Go beyond Chinese takeout and try this authentic recipe for Burning Noodles, a spicy dry noodle that hails from the city of Yibin in China’s Sichuan Province. It’s an addictive, soup-less bowl of noodles piled high with pork, mustard greens, peanuts, and scallions. One of my favorite Sichuan recipes. And, once you source one or two ingredients, it’s super simple to make.
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From the first fresh chewy bite to slurping up the last ribbon of al dente noodles, make this simple and comforting bowl of fiery Burning Noodles to feed your family. It’s a dish that’s buzzing with gentle mala heat and packed with umami. We love making this for casual weekend lunches.
What are Yibin Burning Noodles?
Yibin Burning Noodles are a spicy dry noodle that originates from Yibin, China, a city in the Sichuan province. And while the name of the dish, burning noodles, might sound intimidating, it’s actually not a reference to the dish’s spice level. And yes, you can (and should) spoon chili crisp over the top of this dish to your heart’s content, but the dish’s name really refers to its sauce, which would purportedly burst into flame if you lit it with a match. I’ve never tried. The fact that it’s also bright red and coated in red chili oil makes the name even more poetic.
The dish is often served with the sauce sitting at the bottom of the bowl, with the noodles and other toppings set out in neat little piles over the top of the bowl, the diner left to fold the noodles and toppings into the chili sauce. I find the ritual comforting, a way to slow down and take in what I’m about to enjoy. When you make these at home, you can, alternatively, toss the noodles in the spicy sauce first and THEN top the bowl. For me, it depends on the chopstick skill of the people with whom I’m dining.
And of course, I don’t think you can introduce the dish without talking about its toppings. I’ll go into greater detail below, but this dish is served with a savory soy ground pork topping, some sort of leafy green vegetable (Shanghai bok choy, tatsoi, ong choy or even baby spinach all make fine choices), vibrant green scallions, crunchy crushed peanuts, and of course, Sui Mi Ya Cai, a preserved mustard green that is also specific to the region. I’ll cover it a bit more below.
Dry Noodles vs Soup Noodles
If you’re somewhat unfamiliar with the wonderful world of Chinese noodles, you may also be unfamiliar with the terms ‘dry noodles’ vs ‘wet noodles’. Wet noodles are noodles served in soup broth, which can be spicy or not and include different types of noodles such as beef noodle soup, Chongqing hot and sour glass noodle soup, or a pork and mustard green noodle soups. By contrast, dry noodles are saucy but not brothy. Sichuan cuisine boasts a few dry noodle dishes, including the iconic dan dan noodles, of course. But there are a couple of other other dry noodle dishes that haven’t garnered the same level of global fame and that also deserve a shoutout: the Chengdu ZaJiangMian, or the Wuhan Reganmian.
Fun fact: noodles are often eaten in China for breakfast as a popular staple food. And legend has it, that dry noodles were invented so that boat workers along the Yangtze River could eat their noodles from their boats without having broth slosh everywhere.
A Note on Yibin Yacai
Yibin yacai, also known as Yibin preserved vegetables, Yibin pickled mustard greens, or sui mi ya cai (what you will find written in pinyin on the packaging of this traditional yibin style pickle) is a type of preserved vegetable. In Sichuan cooking, Yibin yacai is commonly used in noodle dishes, hot pots, stir-fries, and as a filling for buns. It adds depth of flavor and a characteristic tanginess to these dishes.
Yibin yacai is made from the stems of a specific type of mustard plant, which are fermented, salted, and then dried. The result is a slightly salty, savory, and pungent condiment that adds a unique flavor to dishes. The preserved vegetable has a distinctive appearance, with a dark green color and a crunchy texture.
And while the infamous yacai has gain traction outside of the Sichuan province, it can still be somewhat hard to source in the US. I can source it from one of 3 Asian markets I go to, but luckily, you can find it on Amazon.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Alkaline wheat noodles or any Chinese-style wheat flour noodles (alkaline noodles if you can find them), fresh noodles are best, but you can buy dried noodles as well.
- Pasta water or chicken broth: A bit of hot water taken from the pot you cooked the pasta in is one of the ingredients to thin out the sauce.
- Soy sauce: Light and dark soy sauces if you plan on making the minced pork topping.
