Our vegan yakisoba is a low-fat, plant-based, healthy version of this typical Japanese dish and is made in just 30 minutes.
Yakisoba means "fried buckwheat" and is a typical Japanese dish. We haven't fried our noodles and our recipe is low in fat. Yakisoba is made with a sauce called tonkatsu or budgoll, but all the brands I've found use nasty ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, so I prefer to make a healthier version at home. It's not the same, but it's good for my body and tastes awesome.
Tofu is my favorite ingredient to make a vegan version of any dish that requires meat. There are so many other options like seitan, tempeh, textured vegetable protein chunks or fake meats, but tofu is gluten-free, not as processed as some alternatives, pretty affordable and easy to get. Tempeh is also a great choice, but at least here in Spain is quite expensive and hard to find.
I don't press the tofu before cooking it and I usually sauté it in a skillet with no oil, but you can also bake or fry it if you want. How do you prepare your tofu?
If you like our vegan yakisoba, check out these Asian recipes: brown rice stir-fry with vegetables, simple vegan fried rice, simple vegan spring rolls, vegan stir-fried udon noodles and 15-minute simple vegan miso soup.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it or tag a picture @simpleveganblog on Instagram and hashtag it #simpleveganblog. We’d love to see what you cook!
Vegan Yakisoba
Ingredients
- 1 julienned carrot
- ½ julienned red bell pepper
- ½ julienned red onion
- 1 and ½ cups shredded cabbage
- 4 ounces Chinese noodles
- 10 ounces diced firm tofu
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon agave syrup
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- â…› teaspoon ginger powder
Instructions
- Steam or boil the veggies for about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Sauté the tofu in a skillet until golden brown. We didn't add oil or any liquid, but it's up to you. Set aside.
- To make the saucejust mix all the ingredients until well combined.
- Add the noodles, tofu, veggies and sauce to the skillet. Stir and cook for 1 to 2 minutes over medium-high heat.
- Top with some black sesame seeds (optional) and serve.
- Keep the vegan yakisoba in a sealed container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
Notes
- Feel free to sauté the veggies (instead of steam or boil them) and the cooked noodles in some oil.
- Use your favorite veggies.
- If you can't find Chinese noodles, cook some spaghetti or other type of noodles (use gluten-free if needed) with 1 tablespoon of baking soda until they're cooked.
- You can replace our homemade sauce for store-bought tonkatsu or bulldog sauce. We made â…“ or 85 ml of sauce.
Misuzu says
I like the idea and looks yummy!
I just wanted to say one thing to the recipe, Chinese noodle is made out of flour and eggs. So those noodles are not vegan unfortunately. I’m not sure if there’s any eggless Chinese noodles exist. I could be wrong though.. so using the spaghetti noodles (like you indicate at the end of the article) would be better.
Iosune says
Hi Misuzu! I use vegan noodles, some are egg-free 🙂
Iosune says
Hi Yasuko! Thanks a lot 🙂 We also live in Europe and can find noodles at many supermarkets or Asian stores. Have a nice day!
Yasuko says
Looks good. I make yakisoba with just veggies and it's still good. Key ingredient is sauce. Yakisoba isn't made with buckwheat noodles, although it's called soba. I live in Europe and it's hard to get the noodles for yakisoba. so I use normal spaghetti noodles and cook with baking soda. You can Google why.