Beef yaki udon
Thick, chewy udon noodles stir-fried with beef, cabbage and onion in a savory-sweet sauce, a Japanese pub classic for two.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.93 a serving
- 600 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 2 udon noodles
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 8 oz 85/15 ground beef
- ½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 600 calories, 30 g protein, 63 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $3.93 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green cabbage? Red cabbage or coleslaw mix works.
- No shredded carrots? Carrots work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the udon in a bowl, cover with hot tap water for 2 minutes, then gently pull the strands apart and .
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Dolly’s tip: Loosening them first means they won’t break into short bits in the pan.Stir the soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin and sugar together in a small bowl.
Heat the oil in a large over medium-high and cook the beef 5 to 6 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 5 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Add the onion, cabbage and carrot and 3 to 4 minutes, until but still a little crunchy.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Wilt. Wilting means cooking leafy greens just until they go soft and collapse. Greens shrink a lot, so a big pile of spinach becomes a small handful, and that’s normal.
How you’ll know: The leaves turn soft and deep green and slump into the pan, usually within a minute or two.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Add the udon and the sauce and with tongs 2 minutes, until the noodles are hot and glossy.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: If they stick, add a splash of water and keep tossing.Pile into bowls and scatter the green onions on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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