Yakisoba is a lightning fast Japanese noodle stir-fry made with a sweet and tangy sauce. This 25-minute recipe is made with succulent strips of pork, cabbage, and a medley of vegetables.
Stir-Fries Like This Are the Ultimate Meal-in-One
Not to be confused with classic soba noodles or my favorite yaki udon, this yakisoba recipe has been on our meal rotation for several weeks now. And as long as my hubby is happy to keep eating it, I’m more than willing to spend the mere 25 minutes it takes to get this pork and cabbage stir-fry on the table on busy nights.
Unfamiliar with this popular Japanese stir-fry? Yakisoba is made with chewy wheat noodles, veggies like cabbage, carrots, and brean sprouts, and your choice of protein. But what makes yakisoba so dang delicious is the sweet-savory-tangy sauce clinging to every bite.
This is the perfect recipe to keep tucked up your sleeve when you’ve got lots of produce to use up and need to get dinner on the table ASAP. You can mix and match pretty much any combination of noodle + protein + veg, because the yakisoba sauce is that good.
Enjoy!
Heidi’s Tips for Recipe Success
Skip the bottled sauce and make your own. Yakisoba sauce requires just 4 basic ingredients (plus salt) and tastes so much better than anything store-bought. By making your own, you also have control over how sweet, tangy, or salty your stir-fry is.
Freeze minced ginger to save time later. Fresh ginger goes bad pretty quickly, but you can finely mince or grate it in bulk and freeze in ice cube trays to use later. Add the frozen cube of ginger straight to the pan; such a small amount will defrost very quickly.
Use thinly sliced boneless pork chops. Authentic Japanese yakisoba often calls for rich, fatty pork belly you can find at most Asian grocery stores. I prefer using boneless pork chops, sliced thinly into long strips, which deliver a similar meaty flavor and cook in just a few minutes.
The Main Ingredients
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Yakisoba sauce — The sweet and tangy stir-fry sauce is made with oyster sauce (adds a strong umami flavor and isn’t super fishy), ketchup, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Yakisoba noodles — Ideally you’d buy fresh yakisoba noodles, but dried works too. Make sure to soak them in warm water first to help separate their chewy strands.
- Oil — Use a neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point, like canola or vegetable oil.
- Aromatics — Fresh ginger and yellow onion are the flavor foundation of the stir-fry.
- Vegetables — I used a blend of green cabbage, mushrooms, green onions, matchstick carrots, and bean sprouts.
- Pork — I thinly sliced boneless pork chops this time, but pork belly or ground pork works too.
Can’t find yakisoba noodles? You may also use ramen noodles, udon noodles, or even spaghetti noodles. Do NOT use regular soba noodles, which are made from buckwheat and won’t work in this recipe.
How to Make Yakisoba with Pork and Cabbage
- Soak the noodles. I tested this recipe with both soaked and unsoaked fresh yakisoba noodles, and the method using soaked noodles worked so much better. When you skip soaking the noodles, they stay stuck together in their compacted disc and don’t stir-fry very easily.
- Whisk together the sauce. Make sure to whisk the sauce together before starting the stir-fry process, because once things start going into the hot skillet this recipe moves fast.
Heidi’s Tip: The pork and veggies all cook very quickly, so I suggest having everything sliced, diced, and minced before you even heat up the skillet.
- Stir-fry the ginger and pork. Add a little oil to a large skillet and heat it over medium-high heat until it’s screaming hot. Add the ginger and cook, stirring often, for 30 seconds, then add the thinly sliced pork.
- Add the veggies. You’ll want to add the carrots, mushrooms, and onion first so they have time to soften before the cabbage goes in. Cabbage wilts down very quickly, and by adding it last we’re able to preserve some of its texture without it becoming mushy.
- Sauce and noodle it up. Stir in the bean sprouts, green onions, yakisoba sauce, and noodles, and continue cooking just until everything is warmed through.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Yakisoba
Ingredients
Yakisoba Sauce
- 4 tablespoons ketchup
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
Stir-Fry
- 1 pound yakisoba noodles
- ¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1 inch ginger root, grated or minced, about 2 tablespoons
- ½ pound boneless pork chops, sliced into 1 ½ – 2” long, thin slices, about ⅜” inch thick
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- ½ large carrot, cut into matchsticks
- ½ cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
- ¼ head cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2-3 green onions, green and white parts sliced into 2-inch pieces
- 1 cup bean sprouts
Instructions
- Soak the noodles to separate. Add 1 pound of yakisoba noodles to a large bowl and cover with hot water. Soak for 5-10 minutes or until the noodles separate easily, drain, and set aside.
- Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together 4 tablespoons ketchup, 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, and ½ teaspoon Kosher salt until smooth, then set aside.
- Stir-fry the pork. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a 12-inch skillet or wok over medium-high. Add 2 tablespoons grated ginger and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Add ½ pound thinly sliced pork, stirring constantly, and fry for 1 minute.
- Add the vegetables. Add 1 thinly sliced yellow onion, ½ thinly sliced carrot, ½ cup shiitake mushrooms. Fry for 1-2 minutes until the carrot and onion start to soften. Add ¼ head sliced cabbage and cook for another minute.
- Stir in the sauce and the noodles. Add the reserved sauce, 2-3 sliced green onions, 1 cup bean sprouts, and the softened noodles, then toss well to coat. Cook until the noodles are warmed through, about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and serve.
Nutrition
FAQs
If you can find them, actual yakisoba stir-fry noodles are the best (go figure!). Fresh yakisoba noodles are often stocked in the refrigerated section of larger grocery stores as well as most Asian grocery stores.
If you can’t find yakisoba noodles, fresh or dried ramen noodles are the next best thing. Udon would work too, but it’s a much larger noodle with more chew to it.
No! Avoid using soba noodles in this recipe, which are made with buckwheat instead of wheat and don’t provide the desired texture or flavor for this dish.
Of course! Yakisoba is most commonly made with cabbage, carrots, onions, and bean sprouts, but you’re welcome to use any stir-fry veggies you have on hand.
What to Serve With Yakisoba
Storage Tips
Leftovers can be stored airtight in the fridge for about 3 days. I suggest reheating the stir-fry in a lightly oiled skillet over medium heat. This revives the leftovers and doesn’t make the noodles soggy like the microwave does.
More Quick and Easy Stir-Fry Recipes
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