Let me first say that I’m sure this is probably not authentic Chicken Yakisoba. I’ve never actually eaten this classic Japanese street food on the streets of Japan, but I have seen Mark Bittman make this yakisoba on his show, The Minimalist, and I knew I had to make it myself. Those noodles looked so lip-licking good, were packed with vegetables, and it just looked so easy. In other words, it was just my style. ;)
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What is Yakisoba Sauce Made Of?
Yakisoba sauce is a sweet, savory, and tangy mix of soy sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings. Some yakisoba sauce recipes include oyster sauce, which has a more rich umami flavor. I also added sriracha to my yakisoba sauce because I like things a little spicy!
What Does Chicken Yakisoba Taste Like?
The addition of ketchup makes this sauce super tangy, and a splash of Worcestershire gives it a uniquely sweet-umami flavor. I used a whole tablespoon of sriracha in my sauce because I really like my food spicy, but feel free to reduce that to 1/2 tablespoon or even a teaspoon if you want the sauce a bit more tame.
Can I Use Different Noodles?
Yes. I used ramen noodles because they’re inexpensive and easy to find. If you can find actual “yaki-soba” noodles, those will be the best choice. You’ll get the best price for yaki-soba noodles at an Asian grocery store. If you can’t find yaki-soba noodles and prefer not to use inexpensive ramen noodles, udon noodles or any other straight Asian noodle will still taste great drenched in this sauce.
Can I Use Different Vegetables?
The wonderful thing about this recipe is that you can use just about any mix of vegetables that you have leftover in your fridge. Just stay away from very watery vegetables, like tomatoes. Also, to make life easier, you can replace the hand-shredded cabbage and carrots with a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots).
Homemade Chicken Yakisoba
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1/2 head green cabbage ($0.41)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.55)
- 2 carrots ($0.25)
- 1 crown broccoli ($0.70)
- 1 inch fresh ginger ($0.52)
- 1 large chicken breast ($1.66)
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.08)
- 2 3oz. packages ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded ($0.50)
- 1 tsp sesame oil, optional ($0.19)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.24)
- 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce ($0.20)
- 2 Tbsp ketchup ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp sriracha ($0.26)
- 1 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
Instructions
- Before you begin, prepare the meat and vegetables for stir frying. Peel the ginger with either a vegetable peeler or the side of a spoon and then grate it with a cheese grater. Peel and grate the carrots with a large holed cheese grater. Remove the core from the cabbage and cut into thin strips. Slice the onion into thin strips. Cut the broccoli into bite-sized pieces. Slice the chicken into thin strips.
- Begin boiling a medium pot full of water for the noodles. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the grated ginger, saute for about 30 seconds to one minute (its okay if it sticks to the pan but don’t let it burn). Add the chicken strips and cook until they are no longer pink (about five minutes).
- Once the chicken is cooked through, add all of the vegetables. Stir and cook until wilted (about 5-10 minutes). Meanwhile, once the water boils, add the noodles and cook just until tender (2-3 minutes). Drain, return to the pot (with the heat turned off) and toss with the sesame oil to keep from sticking.
- In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, sriracha, and sugar. Use only 1/2 tsp of sriracha if you don’t want it spicy, use up to 1 Tbsp if you like it hot. Stir until the ketchup and sugar are dissolved. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the chicken and vegetables with the heat still on medium high. Add the noodles, stir to coat everything in the sauce, and heat through (just a few minutes).
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Equipment
- Color Cutting Boards
- Chef’s Knife
- Stainless Steel Pots and Pans
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Want more ways to dress up your ramen noodles? Check out 6 Ways to Upgrade Instant Ramen, Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles, Lime Shrimp Dragon Noodles, or Pork and Peanut Dragon Noodles.
How to Make Homemade Chicken Yakisoba – Step By Step Photos
Prepare the Yakisoba sauce first, so that it’s ready to go when you need it. In a medium bowl, stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 2 Tbsp ketchup, 1 Tbsp sriracha, 1 Tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp toasted sesame oil.
This is the “toasted” sesame oil. It doesn’t always say “toasted on the bottle, but you can tell this is the toasted variety because of the deep brown color and because it’s sold in a tiny bottle. Toasted sesame oil has a much stronger nutty flavor and only a small amount is needed for a big impact.
Next, slice up your vegetables. Thinly slice one yellow onion and 1/2 a small head of green cabbage. Use a large-holed cheese grater to grate 1-2 carrots. Cut one crown of broccoli into small, bite-sized florets.
