Tofu Soba Noodles
This quick and easy vegetarian noodle dish comes together in just 20 minutes – perfect for those busy weeknights!
I wish I was one of those people who scheduled blog posts before traveling. But being who I am and procrastinating until the very last minute, I’m actually writing this post on my iPhone on a bus in Iowa on my way to a corn farm.
I really have my priorities in order, right?
No, but really, I’m having a huge blast in Iowa right now and I absolutely cannot wait to share all of my photos with you once I’m back. From wine glasses over a cozy fire to beer tastings, there’s a part of me that wants to stay in Iowa forever! Although I think I’m in need of some boots first because apparently I’m the only LA girl in flip flops here.
But before I run around the corn fields taking pictures like a mad man, I really need to share one of my favorite weeknight meals. It’s a super easy and simple soba noodle dish that comes together in just 20 minutes! And with a tangy, refreshing dressing, crisp tofu cubes and crushed peanuts for that added crunch, you won’t be missing the meat in this protein-packed dish at all!
Tofu Soba Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound soba
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 14-ounce package firm tofu, cubed
- 2 cups shredded cabbage
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- Crushed peanuts, for serving
- Sriracha, for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions. Rinse under cold water and drain; set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar and sesame seeds; set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add tofu and cook until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes; set aside. Add cabbage, garlic and ginger to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 1-2 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine noodles, rice wine vinegar mixture, tofu, cabbage and green onions.
- Serve immediately, garnished with peanuts and Sriracha, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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This was delicious! I added in some cilantro and a little fish sauce to the vinegar mixture. Also, I scrambled a few eggs and mixed it in to make it more filling. The only thing is that my husband found it a little too sour frozen the vinegar, so he added a little more brown sugar and then he liked it.Â
Overall, we really liked it including the 10 month old!
Did this recipe change? I was obsessed with the original recipe but don’t remember it having these ingredients.Â
This turned out pretty tasty but I definitely doubled the sauce and used two bundles of noodles. Also, I’ve never had tofu ready after cooking for such a short amount of time so I airfried mine first (family preference) then added it to the cabbage. Added some shelled edamame too. Might seem like that’s a lot of tweaks, but the core flavors of the recipe were a hit.Â
Very nice recipe! I used half a pound of Soba and a zucchini that I spiralized. Everyone loved it.Â
I tried this tonight and it was very good – I tried to cut the recipe to serve 2 and got a few too many noodles and not enough cabbage. I did take others’ advice and doubled the sauce. I also dredged the tofu in cornstarch before frying to make a crisp outside. I will definitely make this again and again!
An excellent and truly easy dish! Being a firm believer in mise en place, it all came together nearly effortlessly when mealtime came. I made a couple of changes: dusted the drained and pressed (yes, I do have a press!) tofu for added crispness. Added chili garlic sauce to taste for a bit of zing in the sauce. I guess I’m a bit saucy as I will double the sauce in the future despite only using 6.6 oz. of soba. Upped the veggies with thin sliced red pepper and shredded carrot. I placed it in our dinner rotation. Perfect one bowl meal!
I loved this. Found it so satisfying and tasty! I love tofu, so I cut it in big meaty chunks. Unfortunately, no one else in the family would eat it. Husband found it bland and added some commercial sauce to doctor it up.
Delicious!
I used a 10.58 oz package of soba noodles and found that I either had too much noodles / not enough sauce.  I would use lessen the amount of noodles or double the sauce in this recipe.  Also, I doctored it up with Thai sweet chili sauce for a bit of a kick.  Another alternative to making the sauce would be to use a ready made Asian dressing.  I’ve used Feast from the East Sesame Dressing (found at Costco) for other soba salad recipes.
Delicious! Only used a half pound of noodles, doubled the cabbage and poured a little sauce over it and no nuts. Will definitely make this again.
GREAT JOB !!! These noodles are delish!!! MMMMM!!!! I love it! #Wantmore!!!! Cookie monsters craving for cookies is nothing compared to my craving for these delicious noodles!!!! SOOOO YUMMMY!!!!!!!!!!
r u ok mahina
Just made this for dinner tonight and amazingly my 5 year old and 2 year old ate it and even took seconds. I used bag coleslaw like others suggested but didn’t have enough rice vinegar to double the sauce. I will definitely be making this again and since I don’t like coleslaw I will turn the rest of it into a slaw for taco nightÂ
Overall a good recipe. I mostly followed the directions and I think the ratios are a little off. It was a little bland for our tastes and very noodle centric/heavy. Admittedly, I did leave off the Siracha for the more sensitive mouths in the house.
For that quantity of noodles, I would double or triple the sauce and double or triple the vegetables, adding something to the cabbage, like broccoli or snow peas or something else green. I ‘doctored’ our leftovers with extra vegetables and sauce and they were AWESOME!
Before I made it, I had the idea to add peanut butter (as I see Rachel suggested) but I don’t like to change a recipe much the first time I make it. I will try that in the future.
