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. ;)
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).
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
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.
Wow it looks fantastic and also beautiful
I used chili garlic sauce instead of siracha, because it was what I had on hand. This was so easy and delicious. Thanks!
A keeper! I only used 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil w/ the noodles and added 2 TBS Hoisin sauce and an extra 1/2 TBS Sriracha. Also added zuchinni.
Super simple & quick weeknight recipe! I just finished cooking and eating this for the first time. It is very similar to egg roll in a bowl but the noodles add a nice change! I made the following adjustments:
– used 1 tsp ground ginger as I had no fresh
– I used 1/8th cup of Worcestershire (I just find it very overpowering)
– I used 1/2 rotisserie chicken (just laziness)
– I used bagged coleslaw which includes green and purple cabbage & shredded carrots (see comment on chicken)
– I did not used individual ramen noodle packets (I used half of a 6 pack of just plain ramen noodles that you can purchase in the Asian section of your grocer. This cuts down on wasteful packaging and you’re not paying for flavor packets that you’re just going to throw out).
Came out great and the husband loved it too…in fact he’s on his way to the kitchen for seconds :)
Adding this to the fall/winter repertoire!!
Yes to scaling back the Worcestershire – I didn’t, but wished I had. I bet some brands are stronger than others anyway, so in my case that may have been part of it.
I eyeballed veggie amounts based on the (probably giant) 1/2 head of purple cabbage I had in the fridge, and ended up getting out my big pot instead of a skillet to handle it all!! I don’t mind though, I ate this for dinner tonight and will eat leftovers for lunch all week. I hope they’re okay cold! The only difference I made was using ground turkey instead of chicken. Don’t skimp on the ginger, it really makes it.
Made it again almost a year later! Actually used chicken this time (2 breasts I pulled out of the freezer), and cleared out a crown of broccoli, a head of Napa cabbage, and Many Carrots from the fridge. I used about 9oz of soba noodles that I already had but TBH it’s noodlier than I wanted. Things were a bit soupy from all the chicken juices, so I poured off some liquid before and after adding the sauce. Note to future self–the full amount of sriracha is too spicy! 🥵
New word for the day: “noodleier”! I love it!!! 😊🍜
Excellent ‘fridge cleanout’ recipe! The sauce is just delicious and goes with about any meat or veggie you’d care to toss in there. I feel a little dumb saying “This recipe tastes great, except I used steak instead of chicken and some bell pepper and no cabbage and . . .” but that’s kind of the genius of the thing. It’ll work with what you’ve got.
This was really tasty and a different flavor than the other Asian inspired stir fry style recipes on Budget Bytes. I used the slaw mix instead of fresh and no onion because I forgot to buy one.
Everybody has that ONE recipe. The flambe that set off the fire alarm, the birthday cake that ruined a party. The recipe you trusted a bit too much. For me, this is that recipe. The large amount of vegetable oil caused extreme spitting from the ginger. I cannot fathom how the listed ingredients can fit into the pan like demonstrated in the images, unless your cabbage is truly diminutive it would be difficult to fit these ingredients into a soup pot let alone a skillet, compare the first image without the noodles to after the noodles are added, the pan doesn’t get any fuller somehow? Perhaps measurements of the vegetables would be helpful. The amount of sauce makes a complete lake in the bottom of the pan. Forget “coat” with the sauce and try “swim” in it. I did like the flavor of the sauce though, but it should be used in sane amounts, by the measurements alone you’re using nearly 3/4 cups sauce to one chicken breast. Into the bin, I’ll have some toast.
This is the first Budget Bytes recipe I try, and I have to say, I am HOOKED!
I halved the recipe since I was cooking for one. I was also running low on worcestershire sauce, so I added half a tablespoon of each hoisin and oyster sauce. Also, since I wanted to make the dish vegetarian while still getting that chicken flavor, I added a teaspoon of vegetarian (no) chicken bouillon. The result was AMAZING. Hands down the best ramen/noodle dish I have ever made :)
I make this with udon noodles, red bell pepper and baby corn and onions.
I’m not sure where those prices come from though,. I don’t think there’s been prices like that since the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Hi James! You can check out how we calculate recipe costs here.
Actually, James, I shop only at low price places (Winco, Food 4 Less, Aldi’s), and find that when compared to Beth’s prices (according to her very correct calculations), I beat her prices every single time. I don’t know where she shops at, but there are lower prices than these around.
Possibly the mistake you are making is to look at the total price to buy the product and not the price per serving? Major difference.
BTW, Beth, great sight and recipes., thank you for putting the prices on everything it helps me to know what I can afford.
Would add more vegetables to this, but, overall, the recipe was great! I loved the sauce and how light it was. I would also increase the heat for mine the next time that I make it since I like my food spicier. My husband and I both had seconds! I will definitely make again!
This was delicious! I used napa cabbage, green onion instead of yellow, and 10 ounces of ramen noodles! I was apprehensive about the sauce but it was perfect! I left out the sriracha for my 16 month old but added some to my plate! Wonderful dinner!
Looking for a new taste adventure without moving to Japan? This recipe *really* hit the spot, as it doesn’t really taste like any flavour of takeout noodle takeout you can find where I live, but has so many familiar “notes” in the sauce that it is really easy to take a shine to quickly! I love the other ramen recipes (shrimp dragon noodles, creamy mushroom ramen, etc) so this was a great new change-up :) To me, the sauce flavours that dominate are the ginger and worcestershire sauce (with some heat) … I subbed green and yellow beans for the broccoli but otherwise proceeded as directed! I can’t wait to make this for friends or a fake-out take-out weekend meal. Easy five stars!
This was absolutely fantastic!!! Had everything at my house but the cabbage and broccoli so this was a way cheap meal!!! I added a little bit of seaweed to mine as an extra item
Thanks Delilah!
Delicious! A great blend of salty, spicy and sweet. Made the recipe exactly as is, using 1/2T of sriracha. Next time I may forego the fresh veggies for a frozen Asian medley and/or an Asian slaw mix as it took a little while to prep everything (I would definitely not skip the fresh ginger though!). Sure this may be better with more authentic noodles or adding ingredients such as edamame and water chestnuts…but for less than $1 per serving, this is just great as is!
All good tips Jenny! Thanks for sharing!