Vegetable Yaki Udon Noodles

This Vegetable Yaki Udon Noodle Bowl is a 20 minute Japanese stir fry dish. It has a bold richness to it, with a savory and slightly sweet flavor with thick chewy noodles that absorb the sauciness, along with shitake mushrooms, onion and boy choy.

a bowl of yaki soba noodles garnished with sesame seeds

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If you're a die hard meat eater and the thought of eating dinner without a giant hunk of protein sounds as appetizing as eating a cardboard box, you need to try this!

This is a dish that has big bold meaty textures and flavors, yet there is no meat. Instead there are mushrooms, which when cooked with the right flavors and technique are just as satisfying as eating meat.

Recipe Highlights

Use either fresh (refrigerated) udon noodles or shelf stable (non refrigerated) udon noodles
Perfect serving for 2 people as a Main, or 4 as a side
Easy to double or triple the recipe for meal prepping
Add shredded BBQ chicken for more protein
Its made all in one pan and is perfect for low calorie meal prepping
Tips below to make it spicy, smoky, or extra rich

Love noodles? Check out these spicy peanut butter noodles and these Slow Cooker Beef Ramen Noodles!

Ingredients

Making dinners under 500 calories is my specialty, with many of my most popular being low calorie chicken recipes, low calorie meal prepping recipes and low calorie slow cooker recipes.

Different Types of Udon Noodles

You can use fresh udon noodles found in the refrigerated section of the supermarket or shelf stable udon noodles normally found in the Asian aisle of the supermarket. I tend to use the shelf stable ones as I find them more convenient as they don't need pre cooking. While using wither type of noodle will work, there are some differences between the texture of the two.

Fresh Udon Noodles: These are firmer and have a more chewy texture. They can take cooking on higher heat and are perfect if you like to get a little char on your noodles to add some natural smokiness to the dish. There is a bit more prep if using these noodles as they are not pre cooked like the shelf stable ones.

Shelf-Stable Udon Noodles: these have a softer texture and are round and fat. They generally don't tolerate the high heat as well and if you're trying to get some char on the noodle they may break. These noodles are what I use most often and are great for the convenience and I love the soft chewiness, as opposed to the firm chewiness.

Other Key Ingredients

Soy Sauce: Regular soy sauce is the best one to use, or light soy can be used also. This provides the flavor base for the sauce.
Oyster Sauce: This provides richness and body to the sauce
Miren: This provides a seasoning element to the sauce. It's similar to Japanese sake although much lower in alcohol. It can be found in the Asian grocery aisle of the supermarket. Alternatively Rice Vinegar can be used although Miren is not as tart as rice vinegar so you may need to add extra sweetness.
Honey: This is to balance out the savory flavors and only a tiny amount is needed. Alternatively you could replace the honey with the same amount of granulated sweetener like stevia or monkfruit, or even use a sugar free maple syrup.
Garlic: With so few ingredients in this recipe, using fresh crushed garlic will provide more flavor, however using minced garlic from a jar is fine to use as well.
Onion: this is a must to bring out the savory flavours. White or brown onion. Red onion or salad onions are not suitable.
Shitake Mushroom: These mushrooms are perfect in Japanese dishes are they have a meaty, dense texture and are a little bit chewy. They are generally readily available in most large supermarkets in the fresh produce section. Fresh shitake mushrooms are recommended over dried ones, although you could use them in a pinch.
Bok Choy: This adds extra fibre and colour to this vegetable udon noodles

How to Make Veggie Yaki Udon

Prepare Sauce: In a small bowl or mason jar whisk sauce ingredients.

Cook Noodles: Cook the udon noodles as per package instructions (2-3 minutes). Separate the nodules with chopsticks to prevent sticking. Rinse the cooked noodles under cold water and drain.

Add Vegetables: In a large pan or wok over medium-high heat, saute onion and mushrooms until softened. Add in garlic, and bok choy and saute further for 30 seconds.

Add Sauce: Stir in the sauce, remove from heat, and toss the noodles until fully covered in the sauce.
Garnish: Taste for seasoning and serve with sesame seeds.

mushroom, bok choy and garlic in a frying pan

Fresh Shitake Mushrooms or Dried Shitake Mushrooms?

Whilst fresh shitake mushrooms would always be my first preference for a yaki udon noodle dish, you can use dried shitake mushrooms. However they will have a more concentrated flavor over fresh. There is also more preparation involved as dried shitake will need to be rehydrated in warm water before adding to the pan, which may add an extra 20 to 30 minutes to the recipe.

Once rehydrated, the dried shitake will have a stronger flavor and will have a similar meaty chewiness as the fresh shitake.

yaki soba noodle bowl with chopsticks dug in

Mushroom Substitutes

What if you can't find Shitake Mushrooms? Maybe where you live they aren't available or they are out. Thankfully there are a number of great shitake mushroom alternatives that will work just as well.

Also, you don't need to use just one mushroom type. Why not mix it up and use two or three different types of mushrooms.

Enoki Mushrooms: long, thin and delicate with a mild flavor
Oyster Mushrooms: round and soft with a mild flavor
Cremini Mushrooms: most similar to shitake mushrooms as they have a meaty texture and earthy flavor
Button Mushrooms: small, round and firm with a meaty texture and mild flavor

Vegetable Alternatives

Cabbage: cabbage and noodles are a perfect match. A firm hardy cabbage like a sugarloaf works well cut into long stands. Wombok cabbage is too delicate and will disintegrate.
Spinach: Baby spinach leave are perfect to add extra protein, iron and colour
Zucchini: Slice into battons, sticks or chunks. Anything goes
Red Capsicum/Bell Pepper: slice into chunks or sticks.
Any Asian Greens: pay choy, choy sum
Broccoli or brocollini: Chop the stems off and keep the heads. Small bit sized pieces work best.

I recommend between two and four vegetables , not counting the onion for the perfect vegie yaki udon. Keeping it super simple at two using mushrooms and boy choy couldn't get any easier, or to add more bulk, colour and fibre, you can't go wrong with mushrooms, cabbage, zucchini and capcicum (bell pepper).

yaki soba noodles twirled around chopsticks

Recipe Tips

Make it spicy: Add half a teaspoon of chili paste or sambel olek to the sauce. Or add half a teaspoon of red chili flakes either into the sauce or to serve.
Make it Smoky: Add 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil over the noodles whilst they are cooking and stir through
Add extra richness: double the amount of sauce ingredients but keep the same amount of noodles and vegetalbes.
Storage: these noodles are perfect for meal prepping and will keep well in an air tight container in the fridge for 3 days.
Freezing: not recommended

Common Questions

What toppings can I add to Udon?

Apart from sesame seeds, you could add fresh diced red chili for extra heat, or diced scallions, or store bought runchy fried shallots (from the asian food aisle of the supermarket) Other ideas included a little pickled ginger, or nori (seeweed) flakes.

This quick and easy udon with vegetables is a versatile dish that is a meal on its own, but can also be transformed into so much more with toppings, additional protein, and your own personal twists of spicy, smoky and extra rich.

Easy to make in one pan and on the table in under 20 minutes, this dish is packed with nutrition and fibre and those thick soft chewy noodles perfectly absorb the sweet, savory and meaty flavor, despite the dish being entirely meat free!