Made in less than 20 minutes, you can have Yaki Udon in next to no time. Packed with vegetables and made with only a handful of ingredients, you’ll love how easy it is to make.

So what is yaki udon? Yaki udon is a Japanese stir-fried noodle dish that is made with udon noodles, vegetables, protein, and then tossed in a sauce. It’s the ultimate one-pan dish! However, today, I’m skipping the protein and sticking with just the vegetables. But not to worry, you can definitely add protein to this and still cook these stir fried udon noodles up quickly.

An overhead view of a bowl of yaki udon noodles with sliced green onions on top as garnish.

Why You’ll Love This Stir Fry Udon Recipe

It is a fast recipe, making it perfect as a weeknight dinner or a speedy meal prep recipe. It takes me next to no time to make this stir fried udon noodles recipe for dinner!
It’s so easy to customize! Turn this into chicken yaki udon by stir-frying thinly cut chicken in the pan before adding the vegetables. Turn this into shrimp yaki udon by stir-frying shrimp. You can even turn this into beef yaki udon by stir-frying ground beef or thinly sliced beef! Sliced pork and ground pork works as well. You’ll love how easy it to turn this one recipe into multiple! Want to keep these vegetarian, cube up some firm tofu.
It’s flavor-packed, savoury, and oh so delicious! It’s such an easy way to use udon noodles in your fridge!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredients for the yaki udon noodle sauce

dark soy sauce – dark soy sauce is saltier than light soy sauce but it gives your noodles that beautiful dark glaze and has a stronger soy flavour.
oyster sauce
mirin
brown sugar

Ingredients for the udon noodles stir fry

udon noodles – I use fresh udon noodles that are sold at the refrigerated section that takes less than 2 minutes to cook. Other options are frozen udon noodles and dried udon noodles. Frozen udon noodles do have a chewier texture for stir-fries if you have access to that. It’s up to you which you’d prefer to use! I went with fresh as this was what’s available to me locally.
olive oil
carrots – shredded or julienned, I shredded mine for ease.
green onions
onion – half to one small yellow onion is all you need.
mushrooms – sliced, I used baby bella mushrooms

How to Make Yaki Udon

Combine the yaki udon noodle sauce together and set aside.
At the same time, cook the udon noodles as directed on the packaging. Mine just requires me to boil water, cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then drain.

On medium-high heat, heat up olive oil in a large non-stick skillet. Then add in the vegetables. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until the vegetables have soften.
Add in the drained udon noodles to the skillet.

Yaki udon sauce added to the skillet of noodles.

Add in the sauce that you prepared earlier.
Toss to combine and continue to cook for another minute before serving. Top with sliced green onions as garnish if desired.

A bowl of yaki udon noodles with sliced green onions on top as garnish.

Recipe Tips and Notes

For a spicier yaki udon, you can add some spice! I like to use Shichimi Togarashi, a spicy Japanese seasoning blend with dried chile peppers, orange peel, sesame seeds, nori, and more. It makes for a great addition to the udon noodles.
If you are adding meat, simply stir fry the meat in the pan before setting aside and stir-frying the vegetables. Add it back to the pan when you add the sauce.
If you want to keep this vegan/vegetarian-friendly, swap the oyster sauce for the vegetarian version.

An angled view of a bowl of yaki udon noodles with sliced green onions on top as garnish.

Make Ahead Tips

Meal prep: once cooled, store the cooked stir-fried udon noodles in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Ingredients: You can also prep the ingredients ahead of time so you can quickly throw everything together at dinner time. Sliced onions, shredded carrots, and sliced mushrooms can be kept in the fridge for a couple of days ahead of time!

Types of Udon Noodles

There are a lot of options when it comes to buying udon noodles. Here are the ones that I usually see in stores.

Shelf Stable Udon Noodles: There are udon noodles that you find on the shelf at the store. It really depends on the brand when it comes to the shelf-stable ones as I find some to have a really strong aftertaste to them. (The first one pictured)
Fresh Udon Noodles: If you can find fresh udon noodles in the refrigerated section. I like using these noodles when possible, but they do expire relatively quickly, so I can’t stock up on them! I usually have to use them within the week of purchasing them. (The second one pictured)
Frozen Udon Noodles: This one is one of my favorite options if you cannot find fresh udon noodles. As they’re frozen, they can essentially live forever in my freezer and satisfy my cravings whenever I get hit with them! (The third one pictured)
Dried Udon Noodles: Not pictured above, but dried udon noodles look similar to dried spaghetti noodles. These are convenient as you store them like you would pasta. However, they’re not my favorite as they’re not as plump and chewy as fresh udon noodles.

All of these noodles are great options. Pick your favorite or most convenient one for this yaki udon recipe. It’s meant to be a quick and easy recipe that you can throw together quickly, so don’t stress out if you can get a specific type of udon noodles.

Got extra udon noodles? Try these recipes next!

Yaki Udon

Made in less than 20 minutes, you can have Yaki Udon in next to no time. Packed with vegetables and made with only a handful of ingredients, you’ll love how easy it is to make.

5 from 28 votes

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Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 8

Total Time: 18

Servings: servings

Ingredients

For the yaki udon noodle sauce:

1½ tbsp dark soy sauce
1½ tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp mirin
¾ tbsp brown sugar

For everything else:

1 pack udon noodles, approximately 500g
1 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, shredded
5 stalks green onions, roots removed, stalks cut into 3rds
5-8 mushrooms, sliced
½ small yellow onion, sliced

Instructions

Combine the yaki udon noodle sauce together and set aside.
At the same time, cook the udon noodles as directed on the packaging. Mine just requires me to boil water, cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then drain.
On medium-high heat, heat up olive oil in a large non-stick skillet. Then add in the vegetables. Stir fry for 5 minutes or until the vegetables have soften.
Add in the drained udon noodles to the skillet.
Add in the sauce that you prepared earlier.
Toss to combine and continue to cook for another minute before serving. Top with sliced green onions as garnish if desired.

Tried this recipe?Did you make this recipe? I’m always so happy to hear about it! I’d love to see how it turned out. Tag me at @CarmysHungry on Instagram so I can see it! If you enjoyed the recipe, I’d really appreciate a comment with a 5 star rating! ♥

Nutrition Per Serving

Author: Carmy

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Nutrition Disclaimer

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