Chicken yakisoba is Japanese fast food. Itʼs street food. Basically, itʼs stir-fried noodles and sauce with a protein, onion, spring onion (shallots), carrot, shitake mushrooms and cabbage. You canʼt go wrong. Great, cheap, fast and tasty food, thatʼs what weʼre looking for. This chicken yakisoba tastes delicious, takes 30 minutes and is a little winner. So simple and quick to prepare.
Cabbage
Napa (wombok) cabbage cooks quickly. Adjust the cabbage cooking time according to what cabbage you’re using. Some of the harder cabbages such as green, drumhead or sugar loaf will take a few minutes to soften.
Shitake mushrooms
Adding in dried and rehydrated shitake mushrooms add a real earthiness to the yakisoba. Whether youʼre using whole or sliced dried shitake mushrooms you need to soak them in hot water first for 10-15 minutes then drain, discarding the soaking liquid. You can, of course, use fresh shitake mushrooms.
Noodles
You can use so many types of noodles. Just make sure that the noodle holds and is not too soft that they break up. You could use hokkien or ramen dried noodles if yakisoba is not available.
Protein
You can easily sub out the protein with pork belly strips, shrimp (prawns), tofu or beef.
Pickled ginger
Tossing pickled ginger through the yakisoba adds so much flavour. Pickled ginger adds a spicy and sweet taste to the yakisoba. If you havenʼt used pickled ginger before treat yourself. Itʼs widely available in most large supermarkets.
Check out some more winning stir fry recipes
- stir fried pork and sesame noodles
- stir fried chicken with sweet potato and thai basil
- chicken stir fry with asparagus and ginger
So, what’s you’re favourite quick noodle dish? We would love to hear from you in the comments below.

Chicken Yakisoba
Delicious, cheap, fast and tasty noodles are what we're looking for. Chicken yakisoba is a little winner. Simple and quick to prepare.
Ingredients
Noodles
- 1 ounce (30 g) dried shitake mushroom ( whole or sliced) - about 6 whole mushrooms
- 16 ounces (450 g) yakisoba or other noodles - see notes
see notes
- 3 tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
- medium onion halved and cut into thin slices
- 9 ounces (250 g) chicken thigh cut into bite-sized pieces
- medium carrot julienned - see notes
- 4 napa (wombok) leaves cut into largish pieces
- 6 scallions (spring onions) cut into 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) lengths
- 1/4 cup Japanese pickled ginger
Sauce
- tomato ketchup (sauce) x 2 tablespoons
- worcestershire sauce x 3 tablespoons
- light soy sauce x 2 tablespoons
- oyster sauce x 2 tablespoons
- white sugar x 1 teaspoon
Instructions
Noodles
- soak shitake mushrooms in hot water for 10-15 minutes till softened then slice if using whole mushrooms
- prepare noodles according to manufacturers instructions
- mix all sauce ingredients together in a small bowl
- heat oil in a large wok or frypan over medium-high heat
- add onion and saute for 3-4 minutes till softened
- move onion to sides of the pan and add chicken spreading so all chicken is in contact with the bottom of the pan
- cook chicken for 2 minutes then turn pieces over for a further 2-3 minutes
- add cabbage and shallots and stir through for 1-2 minutes
- now add mushroom and carrots and stir through
- add noodles, pepper, pickled ginger and sauce and stir through till well mixed
- cook for a minute or so till hot and vegetables and chicken are cooked
- serve and enjoy!
Notes
- use ramen or hokkien noodles if yakisoba noodles are not available - we used a thin hokkien noodle for this recipe
- julienning the carrot is very fast if you happen to have this fabulous little gadget or else slice carrot thinly then cut into matchstick-sized pieces
Nutrition Information
Yield
4Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 207Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 41mgSodium 1081mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 2gSugar 7gProtein 11g
Nutritional information provided here is only intended as a guide.