This Vegan Japanese Yakisoba is quick and easy to prepare, perfect for weekend nights and incredibly tasty. It is made with nourishing and wholesome ingredients. What I love most about this recipe is that it is adjustable. You can swap out the veggies with whatever ingredients you have on hand or according to your taste and liking. Great!
What is Japanese Yakisoba?
Yakisoba is a traditional Japanese noodle dish, that is commonly served on street food markets in Asia. It is traditionally made by stir-frying vegetables, meat and noodles with a sweet and savory sauce. I have created a vegan version of this recipe that still retains the taste authentic Yakisoba by using a slightly different technique and swapping out some ingredients.
How to make Vegan Japanese Yakisoba?
Making Vegan Japanese Yakisoba is not super difficult. The most important thing for any stir-fry recipe, at least in my opinion, is to create a good sauce. For this recipe, I chose to mix soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, sesame oil and sriracha together.
Whenever you are using sesame oil, always remember mixing it in after you finished cooking. Why? Because sesame oil is more likely to be a flavoring aid rather than a cooking oil. It’s quite expensive for using it just for cooking, but it also has quite a unique and strong flavor that makes it unsuitable as an all-purpose cooking oil. In addition, for creating the oil, the sesame seeds are generally toasted beforehand. Because of that, if you use it for frying and cooking, the oil itself could possibly create a burnt flavor. This is the reason why you always want it to add it in your last stages of cooking.
For the veggies I used onion, garlic, spring onions, paprika and mushrooms. For some extra protein I added in some Tofu. As I stated before the greatness of this dish is that you can always swap out the ingredients for some other veggies or protein. Seitan for example would be great in here. But also broccoli, bok choy or carrots always work great in a stir-fry as well. So you can really be as creative as you want!
Which noodles to use?
For this Vegan Japanese Yakisoba, it is preferably best to use egg noodles. I used vegan egg noodles in this recipe in order to keep it plant-based. However, udon or soba noodles also always work great in this dish.
If you are looking for more Asian inspired recipes, you might also like this Japanese Tofu Katsu Bowl or this Authentic Vegan Pad Thai.
Finally, if you try this Japanese Vegan Yakisoba out yourself I would love to see you tag me on Instagram @aboutannella. I always love to see your recreations! You can also follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration.
Vegan Japanese Yakisoba (Stir-fry)
Ingredients
For the Noodles
- 125 g Vegan Egg Noodles
For the Veggies + Sauce
- 1 large White Onion
- 2 whole Garlic Cloves
- 1 whole Red Bell Pepper
- 1 cup Mushrooms
- 1/2 block Tofu
- 3 tbsp Green Onions
- 6 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 tbsp Rice Vinegar
- 2 tbsp Sriracha (adjust heat to your liking)
- 2 tbsp Maple Syrup
Instructions
For the Noodles
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the rice noodles and cook according to package instructions.
For the Veggies + Sauce
- Wash and prep your Veggies as well as the Tofu. Dice the White Onion and mince the Garlic. Slice the Red Pepper and Mushrooms. Cut the Tofu into cubes.
- Then, add the diced White Onion and minced Garlic with a splash of water to the pan. Sauté over medium heat until translucent, about 3 minutes.
- Using the same pan, add in Soy Sauce, Rice Vinegar and Sriracha.
- Add in the tofu and let it simmer for 1-2 minutes. Then, add in the rest of the prepared veggies. Sauté again until tender, about 3-5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Add and stir in Sesame Oil.
- Divide the Yakisoba into two separate bowls and top them with Green Onions. Serve warm.
Notes
- Maple Syrup can be substituted with White or Brown Sugar.
- Soy Sauce can be substituted with Tamari or Coconut Aminos.