Easy Yakisoba Recipe with Homemade Yakisoba Sauce

Despite the name, there’s no buckwheat soba here. Yakisoba is made with wheat noodles that are steamed and ready to fry, so this yakisoba recipe comes together in about 25 minutes once your vegetables are sliced.

The sauce is the star, and you don’t need a bottle of store-bought yakisoba sauce to get it right. Our yakisoba sauce recipe is a quick mix of Worcestershire, oyster sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and a little sugar that gives you the same savory, fruity depth. We cook it all in the Titanium Braiser Pro. Its wide base gives the noodles room to sizzle instead of steam, and its two side handles make it easy to carry the finished dish straight to the table. Prefer chicken yakisoba? Swap the pork belly for thinly sliced chicken thighs.

For the yakisoba sauce

• 4 tablespoons (60g) Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons (27g) oyster sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons (22g) soy sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons (25g) ketchup
• 1 tablespoon (12g) granulated sugar

For the noodles

• 4 packs (about 20 ounces / 600g) fresh yakisoba noodles (steamed chukamen), seasoning packets discarded
• 1 tablespoon (13g) neutral flavored high heat oil
• 10 ounces (285g) thinly sliced pork belly, cut into 2 in. pieces (or boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced, for chicken yakisoba)
• ¼ teaspoon (1g) kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon (0.5g) ground black pepper
• 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
• 4 cups (about 200g) green cabbage, cut into 1 in. pieces
• 4 scallions, cut into 2 in. lengths
• 1 ½ cups (150g) bean sprouts
• 3 tablespoons (45g) water

To serve

• Beni shoga (pickled red ginger)
• Aonori (dried green seaweed flakes)
• Katsuobushi (bonito flakes), optional
• Kewpie mayonnaise, optional

1. To make the yakisoba sauce, stir together the Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, ketchup and sugar in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
2. To loosen the noodles, place them in a colander and pour warm water over them, gently separating the strands with your fingers. Shake off as much water as possible and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in the Titanium Braiser Pro over medium-high heat. Add the pork belly in a single layer, season with the salt and pepper, and cook until the fat has rendered and the edges are golden and crisp, 3–4 minutes. If using chicken, cook until browned and cooked through, 4–5 minutes.
4. Add the onion and carrot and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until the onion starts to soften. Add the cabbage and cook, tossing often, until it is just wilted but still has some crunch, about 2 minutes.
5. Add the noodles and the water to the pan. Toss everything together with silicone-tipped tongs or a spatula, lifting and turning the noodles so they heat through evenly and pick up a little color, 2–3 minutes.
6. Pour the sauce over the noodles and add the scallions and bean sprouts. Toss constantly until every strand is coated and the sauce has turned glossy, 1–2 minutes.
7. Carry the pan to the table by its two handles and serve the yakisoba family-style in serving bowls, topped with pickled red ginger, a sprinkle of aonori, bonito flakes and a drizzle of Kewpie mayo, if using.