Name: Vegan Yakisoba
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 22 oz Pre-cooked Wheat Noodles (( Note1)); 1 small Brown Onion (Peeled and thinly Sliced); ½ cup Carrot (Cut into matchsticks); ½ cup Green Bell Pepper( Capsicum) (Cut into thin strips); ½ cup Red Bell Pepper( Capsicum) (Cut into thin strips); 7 oz Seitan( Wheat Gluten) (( Note 2)); 3 cup Cabbage (Slice into thin strips); 3 Tbsp Cooking Oil (( Note 3)); 2 Tbsp Vegan Oyster Sauce; 2 Tbsp Light Soy Sauce; 2 Tbsp Ketchup; 2 Tbsp Vegan Worcestershire Sauce; 2 tsp Maple Syrup (( Note 4)); ½ tsp Toasted Sesame Oil; ¼ tsp Ground White Pepper; 2 Tbsp Water

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Last Updated on June 13, 2024

Yakisoba (vegan) is a delicious Japanese stir-fried noodle dish usually served on a plate as a main or side dish. This Vegan version of Yakisoba is made with eggless noodles, colorful vegetables, and plant-based protein.

vegan-yakisoba-japanese-stir-fry-noodles — Street food is done properly at home 😁

YakiSoba (vegan)

For this vegan yaki soba, I use seitan (wheat gluten ) as my protein choice, paired with green & red bell pepper, cabbage, carrot, and wheat noodles, then finish off with an amazingly sweet, tangy, and savory yakisoba sauce.

This is one of my all-time favorite noodles, along with other loved noodle dishes like Vegan Yaki Udon, Popular takeout- Singapore Noodles, and Sha Cha Glass Noodles.

What’s Yakisoba?

Yakisoba, “fried noodles”, is a Japanese noodle stir-fry dish. Usually, soba means buckwheat, but soba in yakisoba means Chinese noodles made from wheat flour, and are typically flavored with a condiment similar to Worcestershire sauce.

The dish first appeared in food stalls in Japan during the post-World War II period.

Yakisoba was prepared with packaged or canned ingredients such as packeted noodles, spam, ketchup, and any canned vegetable, and topped with pre-packaged yakisoba stir-fry sauce.

The best part is- it’s a really simple dish to make with just a few vegetables (sometimes I just use whatever I have in the fridge), your favorite protein (for this vegan version, you can use seitan, firm tofu, yuba…etc)

and an incredibly delicious sauce that requires only 5 seconds to make. You can cook this popular comfort food at home anytime you like. It’s super simple!

There are no rules of what vegetables go in your yakisoba.

You can keep it as simple as onion, cabbage, carrot, and different colors of bell peppers as I did here, or try adding the following veggies that will go well with your yakisoba.

Baby Bok Choy
Bean Sprouts
Zucchini
Broccoli or Broccolini
Snap Peas
Baby Corn
Shiitake Mushroom or any other type of mushrooms
Bamboo Shoots

What noodles to use for Yaki soba?

Yakisoba can use either wheat noodles without eggs or traditional buckwheat noodles (soba noodles).

Yakisoba noodle types- pre-cooked or dried noodles

Yakisoba noodle ingredients — Always check the ingredients to make sure there are no eggs

What can you substitute for yakisoba noodles?

Ramen noodles are the most similar to yakisoba noodles and are a great substitute.

If you can get your hands on fresh ramen; otherwise instant/dried ramen noodles are great substitutes.

What goes in Yaki soba ( vegan)?

Yakisoba noodles – I used pre-cooked yakisoba noodles. These noodles are sold in most grocery stores in the fridge section, if you can’t find pre-cooked yakisoba noodles, use ramen noodles or other dried noodles that don’t contain eggs.

Seitan (Wheat Gluten) – I used Seitan (Wheat Gluten) as my protein choice, sliced thinly. You can also use Soy curls, Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), or any type of bean curd …etc.

Brown Onion – peeled and thinly sliced

Green& Red Bell Pepper (Capsicum)– Cut into thin strips.

Carrot – Cut into thin strips, also called matchstick or julienne cut.

Cabbage – Thinly sliced

Oil – I used grapeseed oil which has a neutral flavor, and a high smoking point for high-heat cooking, such as avocado oil, and peanut oil.

Yakisoba sauce

Yakisoba Stir-fry Sauce is mostly used for seasoning yakisoba, the classic Japanese fried noodles.

Sweet and savory, this versatile sauce can also be used in other stir-fry recipes.

Vegan Oyster Sauce – This will add an earthy, umami flavor to the sauce.

Ketchup – This adds a sweet and tangy flavor to the sauce.

Vegan Worcestershire Sauce – This is really the main ingredient in Yakisoba so I’ll say it’s a must for this sauce.

Light Soy Sauce – Soy sauce is quite salty, usually, you don’t need salt.

Maple Syrup – Adds a bit of sweetness to our sauce to balance out the flavors, or you can simply replace it with 1 Tbsp sugar.

Toasted Sesame Oil– Add extra nutty flavor to the dish.

Garnish (optional)– They are optional but very nice to have. I use sliced green onions( spring onion) and Nori Fume Furikake

Note: Yakisoba stir-fry sauce is the most important ingredient in this recipe. The sweet and tangy seasoning mixture usually consists of Worcestershire sauce (vegan), oyster sauce, soy sauce, hot chili sauce (if you like it hot!), and ketchup.

vegan-yakisoba cooked veggies — Cook the veggies separately to maintain the charred flavor from stir-frying.

How to make yaki soba (vegan)

how to make vegan-yakisoba-japanese-stir-fry-noodles — How to make Vegan Yakisoba Noodles

1. Preparation: Slice seitan, brown onion, carrot, green and red bell peppers, and cabbage into thin strips. Meanwhile, place all the ingredients for the yakisoba stir-fry sauce in a bowl, combine all of them together then set aside.
2. Stir fry seitan and veggies separately: In a large wok or skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the seitan and cook until slightly golden color then take out. Do the same to sliced onion, carrots, green and red bell pepper, and cabbage, cook until they are softened, take out, and set aside.
3. Prep the noodles: Remove the pre-cooked noodles from their package, and place them in a colander. Quickly boil the noodles in hot boiling water for a minute until the noodles are separated (if you use dried ramen noodles, please cook them according to the instructions on the package).
4. Heat up the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the noodles into the skillet then pour the yakisoba stir-fry sauce mixture onto the noodles, stir, and mix well.
5. Finish the dish: Add the Yakisoba noodles to the skillet then add cooked seitan and vegetables back to the skillet. Toss everything together using tongs. Cook for another 2 minutes until everything heats through.
6. Serve: Serve immediately with garnish (sliced scallion, Nori Fume Furikake) if preferred.