Yakisoba – Japanese Stir-fried Noodles

When you watch cop drama shows on TV, have you noticed that for some reason the detectives often eat Chinese food directly out of those white carryout cartons as they huddle to discuss the case?

The noodles they eat always looks SO good.  And when the power of visual influence is so strong, I decide to go get some Chinese noodles.  But I’m almost always disappointed. 

And I have Yakisoba to blame for that.  My standards for stir fried noodles are so high because I grew up eating yakisoba.

Yakisoba can be described as the Japanese version of the Chinese stir fried noodles, Lo Mein.  They are both stir fried soft noodles, both stir fried with vegetables, and both appear to be soy-sauce-based flavor.  They look almost identical but for some reason, Yakisoba tastes quite different from Lo Mein.

Why?

It’s the sauce.  Yakisoba tastes much more complex because it’s not just soy sauce, sugar and ginger as in the case with most Lo Mein.   But it’s not complicated to make either.  You just have to have the right set of ingredients. 

Yakisoba is another one of the street-food-turned-comfort-food in Japanese cuisine.  As with any other Japanese cuisine, there are regional variations with the most notable variation being Okinawan Yakisoba.  Noodles in Okinawan Yakisoba tend to be thicker and chewier than the traditional ramen-type noodles used in the rest of the country.

Related article: Check out the recipe for Okonomiyaki, another favorite comfort food with regional flairs.

Meat Substitution

The most common meat used in yakisoba is pork — specifically, thinly sliced pork belly.  Thinly sliced pork belly (or pork belly in general) isn’t easy to find in grocery stores in the U.S.  So, I typically use pork chops and thinly slice (julienne) them.  You can also substitute with bacon or even chicken for this recipe.

Vegetables in Yakisoba

Yakisoba also almost always has cabbage stir fried with the noodles.  The story is that after the war, even simple ingredients like flour were hard to come by. So cabbage was added helped to increase the volume of the food. And because cabbage becomes watery when stir-fried watering down the flavor with it, sauce was further added to improve the flavor. 

You can cut up and stir fry any other kinds of vegetables you like with it.  More commonly used vegetables are:

• Cabbage
• Onions
• Green onions
• Carrots
• Shiitake mushrooms

What’s in the yakisoba sauce?

So what’s in the magical sauce that separates yakisoba from other similar Asian noodle dishes?  There are variations of the sauce recipes, but the primary ingredients almost always include soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce.  Add various ingredients including ketchup, oyster sauce, sake, mirin, or sugar to adjust the flavor to your liking.  Japanese brand Worcestershire sauce, Bulldog Worcestershire sauce, is highly recommended for the recipe.  Regular Worcestershire sauce is perfectly fine, although some adjustment may be necessary using ketchup or sugar to achieve the authentic flavor.

You can totally cheat and purchase a pre-mixed “Yakisoba Sauce.” Or alternatively, some recipes use pre-mixed “Tonkatsu Sauce” instead.  Use the recipe below for the sauce if you prefer to make sauces from scratch to control the flavor. 

Try Yakisoba and you’ll never go back to Lo Mein!

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