Being a shrimp as well as noodles lover, I hopelessly fell in love with this fuss-free shrimp udon noodles stir fry and it has easily become our frequent go-to weeknight meal!
The Japanese shrimp udon noodles stir fry is the best example of class and simplicity! Before I even start talking about it, I must insist you that you try making it at home! Trust me, you are going to thank me for this! Just liked I thanked all the bloggers who introduced me to this new-kind-of amazing noodles!
I have been hearing a lot about Japanese udon noodles and it was high time I try my hands on it! More so because I am an avid noodles-lover myself! While trying something new, the best way is to pair it up with something which I am already in love with!
That’s exactly what I did with this garlic shrimp udon noodles stir fry recipe! You see shrimp mentioned up there and should know that it’s already a winner for me! My love for shrimps is so deep-rooted that I sometimes feel like replacing all my food with only this one seafood! Sounds crazy, ha!
Let’s talk about Udon for a while, shall we?
If you are into Japanese food, you may already be familiar with this traditional Japanese noodles. Japanese cuisine is something which I have barely explored and I honestly intent to change that course of mine.
As you already know that I am a sucker for stir-fried noodles, hence it seemed to be the easiest dish to start with while beginning the journey to discover gems of this cuisine! And it indeed turned out to be an indisputable winner!
Not only me, this shrimp udon noodles even won my better half’s heart who is not so fond of Asian cuisine. This garlicky udon noodles stir fry proved to be such a pure pleasure to our taste buds that we actually repeated it in the same week!
Oops! I was supposed to talk about Udon and not how we fell for it!
Udon is a type of thick noodles which seems to be a staple in Japanese cuisine. It is a prime choice for hot noodles soup thanks to its chewy texture. It is usually made with very few ingredients – wheat flour, water & salt and soaks up the flavor of stir fry sauce beautifully.
You may also find two types of udon noodles in Asian section of your supermarket – one is pre-cooked & frozen and another one is dry. Precooked udon noodles are generally vacuum packed and is a preferable choice for udon stir fry.
In my city, pre-cooked & frozen udon noodles is a rare item which you would hardly find. Packet of dry udon is an easier find in the specialty supermarkets (like Nature’s Basket) and that’s exactly what I used in my garlic shrimp udon noodles stir fry!
My version of shrimp udon noodles stir fry is pretty simple with just handful of ingredients like shrimps (of course!), garlic and green onion or scallion. All these are rounded up with a flavorful stir-fry sauce made up of light soy sauce, Hoisin sauce and vinegar.
Hoisin sauce has a deep umami flavor with a hint of sweetness in it and that adds the depth of flavor in your udon stir fry. If you keep a bottle of Hoisin sauce handy, you can whip up many Asian classic delicacies in a jiffy! Another one coming soon; stay tuned!
You can use this shrimp udon noodles recipe of mine and create your own signature version of udon stir fry. Use chicken cut up in small cubes instead of shrimps, throw in veggies of your choice like pak choy, mushrooms or juliennes of carrots and a hearty meal is ready in 15!
This garlicy shrimp udon noodles comes around in 15 minutes and a great choice for weeknight meal. You will enjoy a restaurant-style dish right at the comfort of your home thanks to Marion’s kitchen 15-minute garlic prawn udon recipe where I drew my inspiration from! I changed up the sauce combination a bit as per our liking and it turned out fantastic!
My dry udon noodles was not as thick as I see in other bloggers’ recipes but these too tasted amazing with the right amount of chewiness. You don’t need to boil udon noodles too long which makes it a great choice for quick meals. Hectic weeknights saved, ha?
I came across another great blog post on udon noodles while exploring which it not only offers you another scrumptious stir fried udon noodles recipe, but also talks a great deal about how to handle frozen udon noodles for perfect stir fry every time! Do check it out!
- Japanese Udon Noodles – 250 gms
- Shrimps/prawns – 20, medium, peeled & deveined
- Garlic – 10 cloves, finely chopped (don’t be shocked, I’m a garlic-lover!)
- Green onion/scallion – 6 stalks, finely chopped, white & green parts separated
- Light soy sauce – 3 tsp
- Oyster sauce (or Hoisin sauce) – 2 tsp
- White vinegar – 1 tsp
- Vegetable oil – 3 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Cook the udon noodles as per packet instructions in salted boiling water. I cooked the udon for 3 minutes as per the instructions, then drained the water out and rinsed the noodles under cold running water.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a wok. Once the oil is smoking hot, reduce the heat to medium and tip in the chopped garlic. Sauté them for 1 minute.
- Then add the chopped white part of scallions and sauté them for 2 minutes on medium heat.
- Now add the shrimps to the wok and let them cook in single layer for 2 minutes. Then flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes or until they turn completely opaque. Sprinkle salt to taste to season the shrimps & veggies.
- Once the shrimps are cooked through, return the cooked udon noodles to the wok. Drizzle soy sauce, oyster or hoisin sauce and vinegar on top of the noodles.
- Stir fry the noodles on medium-high flame to mix up sauce evenly and to let each noodle coat with the sauces.
- Finally sprinkle the chopped greens of scallions and stir fry on high to mix everything thoroughly. Your garlic shrimp udon stir fry is ready to serve! Enjoy!
Really easy and I loved it! I got this oven bag garlic shrimp from Gortons and it was amazing with this I just used a little of the garlic liquid from the bag when I mixed the shrimp in. 🙂