When it comes to electric pressure cooking, few names carry as much authority as Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. The longtime cookbook collaborators behind The Instant Pot Bible have spent years systematically translating cuisines from around the globe into recipes you can pull off on a Tuesday night. Their Instant Pot Dan Dan Noodles video distills decades of testing into a single, deeply satisfying weeknight bowl — and it is exactly the kind of recipe that shows what a well-stocked pantry plus one good pot can do.
Dan Dan noodles take their name from the bamboo carrying poles that street vendors in Sichuan once used to balance their stoves and bowls. The dish is built on a foundation of nutty sesame, tongue-tingling Sichuan peppercorn, chili crisp, and crumbled pork seasoned until the edges turn lacquered and savory. Done well, every bite hits at least four distinct sensations: heat, numbness, salt, and rich umami. The genius of bringing it into an Instant Pot is that you do not have to layer in flavor across three separate pans. You build the pork sauce, add aromatics, then drop in dried noodles and just enough broth so they cook directly in the pot, soaking up every drop of that chili-laced liquor.
Key tips from this recipe
- The noodles cook in the same pot as the sauce, so there is no draining, no rinsing, and almost no cleanup at the end.
- Toasting Sichuan peppercorns and chili flakes briefly on Saute before adding liquid coaxes out their oils and gives the dish its hallmark floral, electric-tongue tingle.
- A finishing drizzle of black vinegar and a spoonful of toasted sesame paste right at the end keeps the texture creamy and the flavor balanced rather than one-note spicy.
- Because the cook time on dried noodles inside an Instant Pot is so short, this is a recipe that rewards mise en place — have everything chopped and measured before you press Start.
Watch the recipe
If you want to see exactly how Bruce and Mark layer the flavors, walk through their technique alongside them in this short demonstration:
Make it your own
A bowl like this also makes a strong case for cooking in batches. Our Artisan Cookware Stackable Insert Pans slide right into your Instant Pot and let you steam a tray of bok choy or blanched gai lan above the noodles, so you can serve the pork sauce over fresh greens with no extra hardware to wash. For nights when you want leftovers without sogginess, one of our flame-safe Casseroles is the right home for the finished noodles — straight from the pot to the table, then into the fridge in the same vessel.
Whether you keep it traditional or play with toppings, this is the kind of dish that turns a weeknight into something worth lingering over. Pour yourself something cold, stack the bowls high, and enjoy.
— The Artisan Cookware Kitchen
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