Chicken Yaki Udon
Authentic Yaki Udon Recipe – This delicious one-pan Japanese dish features tender stir fry vegetables, ground chicken and udon noodles, all combined in a zippy soy and citrus sauce. Chicken udon is easy to customize and cooks in under 30 minutes!
Why We Love This Chicken Yaki Udon Recipe
One-pot recipes are some of our absolute favorites! With everyone’s busy and ever-changing schedules, I know you know how important it is to have a cache of foolproof quick and easy dinners ready at all times. This Chicken Yaki Udon recipe is a simple Japanese noodle dish made with stir fry vegetables, meat, and thick udon noodles… It’s fast, flavorful, and fabulous to serve any night of the week!
Chicken Udon is bold and delicious enough to impress but simple enough to present to those just dipping their toes in the realm of Asian cuisine. The easy yaki udon sauce is sweet and tangy, and in our recipe, we’ve mixed it with additional water, so there’s no need to pre-cook or drain the udon noodles. They cook right in the sauce!
Feel free to change up ingredients to customize the recipe to your liking. You can swap veggies and protein, and this scrumptious one-pan meal will still be ready to serve in less than 30 minutes!
Ingredients You Need
For the Yaki Udon Noodle Sauce –
- Water – filtered
- Soy sauce – regular or low-sodium
- Oyster sauce – regular or low-sodium
- Lime juice – fresh squeezed is best
- Brown sugar – light or dark (more or less molasses flavor)
For the Yaki Udon –
- Sesame oil – for nutty essence, or use a high-heat oil like avocado or canola oil
- Ground chicken – I like 92% lean that still has a smidge of fat
- Mushrooms – thinly sliced
- Bell pepper – seeded and sliced thin
- Scallions – green onions chopped and separated into onion whites and greens
- Mung bean sprouts – rinsed and gently dried
- Pre-cooked udon noodles – vacuum-packed fresh udon noodles (or frozen udon noodles)
How to Make Yaki Udon Noodles with Chicken
Start by combining the sauce ingredients in a small bowl, and set aside.
Prep the veggies so everything is ready to go. Then set a large wok (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat and add the sesame oil to the pan.
Once the oil is hot, add the scallion whites, mushrooms, and bell pepper strips.
Stir fry the vegetables for just a few minutes, then move to a holding plate. You want the veggies to be mostly cooked, but not too soft, as they’ll continue to cook once they are added back into the sauce.
Next cook the chicken in the hot pan, breaking the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon as you stir.
Once the ground chicken is well browned, add the udon noodles to the wok.
Pour the sauce over the top of the noodles. Gently fold the chicken and sauce over the noodles until they loosen enough to pull apart.
Pro Tip: Do not break the noodles into pieces; gently tug and fold to loosen them. Vacuum-sealed udon noodles are already cooked, so we are just reheating them here.
As the noodles start to separate, add the stir fried vegetables back to the pan. Toss well.
Once the noodles are warm and saucy, add in the mung beans sprouts and scallion greens. I like to keep a bit of each to the side and use as a final fresh garnish to serve.
Toss and simmer for another 1-2 minutes, then remove from heat.
Get the Complete (Printable) Chicken Yaki Udon Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Recipe Variations
- Veggies – Feel free to omit or swap any of the vegetables in this original dish with your favorites. Other fresh veggies like bok choy, garlic, carrots, napa cabbage, bamboo shoots, carrots, and long beans are delicious options.
- Protein – Substitute ground chicken with ground turkey, pork, or beef. You can also include raw peeled shrimp or other small pieces of seafood. Or use finely chopped pieces of chicken breast or chicken thighs, if you prefer.
- Vegetarian – You can also omit the meat entirely, or swap for pieces of cooked tofu or any plant-based ground “meat” alternative. If you also omit oyster sauce, this becomes a vegetarian and vegan-friendly udon recipe.
- Noodles – Of course, it will no longer technically be yaki udon, but you can use other types of noodles in recipe. Try it with soba (for yakisoba) or ramen; you can even use spaghetti pasta! But for the most reliable dish I suggest cooking alternative noodles in a separate pot per the package directions. Then fold in the cooked and drained noodles into the sauce before adding the vegetables back to the pan.
- Soy sauce – Use low sodium soy sauce, dark soy sauce, coconut aminos or liquid aminos, if you like.
- Oyster sauce – You can use more soy sauce, beef broth, hoisin sauce, or even a half-and-half mixture of soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce as an alternative.
Serving Suggestions
Offer some additional fresh mung beans and chopped scallions to toss on top of the udon. I also like to have bottles of hot sauce and crushed chili pepper flakes on hand, for a nice kick of spicy heat.
These stir-fried noodles are brimming with chicken and veggies for a yummy one-bowl meal. But that doesn’t mean you can’t invite more delicious dishes to the table!
Serve light and flavorful miso soup or Japanese clear soup for an extra bowl of cozy goodness. Or enjoy with salad greens and chilled Japanese ginger dressing to add some freshness to dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Both of these traditional Japanese noodles are long and on the thicker side. But while soba noodles are made with hearty buckwheat flour, udon noodles are made from all-purpose flour. This makes them more tender and less chewy than soba.
No, udon noodles are not usually gluten free. However, there are speciality GF-friendly varieties made without wheat flour available at most stores!
Japanese stir-fried udon noodles are delicious leftovers! The noodles won’t have quite the same tenderness once chilled and reheated, but the flavors will intensify as everything sits together.
Cool the dish completely before transferring to an airtight container. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.
You can, technically. But for the best taste and texture I do not recommend freezing leftover yaki udon… The noodles don’t have the same toothsomeness when thawed and reheated.
Looking for More Asian-Inspired Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
- Sukiyaki Beef
- Asian Beef Meatballs
- Japanese Ginger Pork Stir Fry
- Easy Vegan Stir Fry Sauce (with Noodles)
- Japanese Hibachi Fried Rice
Chicken Yaki Udon Recipe + Video
Video
Ingredients
For the Yaki Udon Noodle Sauce –
- ¾ cup water
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon lime juice or rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
For the Yaki Udon –
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
- 1 bell pepper seeded and sliced thin
- 1 bunch scallions chopped and separated into white and greens
- 1 cup mung bean sprouts
- 18-20 ounces vacuum-packed udon noodles
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the water, soy sauce, oyster sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar for the noodle sauce. Stir well and set aside.
- Remove the seeds from the bell pepper and slice it into thin strips. Slice the scallions into 1-inch segments, separating the whites and greens into two piles. Slice the mushrooms if needed.
- Set a large wok (or sauté pan) over medium-high heat. Add the sesame oil to the pan. Once hot, add the scallion whites, mushrooms, and bell pepper strips.
- Stir fry the vegetables for 3-4 minutes, until mostly cooked. Move the vegetables to a holding plate.
- Add the ground chicken to the pan. Break the chicken into small pieces with a wooden spoon, as you stir and cook. Once the ground chicken is well browned, open the udon noodle packets and add the noodles to the wok.
- Pour the sauce over the top of the noodles. Gently fold the chicken and sauce over the noodles until they loosen enough to pull apart. Do not break the noodles into pieces; gently tug and fold to loosen them.
- As the noodles start to separate, add the stir fried vegetables back to the pan. Toss well, then add in the mung beans sprouts, and scallion greens. Toss and simmer for another 1-2 minutes, then remove from heat. Serve immediately.
We found this yaki udon and thought about trying it. It was so good and something we are going to make over and over again. It was a hit and so simple to make!
Made this for the fam and had rave reviews, so delish!
Been craving for this and I was satisfied and filled! It’s super easy and extra savory 😍