We love garlic noodles! This dish is made in collaboration with Outer Orbit and features yakisoba noodles with lots of garlic and butter. We season it with soy sauce, mirin, and Maggi. Plus the "secret" ingredient...parmesan! It's easy to prepare and makes a super onolicious lunch or dinner. Enjoy plain or pair with any meat or vegetable side. Outer Orbit serves it with lumpia!
Garlic Noodles!
Today's post is really neat because it is the first ever recipe collaboration post on the blog ^_^
Outer Orbit is a Hapa-Hawaiian restaurant in San Francisco owned by Elisabeth and Christian. Christian is a local from Hawaii! We all worked together to create this garlic noodle recipe.
The coolest part is that they're now serving it at the restaurant! Make sure to order garlic noodles when you visit.
We first connected via email and then met up last fall to taste and brainstorm. Garlic noodles are super popular in SF and we decided to create our own version with a local touch. There were so many ideas and possibilities.
What type of noodles? Do we add inamona? Do we include fish sauce? How long do we cook the garlic for? Do we want it more cooked or more raw for the bite? Can we make this a one pot/pan dish? After much back and forth testing in our own kitchens (so cool to see how many different versions can be made!) and many emails, we decided on this final recipe.
We hope you'll love these noodles as much as we do ^_^
It's fun to make, the ingredients are easy to find, and most importantly, it is very delicious.
This recipe features yakisoba noodles. We cook and toss it with butter and minced garlic. Then we season it with a really good sauce mixture of soy sauce, mirin, and Maggi.
Soy sauce and mirin is a popular combo in Japanese and local Hawaii recipes. Maggi is a classic in Vietnamese recipes. When you combine them...wowowow.
We also toss the noodles with parmesan at the end. It's like a secret ingredient that adds extra oomph!
You can serve the noodles plain (this is what I do when I just want a quick lunch or dinner). Or you can serve it as a side dish with other meats and vegetables. It's popular to eat garlic noodles with crab. Or pair with anything from spring rolls to shoyu chicken. At Outer Orbit, they serve it with lumpia!
Outer Orbit
Make sure to check out Elisabeth and Christian's Outer Orbit when you're in San Francisco. I love their vision of a Hapa-Hawaiian restaurant. The menu features many ono favorites like musubi (with housemade Spam!), chicken katsu curry, Loco Moco and so much more.
My favorite is the corn dog because it's wrapped with malasada dough and is fried nice and crisp. Such a cool idea. You can see it in the photo above. It comes sprinkled with togarashi sugar ^_^
P.S. Come for the food but don't miss the pinball and beer!
Yakisoba Noodles
You can make garlic noodles with many different types of noodles. Some recipes call for Chinese egg noodles, some for spaghetti. I've even seen recipes using angel hair and linguine.
We like it best with yakisoba noodles.
Yakisoba is a Japanese noodle meant to be used for stir fry. It is a wheat-based noodle. It's most often featured in a dish called yakisoba (the noodle and the dish go by the same name).
Yakisoba is very common in Hawaii. You can find yakisoba the dish at restaurants and takeout spots. And you can purchase uncooked yakisoba noodles at almost every supermarket like Nijiya, Foodland, Longs Drugs, and Times, etc.
The most popular brand of yakisoba noodles in Hawaii is Sun Noodle. Remember when we went to their Kalihi factory? It's so cool how you can just buy it directly from the factory!
If you're on the mainland, I usually see the Maruchan's brand (make sure to get the fresh/frozen noodles, not the instant ramen-style kind).
If you plan to make garlic noodles for a big group, definitely check out...
...Costco Hawaii! Yes, you can get a big 8 pack of yakisoba noodles at Costco Hawaii. And it's such a good deal.
It's in the fresh refrigerated section along with many other local goodies. They have lau lau, kalua pig (which you can use to make kalua pig and cabbage), lomi salmon, and sometimes even kamaboko dip. We usually go to the Iwilei Costco location because they have a lot of stuff.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Yakisoba noodles (about 5-6 ounces per person)
- Green onion, chopped, green and whites divided
- Butter
- Garlic, minced
- Maggi sauce
- Soy sauce
- Mirin
- Parmesan, freshly grated or powdered
Step by Step Directions
Let's get cooking ^_^
Cook the noodles.
