Sesame Soba Noodles. Springy cold buckwheat noodles seasoned in a light tangy soy sauce with sesame seeds, green onions and roasted seaweed. This quick and easy Asian noodle dish is ready in 10 minutes with simple ingredients!
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Sesame Soba Noodles are made of boiled and chilled buckwheat noodles seasoned in soy sauce, sesame oil and rice vinegar topped with sesame seeds, green onions and dry roasted seaweed.
These cold soba noodles serve well as a main or simple side dish to your meal. Whenever I want something quick and no-fuss, I make this dish. It's also super refreshing and perfect for the hot summer months to cool off.
You'll also find this noodle dish served at many Japanese restaurants as a side dish or sometimes in bento boxes. I love to serve this dish with veggies and protein to make it complete.
These soba noodles are also convenient for packed lunchboxes because you can serve it cold or at room temperature. You can also make them in advance for meal preparation.
The best part about this noodle recipe is that it's made with simple pantry ingredients in very little time.
Ingredients & Substitutes
Please scroll down to the below Recipe card for full measurements.
- Buckwheat soba noodles: A type of Japanese noodles made of buckwheat flour and is sold at most Asian markets in the dried noodle section. They are grey in color and about 1-cm thick. Or substitute with instant ramen noodles or somyeon, which are Korean thin wheat flour noodles and cook them according to package directions.
- Green onions: for added color and as an aromatic flavor.
- Toasted sesame seeds: for that nutty flavor. Pro Tip: If you crush them in your palms, the flavor will be even stronger.
- Roasted seaweed: you can use roasted seaweed snack, Korean seaweed flakes or nori cut into small thin slices.
Noodle Sauce
- Regular soy sauce: or substitute with low sodium soy sauce or light soy sauce. If you’re gluten-free, substitute with tamari sauce, coconut aminos or a gluten-free soy sauce.
- Toasted sesame oil: this is the key ingredient to the sesame sauce in making these Asian noodles nutty and aromatic! It's unlike vegetable oil, canola oil or olive oil and I wouldn't recommend the aforementioned as substitutes. The closest substitute would be peanut oil but note, that it won’t be very strong in taste like sesame oil.
- Rice vinegar (aka rice wine vinegar): this gives the sauce an acidity to balance out the salty flavors. Or substitute with apple cider vinegar or white vinegar as a last resort. Avoid using other vinegars.
- White granulated sugar: to balance out the salty flavors (not shown in the image above and has been recently added to this recipe).
Note: Your Asian grocery store will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.
Expert Tips
- To prevent the noodle water from over bubbling onto your stove top, place a wooden utensil on top of the large pot. The wood breaks apart any foaming.
- Don't over cook the noodles! I recommend performing a noodle taste test at the 5 minute mark to check if taste chewy.
- Rinse the cooked soba noodles off with cold running water or even soak them in ice water to stop the cooking process and to make them chewier.
- Make sure to strain out as much excess water in the noodles as possible to avoid diluting the noodle sauce.
- Grind the toasted sesame seeds in the palm of your hands for extra flavor!
- Mix the noodle sauce before adding to the noodles for an even distribution of ingredients.
Instructions
Below are step-by-step instructions on how to make sesame soba noodles:
- In a small bowl, combine noodle sauce ingredients until combined and the sugar has fully dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large pot of water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add buckwheat noodles and boil according to package directions, or for 5-6 minutes until the noodles are al dente.
- Strain noodles and rinse noodles off with cold running water until they are cool to touch. Strain out as much excess water as possible. Transfer strained noodles to a large bowl.
- Season noodles with noodle sauce along with sesame seeds and finely chopped green onions. Mix well until noodles are lightly coated in sauce.
- Serve and garnish with roasted seaweed on top and enjoy cold!
Storage
- Leftovers will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. There's no need to reheat them as they are meant to be enjoyed cold.
- Freezer friendly? I don't recommend freezing sesame soba noodles as they will become soggy.
Topping Suggestions
Here is a list of topping ideas for these cold sesame soba noodles:
- vegetables like shredded raw cabbage, julienned cucumber, shaved raw carrots, thinly cut raw bell peppers, snap peas, snow peas, peas, lettuce, raw or cooked bean sprouts, raw or cooked corn, sliced raw or cooked zucchini, or cooked edamame.
- protein like boiled egg, diced cooked tofu or tempeh, shredded chicken, pork, beef, spam, ham, sausage or shrimp.
Pairing Suggestions
Sesame soba noodles serve well with other Japanese dishes like:
- starters like miso soup, Japanese crab corn salad or salad with Japanese ginger salad dressing or Korokke
- seafood dishes like shrimp tempura, panko shrimp or ebi mayo
- protein dishes like ramen eggs, chicken katsu or tonkatsu, Karaage, Teriyaki Tofu, Teriyaki Chicken, or Ginger Miso Salmon.
- rice dishes like Oyakodon, Omurice, Shrimp Tempura Rice Ball, Onigiri, or Spicy Tuna Onigiri
- other noodle dishes like Yaki Udon, Creamy Mushroom Udon, or Udon Carbonara
- or Japanese egg salad sandwich
FAQ
Sesame soba noodles can be made in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Note: overtime, the noodles will naturally lose their chewiness.
Feel free to add as much red chili flakes, red pepper flakes or chili oil to taste into the noodle sauce before mixing with the noodles.
No, even though the ingredients are quite similar, Zaru Soba requires you to dip the buckwheat noodles into a runny sauce. These sesame soba noodles are already pre-mixed with the sauce.
The sesame oil and sesame seeds add a lot of flavor to this noodle dish so I don't recommend substituting unless you're allergic. If you're allergic, substitute the sesame oil with peanut oil or a neutral tasting oil and omit the sesame seeds and add more nori. Unfortunately, you'll have to adjust your taste expectations as these are key ingredients.
📖 Recipe
Easy 10-min. Sesame Soba Noodles
Ingredients
- 6.34 oz soba noodles buckwheat kind
- 1 green onion finely chopped
- 2 teaspoon sesame seeds toasted
- ½ half sheet nori thinly cut into 1-inch long pieces for garnishing or sub with crushed seaweed snack or seaweed flakes
Noodle Sauce
- 2 tablespoon regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- ½ tsp white granulated sugar or honey
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine noodle sauce ingredients until combined and the sugar has fully dissolved. Set aside.
- In a large pot of water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add buckwheat noodles and boil according to package directions, or for 5-6 minutes until the noodles are al dente.
- Strain noodles and rinse noodles off with cold running water until they are cool to touch. Strain out as much excess water as possible. Transfer strained noodles to a large bowl.
- Season noodles with noodle sauce along with sesame seeds and finely chopped green onions. Mix well until noodles are lightly coated in sauce.
- Serve and garnish with roasted seaweed on top and enjoy cold!
Joy
Thank you for this recipe, it was very easy to make and used ingredients easily found in my pantry. More power to you Christie!
christieathome
Thank you so much for making my recipes Joy! I appreciate your kind support!!!