My Grandma Ruby lived in Japan in the 1960s. She was an English teacher.

I made Grandma’s yakisoba recipe for my family tonight, with a couple of changes that made it even better. I think she’d be proud of me.

This looks like a lot of ingredients, but do not despair. You can buy bottled tonkatsu sauce instead of making your own, and then all those garnishes at the end are optional. Really all you need are noodles, cabbage, onion, bean sprouts, and bacon at a minimum and it will still be excellent.

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Grandma Ruby’s Yakisoba

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Tonkatsu sauce:

3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons unsulphured molasses
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
Dash ground cloves

Yakisoba:

8 ounces soba noodles (or angel hair pasta)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
90 grams cooked bacon crumbles (or lardons)
1 cup thinly sliced onion
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 cups shredded green cabbage
2 cups fresh bean sprouts
1/4 teaspoon salt

Optional garnishes:

White pepper
Furikake
Pickled ginger
Shredded nori (dried seaweed)
Additional shredded cabbage
Additional tonkatsu sauce

Instructions

Make the tonkatsu sauce by whisking all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Alternately, you can use purchased tonkatsu sauce, such as Bull-Dog brand.
Cook the soba noodles or angel hair pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite (follow package instructions for timing). Drain; transfer to a medium bowl and toss with the sesame oil and soy sauce to coat.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the bacon crumbles until they are crisp and bubbling in fat. If you’re using lardons, cook them until they are crisp and have rendered out much of their fat. Add the onion and garlic; sauté for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add this mixture to the pasta and toss to combine.
In the same empty skillet, heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil. Cook the cabbage, bean sprouts, and 1/4 teaspoon salt for 5-10 minutes, until the veggies are wilted and beginning to turn brown on the edges. Add 2 tablespoons of the tonkatsu sauce and cook for about 2 more minutes.
Add the cabbage mixture to the pasta mixture and toss to combine.
Serve the yakisoba with white pepper, furikake, pickled ginger, shredded nori, additional shredded cabbage, and additional tonkatsu sauce.

Here’s the original recipe card I got from my mom! I currently use a recipe database called Paprika where I have more than 3,300 recipes saved, along with all of my ratings, notes, etc. But sometimes I miss the days of recipe cards.