Yaki udon just means fried udon. That’s it. No mystery, no special equipment, no trip to a Japanese grocery unless you feel like one. You boil thick wheat noodles for two minutes, you throw them in a screaming hot pan with marinated pork and whatever vegetables are wilting in the crisper, and eleven minutes later dinner is done. The noodles are the point: fat, chewy, slippery, they hang on to sauce in a way spaghetti never will. If you have only ever met udon floating in broth, this is the other half of its life.<\/p>\n
Seven things in a bowl, whisked, and the pork sits in it for an hour. Hoisin brings the dark sweetness and the caramelizing sugars. Mirin keeps it Japanese instead of generic. Sesame oil goes in at the end of the whisk because it is loud and you only need two teaspoons. Sriracha is there for warmth, not for heat, and you can double it without anyone crying at the table.<\/p>\n
An hour in the fridge is the part people skip. Don’t. Thin slices of tenderloin soak all the way through in that time, so the meat tastes seasoned rather than sauced.<\/p>\n
Chicken, thin-sliced sirloin, shrimp, firm tofu: the marinade doesn’t care. Neither do the noodles, honestly. Fresh ramen, lo mein, even soba if you like that earthier buckwheat edge. Vegetables are whatever you have. I have made this with bok choy and bell pepper because that is what my fridge held on a Tuesday, and I have made it with broccoli, snap peas and gai lan because that is what was on sale. The sauce is the recipe. The rest is inventory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\ud83e\udd62 Pork yaki udon. Thirty minutes, one wok, zero takeout Yaki udon just means fried udon. That’s it. No mystery, no special equipment, no trip to a Japanese grocery unless you feel like one. You boil thick wheat noodles for two minutes, you throw them in a screaming hot pan …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"yaki udon","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Pork yaki udon: a 30-minute udon noodle stir fry","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Pork yaki udon: thick udon noodles stir fried with marinated pork and vegetables in a hoisin-mirin sauce. One wok, ready in 30 minutes.","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"recipe_category":[171,180,167],"sponsorship":[],"class_list":["post-855","recipe","type-recipe","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","recipe_category-meat","recipe_category-pastas-noodles","recipe_category-main-dishes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n