Found the photos in my hard drive. They were taken in February 3, 2021 but no recipe was ever posted. If I remember correctly, it was after I had already cooked the dish when I realized that pork, not chicken, is traditionally used to cook yakisoba. And I was so aiming for authenticity that I decided not to use the photos. Instead, I was going to cook yakisoba again with the traditional protein.
Alas, the thrill of experimenting won. I did post a yakisoba recipe eventually but with no pork in it. Mushrooms went into the stir fry. Today, over five years since I took these photos, I’m sharing my chicken yakisoba recipe. It’s really very similar to the mushroom version. This one takes a little longer to cook though because chicken needs more time in the heat.
Chinese-style wheat noodles are used for cooking yakisoba. You may buy fully cooked yakisoba noodles in vacuum-sealed packs which just need to be blanched before stir frying.
We prefer fresh ramen which we buy frozen from a Japanese grocery that’s a mere seven-minute or so drive from our house. The noodles are boiled until softened but still lightly chewy.
The cooked noodles are drained and refreshed with cold water. It helps a lot if you toss the noodles during this stage to make sure that every strand gets cold. This step stops the cooking so that the noodles don’t get soggy during stir frying. Drain thoroughly after tossing in cold water.
The sauce is a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce, ketchup, soy sauce and sugar. We do have a preferred ratio but feel free to tweak the proportion to suit your taste. Mix the sauce before you start stir frying because you will use it to season the chicken.
About the chicken. Majority of my readers are from North America where chicken breast fillet is preferred but this is Asia and this is an Asian dish. Red meat is the default. And I personally do not like white meat, so… Skin-on chicken thigh fillets are used here.
As for the vegetables… White cabbage is traditional, and so are carrots and scallions. I added bell peppers and some stray pieces of mushrooms. You may always a different combination of vegetables as far as I’m concerned. Just remember to cut the vegetables into small pieces so that they cook in a short time.
With the vegetables cooked (the chicken should be fully done by this time), all you have to do is spread the noodles over the stir fried chicken and vegetables, pour yakisoba sauce over them, and continue stir frying until noodles are hot and every strand is glistening with the sauce.
Ingredients
- 300 grams fresh ramen (wheat-based Chinese-style noodles)
Yakisoba sauce
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce Japanese Bulldog brand is recommended
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
Stir fry
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 200 grams chicken thigh fillets cut into thin strips
- 1 small carrot peeled and julienned
- 1 bell pepper cored, deseeded and julienned
- 1 ½ cups thinly sliced white cabbage
- 12 stalks scallions (light and dark green portions separated) cut into two-inch lengths
- ½ teaspoon salt
To garnish
- toasted sesame seeds
- aonori available in Japanese groceries
- kizami nori available in Japanese groceries
Instructions
Cook the noodles
- Boil water in a pot and drop in the fresh noodles. Cook until just slightly chewy.
- Dump the noodles in a strainer and rinse under the tap, tossing the noodles to get them cold.
- Drain and set aside.
Mix the yakisoba sauce
- In a bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the sauce until the sugar is fully dissolved.
- Taste and adjust to get the flavor balance that you prefer.
Stir fry
- Set the pan on the stoove over high heat and drizzle in the oil to coat the bottom.
- When the oil starts to smoke, spread the chicken strips and drizzle in two tablespoons of yakisoba sauce.
- Stir fry for three to four minutes.
- Add the bell pepper, carrot, cabbage and scallions, sprinkle in the salt and stir fry the until the vegetables are done but still crisp.
- Spread the noodles over the chicken and vegetables, drizzle in half of the yakisoba sauce, and add the dark green portion of the scallions.
- Stir fry until the noodles are heated through and all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Taste. Drizzle in more sauce, if needed, and stir fry for another half a minute.
Serve your chicken yakisoba
- Divide the yakisoba among four bowls, sprinkle with sesame seeds, aonori and kizami nori.
- Serve immediately.
