Easy Yaki Udon Recipe, Japanese Stir Fry Noodles

Yaki udon noodles are a savoury and subtly sweet Japanese stir fry of vegetables, meat, and udon in a soy-based sauce. The noodles' texture allows them to soak the sauce well, making each bite bouncy, flavourful and moist.

The word 'Yaki' refers to the Japanese cooking method of stir-frying the dish. In our yaki udon recipe, we'll show you how to make Japanese stir-fry using beef and prawns. We'll also give you our cooking tips to avoid soggy or mushy noodles.

Jump to:

• Yaki Udon Noodle Ingredients
• Easy Yaki Udon Recipe | Japanese Stir Fry
• How To Cook Perfect Udon Noodles
• Ingredient substitute
• How To Eat Udon
• Varieties Of Udon Noodles

Yaki Udon Noodle Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you'll need to make our Japanese stir-fry recipe.

• Udon noodles
• ground meat
• shrimp
• large white onion, sliced
• spring onion, chopped, separate white and green parts
• carrot, julienned
• mushrooms, sliced
• vegetable oil
• napa cabbage, chopped, separate white part and green leaves
• garlic, minced
• Bonito flakes are optional for garnish
• Seaweed strips are optional for garnish

For the sauce

• dark soy sauce
• light soy sauce
• mirin
• brown sugar
• rice wine vinegar
• sesame oil

Dried or fresh udon

Generally, there are two types: dried and fresh. Dried udon noodles have less dimension and are denser, while fresh udon noodles are springy and light. When we use dried noodles, we like Sanuki Udon from Kagawa prefecture in Japan. 

However, dried types often can't withstand richer, heavier toppings. They also don't have the same elastic, smooth mouthfeel that is characteristic of freshly made thick Japanese noodles.

The fresh ones have a stronger flavour than their dried counterparts. Therefore, we recommend using fresh rather than dried. You can also use frozen udon noodles, but you'll need to watch over them more carefully as frozen types can overcook much easier than fresh or dried ones. 

If you are looking for a fast, interesting, and delicious weeknight dinner, look no further than our yaki udon recipe.

How To Cook Perfect Udon Noodles

Here are some of our tips for cooking this type of thick Japanese noodles. Udon is known for its chewy and slippery texture, so either overcooking or undercooking it will completely ruin the texture of the entire recipe for yaki udon noodles. 

1. To cook it authentically and correctly, bring water to a rolling boil. Salting the water is not necessary. 
2. Add in the noodles and stir them gently and intermittently. This will prevent them from clumping together. 
3. Once each string is separate and seems pliable, they are cooked enough and ready. Remove them from the water via a spider or drain the water directly.
4. Then, immediately rinse them in cold water to stop the cooking process.

Step 3 may take 1 to 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can check the instructions on the package. We suggest undercooking them slightly and finish cooking them in a stir-fry or a broth. This will prevent them from softening too much. 

If you are not cooking the yaki udon noodles immediately, try coating them and tossing them in oil to prevent them from sticking after cooking. The high starch content in the carbs usually causes them to stick. Therefore, the motion of rinsing and stirring, as well as the oil, prevents clumping.

If you are faced with persistent clumping, try adding a little salt to the oil. 

Once they are cooked, you can add them to whatever dish you want. 

However, they will lose their texture if exposed to the air, so put them in a vacuum-sealed container. They will keep it in the fridge for up to two days. 

Ingredient substitute

Ground meat can be chicken, pork, lean beef, or lamb. For our recipe, we combined ground beef with shrimp as the protein. However, you can choose to use only one type of meat or several.

Garlic is not traditional, but we think it pairs great with all the onion flavours in the stir-fry. Give it a try.

For a vegan or vegetarian yaki udon dish, replace the meat with ½ pound of cubed pressed tofu.

Although traditionally frowned upon, you can prepare this stir-fry dish with soba in a pinch. Either way, the noodles are the most important part of preparing these dishes, so make sure you have the best possible ones.

How To Eat Udon

In Japan, it is customary to slurp while consuming noodles. There are several reasons why this might be.

Firstly, slurping enhances the olfactory reception in the sinuses and perhaps the taste. Another reason is that it makes consuming food at a high temperature easier, allowing us to eat them while they are still fresh. Finally, some say it will enable the noodles to retain more soup or sauce on their surface.

Yaki udon noodles and yakisoba are usually eaten from small, handheld bowls with chopsticks. People usually lift the bowls close to their faces instead of bending down, and this method of eating dishes is the overwhelmingly predominant one in Japan. 

However, for Western gourmands, there is the option to use forks and spoons instead. We, however, would not recommend this as a good idea if you are in an authentic Japanese restaurant, in Japan, or both.

Ultimately, the method of eating yaki udon noodles is not as important. It is more a matter of public presentation than something of concern during cooking.

Varieties Of Udon Noodles

Some other Japanese dishes that use this versatile ingredient include:

• Kake: This is a relatively simple preparation. Freshly boiled udon noodles are placed in a donburi (oversized rice bowl), and boiling tsuyu (broth) is poured over them. Chilli or scallions can also be added.
• Zaru: Cold noodles are served in a flat basket with a dipping sauce. The flavour of the cold carbohydrate can be adjusted by adding sauce as necessary. The dish is also served with classic chilli, scallions, and fresh ginger garnishes.
• Tanuki is udon with a specific topping. In the Kanto region, it’s topped with tenkasu (fried tempura crumbs). However, in Kyoto, the noodles are topped with aburaage (flat, thin, crispy fried tofu), tempura sauce, and ginger.
• Nabeyaki: Udon noodles are cooked in a clay pot and served in dashi broth. The dish is topped with various things, including tempura, kamaboko fish cakes, sliced pork or char siu, and vegetables (both pickled and fresh). It is a cold-weather dish.
• Kitsune: These are thick Japanese noodles topped with sweet aburaage.
• Tsukimi: Kake udon with a raw egg cooked in the donburi, often topped with nori seaweed to represent the night sky.

Seeing this list, one might be overwhelmed by the many different types. However, one of the simplest ways to cook this noodle is by making our yaki udon recipe.

Whether you are a beginner or an expert in Japanese cuisine, we hope our recipe taught you something. Cooking is, after all, as much about accessibility and creativity as tradition.