Yakisoba (Japanese Fried Noodles with Chicken and Cabbage)
Inspired by techniques from America's Test Kitchen and NYT Cooking.
Japanese fried noodles tossed with chicken and cabbage in a sweet-savoury sauce built on Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and soy.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Mix the sauce. Stir together the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar in a small bowl. This distinctive blend is what gives yakisoba its familiar tangy-sweet flavour, quite different from a typical soy-based stir-fry sauce.
- 2
Loosen the noodles. Run the noodles under hot water for 1 minute, then shake them dry. Packaged yakisoba noodles are already cooked, so this step simply separates the strands without softening them any further.
- 3
Char the vegetables. Heat 1 tsp of oil in the wok over high heat and stir-fry the onion, carrot and shiitake for 2-3 minutes until spotty brown, then add the cabbage and spring onions and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, leaving everything to sit still between stirs so it chars in places while staying crisp. Letting the vegetables rest against the hot metal rather than stirring constantly is what gives them those browned, flavourful edges.
- 4
Sear and cook the chicken. Lift the vegetables out, add 1 tbsp of oil and spread the chicken in a single layer, searing for 1 minute before stirring and cooking for a further 3-4 minutes until browned all over with no pink remaining and it reaches 74°C at the thickest piece. Searing it first in one layer rather than stirring immediately helps it brown rather than steam in its own moisture.
- 5
Fry the noodles. Add the remaining oil and the loosened noodles to the wok and fry for 1-2 minutes to heat them through and pick up a little colour. This brief fry on their own lets the noodles start to crisp slightly before the sauce goes in.
- 6
Sauce the noodles. Pour in the sauce and water and toss everything, scraping the base of the wok, until the noodles are evenly coated and hot throughout. Scraping the pan as you toss lifts any sauce that's caught on the bottom, so nothing gets left behind.
- 7
Combine and serve. Return the charred vegetables to the wok and toss for 1 minute until everything is well mixed and evenly coloured. Serve topped with pickled red ginger and aonori, if using.
Storage
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in a hot pan or wok with a splash of water until piping hot (74°C) throughout; the noodles can turn a little soft if reheated in a microwave, so a quick pan-fry works better. Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
Equipment
- wok (35 cm) or large non-stick frying pan (30 cm)
- wok spatula or tongs
- small bowls for the prepared ingredients
- colander
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 561 kcal |
| Protein | 30.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 81.6 g |
| of which sugars | 11 g |
| of which free sugars | 3.8 g |
| Fat | 12.8 g |
| of which saturates | 1.8 g |
| Fibre | 4.2 g |
| Salt | 2.13 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
5.4 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
