Bon Appétit
By Claire Saffitz
4.4
(51)
Photo by Alex Lau
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With chewy noodles, well-browned ground pork, and crunchy cabbage, this take on yaki udon (stir-fried udon noodles) gets its flavor from an umami-rich punch of soy sauce and mirin, a sweet Japanese rice wine. It also has green onions for a fresh bite and a drizzle of sesame oil for nutty depth. You can easily make it vegetarian: Simply omit the pork and sub in 8 oz. shiitake or crimini mushrooms instead.
Ingredients
4 servings
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
4 cups very coarsely chopped green cabbage (about 1/4 medium head)
2 (7-oz.) packages instant udon noodles, flavor packets discarded
2 tsp. toasted sesame oil
8 oz. ground pork
5 scallions, white and pale green parts coarsely chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced
2 tsp. finely grated peeled ginger
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/3cup mirin (sweet Japanese rice wine)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds, plus more for serving
Preparation
Step 1
Heat 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Cook cabbage, tossing often, until edges are browned, about 4 minutes. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, tossing often, until thickest parts of cabbage are tender, about 4 minutes longer. Remove from heat; set aside.
Step 2
Place noodles in a large heatproof bowl (or pot if you don’t have one) and cover with 6 cups boiling water. Let sit 1 minute, stirring to break up noodles, then drain. Transfer noodles back to bowl and toss with sesame oil. Add reserved cabbage and wipe out skillet.
Step 3
Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in skillet over medium-high and add pork, breaking up and spreading across surface of pan with a spatula or tongs. Cook pork, undisturbed, until underside is browned, about 3 minutes. Break up meat into smaller pieces and continue to cook, tossing, just until meat is cooked through and no longer pink, about 1 minute. Add chopped scallions (the white and pale green parts), ginger, and red pepper flakes and cook, tossing often, until scallions are softened and inside of skillet starts to brown, about 1 minute. Add noodle mixture, mirin, and soy sauce and cook, tossing constantly and scraping up browned bits, until noodles are coated in sauce, about 45 seconds. Remove from heat and mix in sliced scallions (the dark green parts) and 1 Tbsp. sesame seeds.
Step 4
Divide noodles among bowls and top with more sesame seeds.
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Reviews (51)
Back to TopTriangleReally delish! Easy to prepare, even easier to eat! Next time I'll add more cabbage, bamboo shoots and/or water chestnuts and double protein so noodles aren't quite so dominent.
Roy
Methuen
1/12/2023
Delish! Can't wait to make again. Ratio of noodles to everything else was a little high. Increased pork, ginger, cabbage, added julienne carrots. Next time will try some chopped peanuts with the sesame seeds for more crunch.
Chris
12/13/2022
Excellent dish! I’ve made it a few times and typically add the entire head of (smallish) cabbage. I think next time I will double up on protein.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
5/30/2022
I have been sitting on this recipe since it was published. I have a lot of stellar noodle recipes and I definitely had a “why bother” attitude towards this one, being that the ingredient list was different in only seemingly small ways from the others. Boy, was I wrong. This dish was really good and very fast and easy. I cooked it as written but it is very tweakable. I used fresh udon and doubled the entire recipe. I stir- fried some yu choy (Chinese greens) in garlic and added it to the noodles at the very end. Our adult daughter popped in on her way to work and, as soon as she walked in the door, exclaimed, “Yum! What are you cooking??” and then she, her dad, and I all sat down to a quick bowl (lots of groans of pleasure) before she headed back out for work. Maybe it was the pleasure of watching my girl devour noodles at the family table or maybe it was the recipe itself but, either way, it was a great meal and I will definitely be making it regularly.
LuWho
Seattle, WA
4/12/2022
This is one of my favourite recipes. Love, love, love it and easy to make.
Paulette
Ontario, Canada
1/29/2022
Delicious! I love to make it with fresh udon.
Anonymous
Scituate, MA
1/7/2022
Love it, love it, love it. Added extra cabbage and raw kale at the end. Delicious.
Anonymous
10/25/2021
Amazing - Have made it many times. Family loves it!
Davidson
Alpharetta, GA
8/29/2021
This was great. Next time will try to add another vegetable like carrot, which was suggested.
demarcate
Lagrangeville, NY
8/1/2021
It was ok, but not very flavorful.
Anonymous
Portland, OR
5/15/2021
Tasty and dead simple. I'm working on having my twelve year old cook dinner a couple nights each month and this was his pick. It's one of his go-to meals and doesn't take forever to prepare, even if you're a kid still learning where I keep all the ingredients, LOL.
richenza
5/10/2021
This was awesome. I added carrots, red bell, Chinese broccoli, and mushroom because I wanted it to be a one-pot meal and cabbage isn’t enough veggies for me. SO tasty.
lisamichellek
Pacific NW
5/8/2021
Meh, I thought this was a slam dunk with 4 forks and %100 would make it again.We were underwhelmed.
chefche
Utah
2/8/2021
Ya'll we've made this like 10 times. SO GOOD. But the mirin is a bit sweet for us, so we sub rice wine vinegar, and a little more soy. Finish with Siracha.
Anonymous
Austin, TX
12/29/2020
made my own version of this because I was missing quite a few of the ingredients and it was still incredibly delicious and easy! I didnt have mirin so I used rice wine and a tiny bit of sugar, I didnt have scallions so I used garlic, I added julienned carrots like a few people suggested for some added veggies, and I didnt have pork so I used ground lamb. SO good!
Anonymous
New York, NY
11/5/2020
TagsPastaStir-FryUdon NoodleNoodleJapaneseEast AsianAsianGround PorkPorkMeatGreen CabbageCabbageLeafy GreensVegetableMainDinnerDairy FreeNut FreeQuickEasyWeeknight MealsSauteBon Appétit
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