Top 10 Doubanjiang

Juancheng Pixian Douban

As a state-owned company located at Pixian of Sichuan, Sichuan Pixiandouban Corporation inherited two historical brands (元丰源、益丰和) which originated in 1688 and combined them as current Juancheng (鹃城), the alternative name of Pixian city.

Juancheng Pixian douban in paper bags contains only the basic Ingredients of fermented broad beans, chili peppers, wheat flour, salt and water, with potassium sorbate as preservative. It is the best in the class, providing the deepest complex flavor to food it touch. The only disadvatage is that the final dish would be too dark to fit in some setting environments.

The jar packaged also contains only one more ingredient of rapeseed oil.

Dandan Pixian Douban

Sichuan Dandan Seasoning Co Ltd is one of the largest sauce companies in Sichuan. Dandan pixian douban in paper bag, as a top-level product, only contains fermented broad beans, chili peppers, wheat flour, salt and water, with potassium sorbate as preservative. Compared with Juancheng, Dandan is less dried in content, but better balanced between color and taste. It would be the best for Suizhu ( water boiled) dishes.

Qiao Niang Fang Pixian Douban

Qiao Niang Fang brand is one of our top 5 picks of Pixian doubanjiang. One sicientifical research via electronic nose analysis shows that Qiaoniangfang is one the best to cook Mapo Tofu and Twice-Cooked Pork, which is even better than Dandan brand.

Gu Wang Fang Pixian Douban

GuWangFang is one of our top 5 picks of Pixian doubanjiang. It is used by a few large restaurant chains of hotpots in Sichuan.

Youjoy Sichuan Doubanjiang

Youjoy brand is made in Chengdu, but not in Pixian. Youjoy is better than Juancheng in some aspect, but it is usually expired on the shelves of Asian stores. The Chinese names of the three bottles actually mean aged doubanjiang, doubanjiang with baby shrimps, and doubanjiang with chili oil, whille the English translation on labels means chili paste, or there is no English at all.

Mingteh Doubanjiang

The Mingteh brand is recognized as the very first Chili Master who created the original flavor of Taiwan style doubanjiang by The Chronicle of Kangshan since 1986. The original flavor of Mingteh was established by a soldier from Sichuan of China in 1950.

This is the doubanjiang that a Taiwan-style recipe call for.

Mingteh Broad Bean Paste with Chili is a best candidate to substitute Pixian Douban in Sichuan cooking. Mingteh soybean paste is great to cater Sichuan spicy recipes to nonspicy eaters

HarHar Bean Sauces

Harhar doubanjiang is another brand of Kangshan doubanjiang made in Taiwan. It is slightly different from Mingteh for some Taiwanese palates.

This is the doubanjiang that a Taiwan-style recipe call for. It is great to cater Sichuan spicy recipes to nonspicy eaters.

Szechuan Bean Sauces

Szechuan bean sauce is a Taiwan-style doubanjiang made in Taiwan. It contains ingredients of soybean, salt, sugar, water, citric acid, and wheat Flour. The hot version has chili pepper. It is an alternative to Mingteh and Harhar for vegetarians

Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce

This chilli bean sauce is a Cantonese-style doubanjiang made from both fermented soybeans and fermented broad beans, salt, chilli pepper powder, and walter,  with some non-traditional additives, such as sugar, garlic, modified cornstarch, lactic acid and two flavor enhancers.

Cantonese-style doubanjiang

This Cantonese-style doubanjiang is wrongly translated as Broad Bean Paste, but made from both fermented soybeans, salt, wheat flour and water,  with some non-traditional additives, such as sugar, MSG, yellow gum and two more flavor enhancers.