Yakisoba
Yakisoba is a traditional Japanese stir-fry dish that features ingredients like tender noodles, sliced chicken, thinly sliced veggies and the most incredible sauce! It all comes together in just a few easy steps and is SO much better than take out.
Yakisoba
There’s really nothing better than a good stir-fry sometimes! I used to live on stir-fry from various Chinese and Japanese restaurants, but now that I’ve mastered the simple art of the stir-fry in my own kitchen, I never order in anymore! The key to a good homemade stir-fry really is the sauce. I used to try using store bought stir-fry sauces all the time and never had great results…
Until I started mixing up the sauce ingredients myself! This classic Yakisoba sauce recipe features soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and a sprinkle of sugar. It may sound like a strange combination of ingredients, but I promise that it all blends together to create the most mouthwatering sweet, salty, and savory flavor palate!
Another thing I really love about Yakisoba is that it’s loaded with veggies! Mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and onions add a wonderful amount of nutrients that pair perfectly with the protein-packed chicken. Usually, stir-fry is seen as a “cheat” meal or as an indulgence, but this recipe kind of flips that notion on its head. I love how well rounded and flavorful this easy dinner is!
How to Make Yakisoba
Honestly, you can probably make Yakisoba faster than you can have it delivered to your front door.
Cook the noodles. First things first! Cook the dry yakisoba/udon noodles according to package instructions. To loosen up the noodles a little bit, rinse them under hot water after you drain them in a colander. This will also help prevent them from sticking together.
Make the sauce. Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together in a small bowl. Do a taste test and add more sugar for sweetness or soy sauce for saltiness, whatever you prefer!
Cook the chicken. In a large skillet (or wok), heat oil over medium high heat until it’s very hot. Season the meat with pepper and add it to the pan. Cook it until it’s fully cooked, which should take about 4-5 minutes.
Cook those veggies. Cook the onions and carrots first for about 2 minutes. Then, toss in the cabbage and cook until tender for about 3-4 minutes. The last veggies to go in are the mushrooms and scallions.
Finish it all off, and enjoy! Reduce the heat to medium. Stir in the noodles and sauce, then serve immediately.
Variations to Try
Here are just a few ways to customize your Yakisoba!
- Make it saucier. The sauce ingredients yield the ½ cup needed for the yakisoba stir-fry, if you like more sauce, the amount can easily be doubled.
- Swap the noodles. If you can’t find yakisoba noodles, Japanese udon noodles will provide the same results. The dry noodles can be found in the International section of your local grocery store. The dry noodles may be pre-sectioned. This recipe used 2 small bundles of dry noodles, cooked according to package instructions
- Customize the sauce. When you’re done mixing the sauce ingredients, do a quick taste test. Feel free at that point to make it sweeter, saltier, or whatever else you feel like.
- Make it meatless OR change the meat. You can easily make this Yakisoba meatless by omitting the chicken. You can also swap it for shrimp, steak, tofu, or whatever else your heart desires.
Storage
You can store leftover Yakisoba in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days. Feel free to reheat those leftovers in the microwave in 30 seconds increments until warmed all the way through!
I don’t recommend freezing this stir-fry.
Grab some chopsticks and enjoy more of my favorite Asian-inspired recipes!
- Japanese Pork Katsu
- Spicy Kani Salad
- Shrimp Tempura Roll
- Spicy Singapore Noodles (Singapore Chow Mei Fun)
- Chicken Chop Suey
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Get the Recipe: Yakisoba
Ingredients
For the Yakisoba Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
- 3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
For the Stir-fry:
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 pound thin sliced chicken, or other protein
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup yellow onion, julienne
- 1 carrot, julienne
- 5 mushroom, cremini or shiitake sliced
- 3 scallions, cut in 1” pieces greens only
- ½ cup cabbage, shredded
- 2 bundles dry yakisoba or Japanese udon noodle, cooked and drained according to package instructions (2 bundles of dry noodles will yield 16oz cooked noodles)
- ½ cup yakisoba sauce – made from recipe above
Equipment
- skillet
Instructions
- Cook the dry yakisoba/udon noodles according to package instructions, drain noodles in a colander and rinse under hot water to loosen up the noodles.
- Mix all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste to make sure it is to your liking; if it’s too sour you can add more sugar if too sweet add more soy sauce. Set aside.
- In large skillet or wok on medium-heat heat oil until very hot then season the meat with pepper and add to the pan cook until meat is done about 4 – 5 minutes
- Add onion and carrots, cook for 2 minutes
- Add the cabbage and cook until just tender about 3-4 minutes
- Next, add the mushrooms and scallions
- Reduced the heat to medium and add the noodles and sauce, mix it all together well
- Serve immediately