Soba Noodles Stir Fry

A delicious hearty one-pot meal packed with vegetables, soba (buckwheat noodle), and dark rich sauce. This soba noodles stir fry is guaranteed to be better than the takeout!

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A unique alternative to traditional noodles may just become your new ‘’30-minute meal’’ favorite. 

Have you ever tried Soba noodles? These noodles are naturally gluten-free and can be found in Japanese supermarkets or regular whole foods stores. Soba has slightly different and I’d say stronger flavor than traditional rice or other gluten-free noodles.

Being gluten-free it’s not difficult, it’s just a matter of getting used to new flavors! Soba noodles, quinoa noodles, rice noodles, chickpea noodles, shirataki noodles, gluten-free spaghetti even. Wow there are actually so many choices to choose from!

And who knows, maybe this stir fry will become your new staple recipe for a busy weeknight dinner.

The stir fry itself is not a complicated dish, comes together in less than 30 minutes and is easily customizable with any veggies of choice. My recommendations: try broccoli, napa cabbage, spinach, zucchini or/and add protein – eggs, chicken, salmon or beef/pork strips.

This recipe works as an easy base for the final dish depending on the time you have for cooking and ingredients availability. I usually cook in larger quantities so it will last for days and simply add chicken or shrimps if it becomes boring or I want to have a more fulfilling meal. Time management!

Please let me know in the comments what else have you added or removed, I’d love to hear your fun recipe alternatives and substitutions. 

If you haven’t tried Lo Mein on this blog, I highly recommend it due to its similarity and can also be made with soba noodles. Or simply type in the search bar ”noodles” for more tasty asian style dinners.

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Instructions

Need a different visual? This recipe is also available as as story!

Sauce – whisk and combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl or measuring cup. Set aside.

Soba noodles – Cook noodles with salt as per packaging instructions. I usually add them to salted boiling water, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove from water and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process. Add a little bit of vegetable oil and toss. Set aside.

To assemble the soba noodles Stir fry – Heat up a bit of vegetable oil in a wok or regular medium pan (high heat). Add onion, cook for few minutes and follow with ginger and garlic.

Fry for couple of seconds until fragrant. Add mushrooms and carrot (a bit later, after few minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Stir fry in total about 3-5 minutes or until mushrooms become golden brown. Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the noodles and pour over the sauce along with noodle-cooking water.

Toss to combine and stir fry for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Garnish with more sesame seeds, edamame (I simply thawed my frozen edamame until room temperature and added to the noodles later, alternatively you can add them together with carrot), fresh chili pieces (remove the seeds prior), chopped spring onion/scallions.

Top Tips

• Sesame seeds – for better results toast them before use. The toasting process builds flavor in the sesame seeds. It only takes 2-3 minutes: In a dry skillet without any oil, add sesame seeds and toast them over medium heat for 2-3 minutes constantly stirring. Don’t leave them without supervision, they will burn very fast.

• Sesame oil – like with the sesame seeds, flavors will come out even more if the oil is toasted. Pour cold-pressed sesame oil into a heated (but not very high heat) pan. Rotate the pan from side to side and keep the oil moving at all times to prevent burning. The toasted oil is ready when it’ll become golden brown with a nutty scent. The oil is ready to use.

• How to cook Soba noodles – you want them to be al dente, follow the packaging instructions but cook for a few minutes less. It is very easy to overcook them that they become too soft, you don’t want that. It’s better to undercook them slightly as they will cook more later in the sauce. 

• Soba noodles substitute – Soba noodles are made out of buckwheat so it is difficult to find similar but other gluten-free noodles will work great in this stir fry too. Check out my Chicken Lo Mein recipe for a more in-depth explanation about different noodles but here are a few: rice noodles, tapioca, quinoa noodles, gluten-free spaghetti, shirataki noodles.

• Oil for cooking – canola or grapeseed is best as they have high cooking point.

• Edamame and green onion can be added in the end of the cooking process along with carrots to bring more flavor. I just like to add them in the end as a garnish or stir in noodles later.

• Eggs – Sometimes i also add an egg or two instead of a meat option (add this after the carrot and fry stirring until done). 

• Red pepper flakes – optional, if you like a little heat in your food go for it and even add some freshly sliced chili or jalapeno on top for garnish as I did!

• Salmon and soba noodles – another great ingredient that works well with soba noodles is salmon. Cook, it separately either steam it, bake in the oven or simply cook diced salmon over the stovetop. You can find instructions on how to bake easy salmon fillet in this Salmon Salad recipe.

• Fish sauce – simply omit for vegan/vegetarian option or add more soy sauce.

• Honey/maple syrup – any plant-based sweet syrup will work, don’t use honey if you’re vegan.

Easy Asian Meals

• Chicken Lo Mein Recipe (Gluten-Free)
• Oriental Coleslaw With Thai Peanut Salad Dressing
• Napa Cabbage Stir Fry with Mushrooms (Vegan)
• Thai Red Curry Chicken Noodles

I hope you’ll enjoy this super easy Stir Fry and if you make it, please let me know down below in the comments or by tagging @theyummy_bowl under your picture on Instagram.

Thank you for reading,

Love,

Julia

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Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on the products used.

Full Nutrition Disclaimer can be found here.

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