Yakisoba Sauce – 焼きそばソース

Making yakisoba sauce at home is easy! Use it to make yakisoba from scratch or to add extra flavor to your bowl of Maruchan yakisoba. It’s delicious!

What is Yakisoba Sauce?

Yakisoba sauce (焼きそばソース) is a Japanese condiment used for yakisoba, a dish consisting of wheat noodles pan fried with mixed vegetables and topped with aonori (seaweed flakes) and beni shōga (red ginger pickles). The word yakisoba literally means ‘fried noodles’.

While you can purchase packages of pre-made yakisoba such as Maruchan (Gotsumori), or frozen yakisoba noodles with powdered sauce, I find that the homemade version is much better, and not that much more time consuming. You can also make extra and keep it in the fridge for up to a month so the next time you cook will be even faster!

Ingredients for Yakisoba Sauce

• Worcestershire sauce: What makes yakisoba sauce so irresistible is the tangy spicy taste that hits your palate as soon as you take the first bite. Adjusting the amount of worcestershire sauce is what makes the sauce more or less tangy. This one is pretty tangy so I suggest lowering the amount by 1 tablespoon and adding more sugar if you prefer it sweet.
• Soy sauce: Soy sauce adds earthiness and plenty of umami to this classic Japanese sauce. Use regular soy sauce, or skip the salt if you use lite soy sauce as it’s usually saltier.
• Oyster sauce: My favorite oyster sauce is by Lee Kum Kee, which is rich in umami and less sweet than other brands such as Ka-Me or Kikkoman.
• Sugar: I like my yakisoba sauce to be equally sweet, salty, and tangy. But feel free to add an additional teaspoon or two of sugar if you enjoy a sweeter version.
• Salt: Half a teaspoon of salt is the perfect amount to marry sweet, umami, and tangy together.
• Black pepper: Optional but I love to add a little ground black pepper for some heat.

How to Make Yakisoba Sauce

1. Place all the ingredients for the yakisoba sauce in a microwave proof container and stir.
2. Microwave for 20 seconds on high and stir well. Enjoy!

I have two recipes where you can use this sauce:

• My yakisoba recipe using packaged yakisoba noodles. For this recipe, simply use the homemade yakisoba sauce instead of the powdered seasoning the package comes with. I recommend 2 tablespoons of yakisoba sauce per serving of noodles.
• My vegetable chow mein recipe, which also qualifies as yakisoba. Once again, swap the sauce I have written in the recipe for this one.

Best Way to Store Yakisoba Sauce

Keep yakisoba sauce in a jar, tightly sealed and refrigerate it for up to one month.

You can also freeze yakisoba sauce!

Let the sauce cool to room temperature first. I recommend freezing the sauce in individual portions if it’s just for one, otherwise, save the sauce in an airtight storage container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Where to Buy Pre-Made Yakisoba Sauce

If you still prefer to buy pre-made yakisoba sauce, visit an Asian grocery store or Japanese supermarket. The most popular brand is Otafuku but you can also use something like Bulldog or Hikari Okonomi sauce if you can’t find it.

Bulldog is typically used for tonkatsu or as a sauce for sandwiches, and Hikari for okonomiyaki (obviously!), but they are similar enough to yakisoba sauce to be interchangeable.

These sauces are also available on Amazon.

Other Ways to Use Yakisoba Sauce

Yakisoba sauce is very versatile and can be used for so much more than just yakisoba!

It can be used in vegetable stir fries, to make fried rice (only use a little bit), with other noodle dishes, as a sauce for wraps and sandwiches, or as a dipping sauce for tofu, chicken or meat.

Other Homemade Japanese Sauce

Once you start making your own sauce at home, it’s hard to go back to the store bought version since you get to make it exactly how you like it! If you enjoyed this yakisoba sauce recipe, you might enjoy making these ones as well:

• Eel sauce
• Teriyaki sauce
• Tonkatsu sauce
• Sweet and sour sauce
• General Tso sauce

Did you like this Yakisoba Sauce Recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!

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