Slice one chicken breast (about 3/4 lb.) into very thin strips. I like to do about 1/4-1/2 inch wide and about 2 inches long.
Grate about one inch of fresh ginger. Heat a very large skillet (at least 12″ diameter) over medium heat, then add 2 Tbsp vegetable oil. Tilt the skillet to distribute the oil, then add the grated ginger. Sauté briefly (about 30 seconds), then add the sliced chicken and continue to cook until the chicken pieces are cooked through.
Add the sliced vegetables and continue to sauté until they are slightly wilted, but still bright in color.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and cook two 3oz. bricks of ramen noodles until tender, then drain in a colander.
Finally, pour the prepared yakisoba sauce onto the vegetables and stir to combine.
Then add your cooked and drained ramen and stir until everything is combined and coated in the sauce. THE END. Easy, right?
<3 Chicken Yakisoba!
Sweet, tangy, and a little spicy.
Any starchy food takes a while to digest, but not as long as three weeks, ramen included.
I made this yakisoba last night and loved it! My husband was skeptical at first, but in the end he ate two huge plate fulls. I didn’t use Sriracha, because I didn’t have any, but the chili-garlic sauce I did have is very similar.
Amazing flavor! Just found your site – recommended by my daughter and I’ve already made – Chicken Taco bowls (big hit!), teriyake meatball rice bowl (yummy!!) the marinara in the crockpot – super easy and delicious and then tonight – this! You come in at 100% delicious and love your pics and hints. Thank you so much for sharing all the details.
Marmie from Oklahoma
I’ve had this tab open on my browser for weeks, and I’m so glad I finally had all the ingredients at the same time tonight. So delicious. I appreciate your recipes so much. They are always so simple, easily adaptable and use ingredients I either tend to have on hand already or are easy to acquire. THank you!!
Delicious!! I really love it,, and some of my friend wants me to cook this soup again,
I don’t care if it takes 3 weeks for Ramen to digest!! As long as it gets digested at some point!! LAME! Anyway, Beth, thanks for sharing the recipe. I usually make a stir fry very similar to this but with a seasoning packet and never threw in cabbage. I tried your recipe in all hopes that my kiddos would enjoy. I don’t even think they noticed the cabbage :) I left out the siracha and added it to mine and hubby’s bowl to make it kid friendly. DELISH! Thanks!
Statements like this should always be taken with a grain of salt. There are a million factors that affect digestion, such as what other foods you’re eating, how much fluids you consume, the amount of exercise you get, your hormones, and many other personal variables. Claiming that any certain food takes an “X” amount of time to digest is an extreme blanket statement.
Ramen from the Ramen Noddle packets take about 3 weeks to fully digest. Just a little side note for anyone who doesn’t know.
While I agree that Ramen is not a great choice for eating, nothing takes 3 weeks to digest!
I did however make this recipe tonight and everyone in my family loved it – including my kids! Thanks for the recipe!
Next time I will purchase another kind of Asian noodle and spend the extra $ just so we aren’t eating Ramen
This recipe is fantastic! Definitely a keeper! My grocery store was out of the Sriracha, so I bought some spicy red chilli sauce that looked good and used a tablespoon of that instead. I also used honey instead of the sugar, but I can see why white sugar was used because it does need that sweetness. I used Yakisoba noodles from the cold cases at the store (definitely more expensive but soo much more convenient) just microwave 1 minute and add to your skillet. Thanks so much for a great recipe!
This recipe is 213 calories per serving! Yummy and not bad calorically.
This was delicious, and I already had everything for it. Thanks!
I made this tonight and it was super fast and yummy. Thanks for another great and affordable recipe.
Tonight’s the second time I’m making this, and my boyfriend and I love it!!! It is so easy and cheap to make, we cannot thank you enough for your awesomeness, this is a great recipe, easy, cheap, delicious and very filling, always have leftovers to heat up the next day for lunch and its best heating it up on the stove with a little olive oil so it doesn’t stick to the pan and a little bit more sirracha if you like it hot and we do and its a hit again! Thank you Beth! :)
Just made this but used pork instead of chicken, and for vegetables bell pepper, mushrooms, cabbage, onion, and broccoli! AMAZING!
This was SO good! I didn’t have sesame oil so I added a tsp of peanut butter. It may not be the most traditional thing to use, but it added the nutty flavor that I wanted. PB is something I always have on hand and was a much cheaper alternative to sesame oil.
i made this today with tofu. super yummy! thanks.