- Chili oil (You can make your own or use your favorite store-bought brand): chili oil, or red oil are commonplace in Sichuan cooking, and most chili oils include ingredients such as sichuan peppercorns, star anise, and cassia bark, or cinnamon stick. It’s also interesting to note that traditionally this chili oil would be made with rapeseed oil and lard, giving the noodles a very distinct taste that is hard to replicate stateside, owing to the fact that finding rapeseed oil can be hard to come by. You can use peanut oil as a substitute.
- Sesame oil
- Dry-roasted peanuts
- Sesame seeds
- Yibin yacai: You can find this on Amazon by searching yibin ya cai or sui mi ya cai.
- Green onion
- Chinese black vinegar, for serving
How to Make Yibin Noodles at Home
Prep the toppings. In a medium frying pan, add a tablespoon of oil and saute the yacai for a minute or two. Remove and set aside. Then, in the same pan, heat 2 more tablespoons of oil. Add the pork, the dark soy sauce, the light soy sauce, the ground white pepper, the sugar, and the Sichuan peppercorn powder and msg, if using. Stir fry until cooked through, and break up with a spatula into small bits. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside.
Then, make the noodles. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Remove the noodles with chopsticks or tongs and into a bowl. When you use Chinese-style wheat noodles, you NEED to rinse them in cold water upon removing them from the cooking water. This a) stops the cooking process and b) keeps them from clumping up into one giant ball of pasta. Reserve the water to blanche your bok choy or other green of choice.
Tip: You can store excess noodles submerged in cold water to use the next day if you think you’ll have leftovers.
Get saucy! While the water is heating, prepare the sauce in each individual serving bowl (except, of course, the pasta water, which you can add before removing the cooked noodles from the water).
Blanche the bok choy. After you remove the noodles from the pot of water, add pasta water to the bowls, then blanch Shanghai bok choy in the pasta water for a few seconds, until it turns a deeper shade of green. Remove, set aside.
Build your bowls. Layer noodles in bowl, and top with minced pork, ya cai, chopped green onions, bok choy (or other green), and crushed peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.
Serve and eat! To eat, use your chopsticks to fold sauce and ingredients into your bowl of noodles. Optionally, you can set Chinese black vinegar and more chili oil out on the table to let people season to taste. Enjoy! 慢慢吃!
📖 Recipe
Yibin Burning Noodles
Ingredients
Pork Topping, distributed equally over the tops of 4 bowls
- ½ pound ground pork
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- Optional: ½ teaspoon ground sichuan pepper
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon MSG or salt to taste)
Noodles
- 14- 16 ounces Chinese-style wheat noodles 3.5 ounces per bowl
Sauce (Per Bowl)
- 3 tablespoons chili oil
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1½ tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons reserved pasta water
Other Toppings, distributed equally over the tops of 4 bowls
- 4 tablespoons ya cai
- 4-5 ounces Shanghai Bok Choy or Tatsoi
- 4 tablespoons peanuts dry roasted and roughly crushed
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds freshly toasted
- 3 scallions green parts only, sliced thin
Instructions
- Prep the toppings. In a medium frying pan, add a tablespoon of oil (preferably peanut but vegetable or canola also work) and saute the yacai for a minute or two. Remove and set aside. Then, in the same pan, heat 2 more tablespoons of oil.
- To the frying pan you were just using, add a tablespoon of oil and then add the ground pork, the dark soy sauce, the light soy sauce, the ground white pepper, the sugar, and the Sichuan peppercorn powder and msg, if using. Stir fry until cooked through, and break up with a spatula into small bits. Once cooked, remove from heat and set aside.
- Then, make the noodles. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Remove the noodles with chopsticks or tongs and into a bowl. When you use Chinese-style wheat noodles, you NEED to rinse them in cold water upon removing them from the cooking water. This a) stops the cooking process and b) keeps them from clumping up into one giant ball of pasta. Reserve the water to blanche your bok choy or other green of choice.
- While the water is heating, prepare the sauce in each individual serving bowl (except, of course, the pasta water, which you can add before removing the cooked noodles from the water).
- Blanche the bok choy. After you remove the noodles from the pot of water, add pasta water to the bowls, then blanch Shanghai bok choy in the pasta water for a few seconds, until a deeper shade of green. Remove, set aside.
- Layer noodles in bowl, and top with minced pork, ya cai, chopped green onions, bok choy (or other green), and crushed crushed peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.
- To eat, use your chopsticks to fold sauce and ingredients into your bowl of noodles. Optionally, you can set Chinese black vinegar and more chili oil out on the table to let people season to taste. Enjoy! 慢慢吃!
