste? Why not just add it to the dish while cooking?
Frying black bean paste makes it more delicious. That’s how you make jjajang sauce.
hi maangchi! If I could not find black bean paste, can I use soy bean paste instead? thanks! =)
no, I wouldn’t use soybean paste for jjajangmyeon.
is it ok to use corn starch instead of potato starch? whats the difference?
Yes, corn starch works well.
I want to try this but I just need 1 serving for me :( Can you give me the measurements? Please! I want to try this so badly.
Sauce saves well in the refrigerator. I always make more than one serving… it also goes well over left over rice or in making fried rice.
Super good recipe. I tried making this with a recipe I found online, did not turn out so well. I tried your recipe and it was awesome. I really enjoyed this…but it finished too quickly. Love it.
I recently tried your receipe and it was delicious! Instead of buying a tub of black bean paste (just in case), I purchased a small package for ‘1-time’ use only and we also used udon instead of the traditional Korean myun.
My hubby and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make this dish. We made a little too much so we freezed some for another meal.
Thanks Maangchi for sharing this receipe! Another great (and easy) dish added to our homecook menu.
Thank you for your update! You can eat the sauce with rice. It’s called jjajangbap instead of jjajangmyun. myun is noodles and bap is steamed rice. : )
Hi Maangchi ! I want to cook this, but I don’t know the place to buy black bean sauce in Japan where I’m living . Is Black bean sauce like bean miso sauce of Japan ? thanks for reading ^^
Check out Korea town It’s sold at a Korean store. https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/black-bean-paste
OMGGG!!! i want to try to cook this, but i cant eat pork,cant i replace it with anything else ? maghi pls help me :)
You can use chicken, beef, or shrimp. Cheers!
OMG Maangchi! I’ve had black bean sauce noodle at other restaurant in town, but it tastes nothing like this [perhaps they didn’t use yam] I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for the recipe, Maanchi!
I’m on diet so I use konyaku noodle instead of Jajang noodle, but still!!
LOVE THIS LOVE THIS!! Thank you VERY MUCH!
konyaku noodles? Yummy! You may like my mungbean jelly recipe. It’s very low calorie food. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/cheongpomuk-muchim
I made this today, but it tasted tastless, it was different from when I ate it at resturant.
I use canola oil and beef, I don’t know if this makes a difference.
Can you help me?
strange! Did you get all ingredients right amount and use right black bean paste? If it’s too bland for you, add more ingredients.
I think the yam is the key…to me it makes the noodle really tasty! try adding more yam to it *v*/ Like Maangchi said, more ingredients
Hi, is there anyway I can change the pork to something else? Thanks.
I made this for lunch and it was great.
http://ikkin-bot.blogspot.com/2011/02/cooking-korean-jjajangmyun-black-bean.html
Hello,
why do you need to cook the black been paste? do you do this for all black been paste or are there ready ones?
Thank you
Thank you so much I’v been missing some real Korean meals and this totally hit the spot it came out great
is all of this over medium heat? :)
hi maangchi-shi,
recently, i’ve mistakenly bought a soy bean paste instead of the black bean paste. is it still the same? can i use it in Jjajangmyun as well?
no, you need black bean paste called chunjang or jjajang in Korean. Here is the photo of the ingredient.
https://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/black-bean-paste
OMG I just made this for me and my mom! and it was SOOO goood. I totally overate =]
Thanks so much! I am a big fan of jajangmyun and now I can make it at homeee =]
Great news! “I totally overate =]” lol
I made this dish for my wife after watching a Korean Drama “Glass Slippers”. So Good. Much better then the pre-made ones…and easy to make…We thank you Maangchi…..!!!! Kamsahameda!!!!!!!!
I’ve made this 2ce now and LOVE it! I saw tossed black bean paste at the market. Can I us this instead? Do I not have to fry the paste if I get the roasted paste?
yes, you can. It’s already stir-fried with vegetable oil, so you can add it to the sauce. Good luck with making delicious jjajangmyeon!
Hi Maangchi
Eversince I discovered your website I’ve been all over the sites and going crazy reading the recipes, absorbing all the info and trying to cook them. So far I’ve successfully made cabbage, radish and cucumber kimchee. Also japchae, bibimbap, kimbap, Kimchee jjigae and galbi jjim.
My next projects are ojingeojeot, dakkangjung, jangjorim and jjajangmyun. Can I omit ham b’cos I don’t eat pork – maybe turkey or chicken or beef salami instead?
Also what else can I cook with the black bean paste.
Kamsa Hamnida.
Will look for Black bean paste ASAP!!! WOW!! I’ve been wanting to cook this!
can i ask: what is the sauce tast like, sweet, or salty cause i don’t know how it tast like to cook
I Don’t have the kind like your noodle. can I use Rice Noodle or Ramen
Ramen should work fine. It may not have the same texture, but it will still be delicious. It is also commonly eaten on rice, so if you don’t want to try any other noodles, just put it on rice. Its very good.
Hi Maangchi, big fan of yours. I consider myself a good cook in all cuisines except korean, which is sad because I am Korean! Your website has been a great inspiration. Question, made the sauce and loved it! I wanted to try making the noodles from scratch. Do you have a recipe for this?
I just made this a moment ago, it was delicious. I loved the Korean black bean paste, it’s nothing like the Chinese variety I’m used to. It isn’t half as salty. (I actually had to add just a pinch of salt to my jjajangmyun) Thanks much for the recipes.
a moment ago! awesome!
Im eating it now!It’s grrreat!
You mean the jjajangyeon you made? awesome, Congratulations!
I tried cooking this just now but I haven’t really tasted a real jjajangmyun.. I followed the instructions but the taste is really unknown because I dont know if it should be sweet or it should be spicy or it should be salty.. I’m confused.. but I am happy that I was able to find chunjang in a korean store and was able to cook a jjajangmyun…
so what does it really taste like?
Waiting for your style gujeolpan ,I’ve tried my style from Thai web. but it’s not the same in Seoul.May be the sauce ingredients,fill up my desire please.
ok, gujeolpan, sure someday in the future. Thanks!
can i use another type of meat besides pork belly? i found it to bee too fat :(
I can’t find porkbelly:(could I replace it with something?
Haechandle chunjang (black bean paste): $3.49
You can order on this site:
http://www.hmart.com/shopnow/shopnow_newsub.asp?p=8801007053721
Contact(Customer Service):
http://www.hmart.com/cs/cs_contact_online.asp
H Mart STORE (Korea Store):
1.201.507.9900
1.877.427.7386(Toll free)
http://www.hmart.com/index.asp
You can find any Korean products by simply typing a English Korean word in the search box and click “FIND”.