Place the yakisoba noodles on a lightly greased cast iron pan (or non-stick pan). Place the white parts of the green onion on top. Cook the noodles for about 2 minutes, using chopsticks to gently loosen the noodles.
Pro Tip: Add a splash of water to help loosen the noodles.
Add garlic and butter.
Add the minced garlic and butter to the noodles. Toss to mix and turn the heat to low.
Season.
Cook for 1 more minute, then add the Maggi, soy sauce, and mirin. Toss well.
Add parmesan.
Slide the noodles into a bowl. Add the parmesan and toss again.
Complete and serve.
Top with the green parts of the green onion. Eat and enjoy!
FAQs and Tips
Use freshly grated parmesan (grate it right before you use it) or powdered parmesan. Do not use pre-grated parmesan because it will clump when you toss it with the noodles.
We like to separate the white and green parts of the green onion. We cook the white parts with the yakisoba noodles in the first step. Then we add the green parts at the end right before serving. It's a small touch that makes a nice difference.
But if you are in a rush or just don't want to bother separating, that is also ok! Just add all of the chopped green onion (both white and green parts) in Step 1. You might want to save a tiny bit for sprinkling on at the end for a garnish.
We like to make this dish using a cast iron pan because you can sort of "grill" the noodles on the pan in Step 1. This makes the noodles a little crispy, which is nice!
No worries if you don't have a cast iron pan, don't let that prevent you from making the recipe. Just use a non-stick or any pan you have available at home.
It's best enjoy as soon as you make it, hot off the pan. If you have leftovers, they will keep 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave.
Yes! You can easily double or even triple the recipe.
There are endless options and you can play around with the ratio of garlic, parmesan, noodles, etc. It's a pretty forgiving recipe and it's hard to go wrong with this combination of ingredients.
If you really love garlic, you can add a ton more garlic than the recipe calls for. You can also use pre-minced garlic instead of fresh garlic. If you used pre-minced garlic, add the garlic right before you add the parmesan. Pre-minced garlic doesn't have as much a "bite" to it, so needs less cooking time.
You can also add a lot more parmesan. Or you can finish the dish with parmesan grated tableside if you want to be fancy.
Garlic Noodles Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Garlic Noodles
We love garlic noodles. Made in collaboration with Outer Orbit, this dish features yakisoba noodles with lots of garlic and butter. We season it with soy sauce, mirin, and Maggi. Plus the "secret" ingredient...parmesan! It's easy to prepare and makes a super onolicious lunch or dinner. Enjoy plain or pair with any meat or vegetable side. Outer Orbit serves it with lumpia!
Ingredients
- 1 serving yakisoba noodles (about 5-6 ounces)
- 1 stalk green onion, chopped, green and whites divided
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Maggi sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon mirin
- 1 tablespoon parmesan, freshly grated or powdered
Instructions
- Place the yakisoba noodles on a lightly greased cast iron pan (or non-stick pan). Place the white parts of the green onion on top. Cook the noodles for about 2 minutes, using chopsticks to gently loosen the noodles. Add a splash of water to help loosen the noodles.
- Add the minced garlic and butter to the noodles. Toss to mix and turn the heat to low.
- Cook for 1 more minute, then add the Maggi, soy sauce, and mirin. Toss well.
- Slide the noodles into a bowl. Add the parmesan and toss again. Top with the green parts of the green onion. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
- We like to make this dish using a cast iron pan because you can sort of "grill" the noodles on the pan in Step 1. This makes the noodles a little crispy, which is nice!
- If you are in a rush, no need to separate the white and green parts of the green onions. Just add all of the chopped green onion in at Step 1.
- Use freshly grated parmesan (grate it right before you use it) or powdered parmesan. Do not use pre-grated parmesan because it will clump.
Great post and recipe! Wife and I both love noodles. FWIW she also loves Chinese chicken lo mein, with the soft larger noodles; me, not so much. But I think she will like this recipe with the yakisoba noodles. I was even thinking of making her the chicken yakisoba dish too. I will try both. Thanks!!
Thanks, Alan! Hope you enjoy the recipe, I really love it with the yakisoba noodles ^_^
- Kathy