Yaki Udon
Published Dec. 7, 2023
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons dark soy sauce
- 2tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 2tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1tablespoon mirin
- 1tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1pound frozen udon noodles
- Toasted sesame oil, for drizzling
- 2tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½pound ground pork, or beef, chicken or turkey
- 1small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 4ounces white or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
- 1large carrot, scrubbed or peeled, cut into thin 3-inch-long sticks
- 1medium bok choy, sliced into ½-inch pieces
- 3large garlic cloves, chopped
- 3scallions, sliced into 2-inch pieces, plus more for serving
- Crushed red pepper, to taste
- Sesame seeds, furikake or chile oil, for serving (optional)
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a medium bowl, combine the dark soy sauce, low-sodium soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin, rice vinegar and sugar. Taste a little and balance salty, acidic and sweet flavors, if needed.
- Step 2
Bring a medium pot of water to boil over medium-high. Add the frozen noodles and cook, gently nudging them apart, until they separate and are pleasantly chewy, about 2 minutes. Drain, quickly rinse with cold water to stop the cooking, transfer to a medium bowl and drizzle with a little sesame oil (about 1 teaspoon) so they don’t stick to each other.
- Step 3
In a wok or a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium-high. Add the pork and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a small bowl.
- Step 4
Pour the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil into the wok. Add the onion and mushrooms, and stir-fry, tossing frequently, until fragrant and the vegetables take on a little color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrot, bok choy and garlic; constantly stir until the vegetables cook but still have a crunch, about 3 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cooked pork; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the noodles and sauce, tossing until the noodles are coated and glossy. Taste and adjust any seasonings, if needed.
- Step 5
Transfer yaki udon to bowls, and top each serving with chopped scallion and crushed red pepper, to taste. Serve with sesame seeds, furikake and chile oil, if you like.
- Dark soy sauce can be found at Asian markets, online and some grocery stores. If you can’t find it, you can use regular soy sauce and adjust sugar amounts, but the sauce won’t be as thick and glossy.
Private Notes
Comments
as a japanese person who’s comfort food is yaki udon, this recipe is way too much. Just looking at it, it’s going to be too salty. All my family did was use the soy soup base, the same you would use to make udon soup or somen base soup. that’s all you need. and it is the best.
I didn't have frozen udon on hand so made it without as a stir fry and ate it over rice.. lol it was GOOD! I'm Japanese and I also think as written it's too salty. I would use a 1:1 ratio of soy sauce and mirin plus whatever amount of oyster/hoisin sauce you desire.
Really loved it as directed - using trader joe's vacuum packed udon noodles, which didn't need to be precooked. Don't have Asian grocery nearby. Next time I'd add pepper flakes early and maybe peanuts. I'd leave out the sugar. Too sweet.
I've made this so many times - it's just delicious. For any NYT recipe I double the sauce. I use lean grass-fed beef and whatever vegetables I have - tonight it's our own dehydrated shiitake, snap peas, carrots, celery, green peppers and spinach. With vacuum udon noodles in the pantry and beef in the freezer, this comes together anytime without a trip to the store. Most often I make it when my husband is away so I can eat it all weekend by myself.
I loved the sauce in this recipe! I didn't have oyster sauce so I looked up options and made a substitute out of anchovies, Worcester sauce, and brown sugar. I used double the bok choy, added a little red and yellow pepper for color, and left out the tablespoon of white sugar. This is a new favorite.
For add-ins I used carrots, mushrooms, minced pork, baby bok-choy. The Udon I used were pre-cooked so I should have added the bok-choy right at the beginning while the noodles were breaking apart. I felt the noodles cooked a bit too long, For aromatics, garlic, ginger, green onions, shallotl For the sauce I used Bachan's Japanese BBQ sauce as a base. It needed a bit of spicing up so I added some chili oil, tamari for salt, rice vinegar to sharpen it up. It all came together very nicely.
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