Leftover Ground Beef Is Perfect For This Easy Chinese Noodle Dish

With the out-of-control meat prices these days, it's tempting to stock up on ground beef when there's a good sale, even if that means struggling to figure out how to cook it after. Sure, you can bake up a batch of burgers or make an old-school ground beef dish like sloppy Joe. If you're feeling bold, you might even use your surplus in a dessert recipe, like beef fudge (yes, this is a real thing). However, former "Top Chef" contestant Shirley Chung has a different idea. In an exclusive interview with The Takeout, she suggested making dan dan noodles with leftover ground beef.

Dan dan noodles are a classic Sichuan dish (Sichuan being a popular Chinese cuisine), in which noodles are tossed in a spicy and nutty sauce and topped with minced meat and pickled vegetables. Though it's typically made with ground pork, beef is sometimes used. "Adding ground beef to the sauce will make it more robust in flavor," Chung told us. 

And it still allows Chung to bring out the "traditional flavor profile of the Sichuan region." When the beef is stir-fried with aromatics — specifically ginger, garlic, scallion, soy sauce, chili, and Sichuan peppercorn — it complements the spicy numbing (mala) peanut sesame sauce.

Incorporating the leftover ground beef into dan dan noodles is fairly straightforward. Simply saute and brown the ground beef with minced ginger, scallions, and salt. Once it's cooked, set it aside while you prepare the sauce, noodles, and vegetables. Traditional dan dan noodles often include leafy greens, such as bok choy and pickled mustard greens called suì mǐ yá cài. When each component is prepared, Shirley Chung advised, "Cook everything together; let the flavors meld with each other for [a] couple [of] minutes to finish the dish."

And, of course, ground beef can be used in other Chinese dishes, too. "Leftover ground beef is very versatile; you can add it to any stir-fry dishes, and it will become a part of the sauce and add meatiness to the dish," Chung said. You can also make meat sauce with it using aromatics, including soy sauce and oyster sauce, to then enjoy over a bed of rice or noodles. 

The hearty flavor of beef is particularly well-suited to spicy foods, too."Ground beef's beefiness can stand up to many big flavors — think cumin, chile peppers, Sichuan peppercorn, curry powder. [They] all go well with it," Chung said.