Simple and delicious garlic sesame soba noodles in 20 minutes. Enjoy them warm or as a cold sesame noodle salad with the veggies of your choice! It’s fast, healthy, and requires minimal effort for a foolproof, gluten-free, meat-free mid-week meal!
On days when we want a quick, simple, low fuss meal on our tables in under 20 minutes, noodles and stir-fries often come to the rescue. We’ve previously shared recipes for a simple veggie chow mein, udon edamame stir fry, and a shiitake-asparagus-tofu stir fry. Now, it’s the turn of these garlic sesame soba noodles!
With just a handful of pantry staples and a couple of extras, this sesame noodle recipe is simple, budget-friendly, and makes for a delicious last-minute midweek meal. Even better, with several ways to adapt the recipe, you can enjoy it as a side or main, warm with all your favorite stir-fry veggies, or as a cold sesame noodle salad with crisp veggies like shredded carrots, cabbage, and bell peppers. It’s up to you!
Soba noodles are a type of long noodle made from buckwheat flour (soba is simply the Japanese name for buckwheat). Buckwheat noodles are darker than regular wheat noodles and have an earthy, subtly nutty flavor. Buckwheat is also naturally gluten-free - though some varieties of the noodle include wheat flour.
Even better, buckwheat noodles pack in additional fiber and protein over regular noodles. They also boast several health benefits thanks to several healthful plant compounds, antioxidants, and numerous vitamins and minerals. These include being anti-inflammatory, blood sugar control, improving heart health, and even cancer prevention.
When combined with a simple, savory, zingy ginger garlic sesame noodles sauce, this vegan soba noodle recipe is a delicious and foolproof way to pack in nutrients. You might also enjoy this warm soba salad with cucumbers or chap chae-style soba noodles.
This vegan soba noodles recipe requires a handful of pantry staples and just a few extras, with plenty of opportunity for versatility.
There are several simple ways to adapt this garlic sesame noodle recipe, including:
Immediately after cooking them, drain and rinse the noodles. This is important to remove excess starches and stop the noodles from clumping up.
After cooking the soba noodles, drain them and place them in a bowl with cold water or rinse under running cold water.
Then, toss with the sauce and any raw veggies and enjoy the cold sesame noodles immediately.
Yes, this sesame oil soba sauce would also make delicious sesame garlic ramen noodles, udon, rice noodles, vermicelli, etc.
You can add any of your favorite stir fry vegetables to these vegan garlic sesame noodles, including:
Broccoli
Broccolini
Snow peas
Green beans
Spinach
Peas
Shredded carrot
Shredded cabbage
Bell peppers
Bean sprouts
Water chestnuts
Zucchini
Mini corn or sweetcorn
Mushrooms
You could also use a fresh or frozen prepared ‘stir fry vegetables’ combination to add to the garlic sesame noodles. Plus, if you plan to make a cold sesame noodle salad, you could also use raw veggies like avocado, sugar snap peas, radish, etc.
When adding any vegetables, try to choose veggies with similar cooking times and chop them into even pieces, to cook evenly. Stir-fry them while the noodles cook.
The package should contain instructions. However, soba noodles are generally cooked in boiling water for 3-5 minutes until al dente. Then, drain them well and rinse to remove any excess starch (to avoid them sticking).
Yes, if you don’t, they clump up quickly after being drained. Rinsing will remove any clinging starches and leave you with individual noodles. Tossing a small amount of oil into the noodles will also help reduce clumping (in this case, the oil in the sauce).
Once the sesame soba noodles are ready, enjoy them as a simple side dish or main. Top up the dish with a protein, dumplings, and/or veggies for more of a ‘fully loaded’ noodle bowl or serve alongside simple sides like this edamame salad.
You can store any leftover sesame soba noodles in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days.
Enjoy the leftovers as a chilled soba noodle salad OR reheat them in the microwave or on the stovetop.
Photos by Alfonso Revilla
Janaye says
These noodles look so good!
Andrea White says
So flavorful and delicious!
Michelle Cehn says
the photos are gorgeous!!
Andrea White says
Alfonso is the GOAT!
Teodora Grujic says
This is one of my favorites! So delicious!
Andrea White says
So flavorful and delicious!
Gina House says
I've made these 3 times in the past week. They are amazing! I also added cubes of smoked tofu to it and my husband is in love. He's asked for more every day! 😀
Andrea White says
Love that! So glad you guys are enjoying this one 🙂
Tina G says
This looks incredible! Love all of the veggies.
Andrea White says
The flavor makes eating veggies so easy!
Amanda Meth says
GORGEOUS photos! This looks so good!
Andrea White says
Aesthetic and delicious!
Oscar says
Loved all the flavours in this easy recipe. Garlic and ginger is my favourite combo and the noodles were delicious. Great recipe.
Andrea White says
Definitely a nice combo!
Rob says
This looks so easy and delicious! Love all the additional vegetable options and looking forward to making these noodles!
Andrea White says
Let us know what you think of it! 🙂
Sara says
This recipe was beyond delicious! Super flavorful and easy to prepare. We will definitely be making this again soon!
Andrea White says
Awesome! I love the flavor too. So so good!
Andrea White says
So delicious!
Nancy Wu says
healthy and low carbs!! perfect!
Andrea White says
Easy and delicious!