Yakisoba

Name: Yakisoba
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 27 min
Yield: 2 plates
Cuisine: japanese
Ingredients: 300 g Wheat noodles, steamed yakisoba or ramen noodles; 150 g Pork, thin slices; 200 g Cabbage; 0.5 piece Carrot; 0.5 piece Onion; 80 g Bean sprouts; 2 tbsp Soy sauce; 1 tbsp Sugar; 1 tbsp Tomato, ketchup; 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce; 2 tbsp Neutral oil; 2 g Katsuobushi

焼きそば

Wheat noodles tossed on a hot plate with cabbage, pork and a brown sauce — festival food you can make in a frying pan.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: 焼きそば.

0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.

Start cooking

Prep: 15 min
Cook: 12 min
Total: 27 min
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: No chilli
Cost: Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Source photograph of Yakisoba. Not official I Want Some Food pixel artwork. — Photo: Francesc Fort via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source

About

Yakisoba is not soba. It is Chinese-style wheat noodles, stir-fried with cabbage and a Worcester-like sauce. Street stalls cook it on a teppan. At home a wide pan and steamed ramen noodles (the yellow ones, not instant soup bricks if you can help it) still work.

Ingredients

Servings

Wheat noodles, steamed yakisoba or ramen noodles300 g
Pork, thin slices150 g
Cabbage200 g
Carrot½
Onion½
Bean sprouts (optional)80 g
Soy sauce30 ml
Sugar15 ml
Tomato, ketchup15 ml
Oyster Sauce (optional)15 ml
Neutral oil30 ml
Katsuobushi (optional)2 g

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Loosen noodles under warm water if they are stuck. Mix soy, sugar, ketchup and oyster sauce.
3 min
Step 2
Heat a wide pan. Stir-fry pork, then onion, carrot and cabbage. Add noodles and sauce. Toss until everything is coated and a little charred at the edges, 5–6 minutes.
8 min
Step 3
Sprouts at the end. Aonori or katsuobushi if you have them. Beni shoga on the side.

Adapt this recipe

The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 24 August.

Substitutions

Pork → Prawns or just vegetables
Still festival noodles.

Tips

A squeeze of bottled yakisoba sauce is what stalls use. The ketchup-soy mix is the pantry version.
Do not crowd the pan into steamed cabbage.

History & culture

Festivals, school fairs, and the smell of sauce in a park. It is popular food, not kaiseki.

A 20th-century Chinese-inspired stir-fry that Japan named 'fried soba' even though the noodle is wheat.

Modern adaptation

Provenance: Editorial adaptation. Original editorial adaptation for I Want Some Food. Not copied from another recipe site. Official recipe photography is pending. Photograph: Francesc Fort via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yakisoba%20amb%20verdures%20-%20Tora%20Taverna%20Japonesa.jpg

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.

How long does Yakisoba take?

27 min all in — 15 min prep, 12 min cook. That is the time on this recipe, not a guess.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 2 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Easy.

How spicy is it?

No chilli.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Soy. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Dairy-free, Nut-free.

What does it cost to cook?

Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Wok, Frying pan.

How much salt do I put in?

This recipe does not list salt as its own ingredient. Saltiness comes from Soy sauce — 2 tbsp; Oyster Sauce — 1 tbsp (optional). Taste at the end rather than adding a number we did not write.

How much soy sauce?

2 tbsp of Soy sauce.

How much sugar?

1 tbsp of Sugar.

How much oyster sauce?

1 tbsp (optional) of Oyster Sauce.

What can I use instead?

Pork → Prawns or just vegetables. Still festival noodles.

Any tips from this recipe?

A squeeze of bottled yakisoba sauce is what stalls use. The ketchup-soy mix is the pantry version. Do not crowd the pan into steamed cabbage.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.

Similar dishes

Okonomiyaki

お好み焼き

Osaka's cabbage pancake — flour, dashi, a pile of cabbage, and whatever you like, finished with sauce and mayo.

35 minMediumNo chilli

Yaki Udon

Boil some water in a large saucepan. Add 250ml cold water and the udon noodles. (As they are so thick, adding cold water helps them to cook a little bit slower so the middle cooks through). If using frozen or fresh noodl

28 minMedium🌶️

Japchae

잡채

Glossy sweet-potato noodles with sesame, soy and a rainbow of vegetables — banquet food that also does potluck.

55 minMediumNo chilli

In this kitchen

Share card

Explore Japan →