This recipe is on a bi-weekly rotation in my house! I love this dish! It made my boyfriend into a tofu-lover as well. I usually buy a bag of coleslaw mix for a time-saver. We have added peanut butter to the sauce a few times to bring out more nutty flavours too. And it is so good as leftovers!Â
I made this and it was delicious! I added some peanut butter to the sauce but otherwise followed the recipe exactly! Next time I’ll crank up the heat to fry the tofu quicker and maybe even add more. The flavors were refreshing and wholesome. Thanks for a great go-to recipe!
I just made this tonight and since we are only 2, I halved the recipe. I honestly don’t see how 1 pound of Soba noodles is right… That would drown the other ingredients… Did I miss something? Is it supposed to be 1lb cooked Soba noodles or something? I ended up using about 9oz of dried noodles and still have 1/2 of them left over.
I’m currently waiting for my medium high heat and oil to brown my tofu. It’s been about ten mins since I put it in the pan and it’s still as white as can be. Did I miss something?
I’m not entirely sure – did you drain the tofu completely?
Hi this recipe looks delicious! Do you have the nutritional information per serving?!
Great recipe, it makes cooking with soba noodles very approachable. Â Just made this a 2nd time with snowpeas and carrots to sub for the cabbage.
This is amazing! Just got back from Tokyo and Hong Kong and really loved the healthy meals in Japan. There’s tons of asian supermarkets in Vancouver so the ingredients weren’t hard to track down.Â
This is the second time I’ve made this in two weeks!
🙂 I was initially worried about the amount of sesame oil, because (too often) I’ve added an extra drop to two to dishes by accident and it overloaded with the flavor, but there were no problems here at all! This dish is delicious, especially when cold, and my 16 month old loves it too. Thank you for the recipe, I will continue to enjoy it!
This is my first time on your site, as I was searching for a recipe to use tofu and soba noodles, which I have on hand in my kitchen in Dongguan, China. I was super busy with parent/teacher conferences (I’m both a teacher and a parent) and didn’t finish my menu for the week, so I grabbed some inexpensive tofu and figured I could use it with the soba noodles sitting in my cabinet and unused veggies. My VERY PICKY 17-year-old actually likes tofu, as long as it’s moderately firm and crisp when cooked, so this looks perfect for tonight. (She’ll pick out whatever vegetables I put in unless I add some julienned carrots.) I signed up for recipes, but I do hope I won’t get inundated. I love to cook and only wish my kids were more appreciative and had broader tastes. I’m always looking for new recipes and would especially love Asian variants, since those ingredients are abundant here and cheaper than imported western ingredients. Thanks! Nancy
I love tofu and noodles. This recipe is perfectly delicious! I just started my own blog and would love any input. ayellowpeach.com
Thank you for being so wonderful and posting all deliciousness!
Wow – this was damn dee-lish !! Adding a little sriracha totally elevated the senses. I have tried several of your recipes and I loved all of them. Thank you for sharing them, Chung-Ah. I am looking forward to making more. Stay well.
Ahhh thank you for this recipe. My family cleaned out my fridge of any possible left over lunch meals so I had to make something before work. I luckily had all the ingredients for this and so happy I made it. It really is damn delicious!
I was really looking forward to making this and had high hopes for it. I followed the instructions exactly, which I always do the first time I try a new recipe, but I the end it was just ok. All I could taste was vinegar. It really needed some more flavor.
I’m sorry that this recipe did not turn out the way you had imagined. I only post recipes that have been successfully tested in my own kitchen, and as you can see from the comments here, many of these readers have had great outcomes in the final dish as well. But I understand that we all have different taste preferences. Please remember that these recipes are a base and can be adjusted to your personal preferences.
I have made this four times since I first Pinned it. It’s wonderful…flavorful healthy, filling…also fantastic leftover and cold. I always hoard the leftovers, since this makes four generous servings! Mine is never quite as pretty as the photo (and my soba noodles are much browner) but no one is complaining! Thank you for this recipe, which was my intro to your blog.
Hello! Can’t wait to make this. I have a question – Does one package of soba noodles equal one pound? Or two packages? Thanks!
Laura, it really depends on the size of your package. Please refer to the weight on the package.
I just made this tonight. Very easy and my family really enjoyed it, but am wondering about the cabbage. I used Napa and am thinking regular green cabbage may have worked better. Or even bok choy. What kind of cabbage did you use? Thanks!
I’m so glad you gave this a try! I actually used regular green cabbage in this recipe. It’s light and mild, and goes perfectly for a simple noodle dish like this!
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Tofu is definitely a great addition to soba recipes. I use soba to add up to my noodle soup, by the way. Filling and delicious as well.
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I love tofu and equally love soba noodles! its been almost a year when I had soba noodles! I want these so bad now!
Looks good! But how do you get the tofu to maintain their cube shape? Whenever I attempt to cook tofu, it always falls to pieces ;-(
I recommend using firm tofu as well as draining/pressing to avoid this.
Just made this now. I Love It! Definitely putting this recipe in my recipe box.
I have everything for this recipe except the cabbage. Can I just leave it out? I have some spinach–would that work?
Spinach would be a wonderful substitute!
Dishes like this always catches my eye!! I love simple noodle dishes.
I just made this for my husband (a chef) and I and it was delicious and SUPER easy!!! He loved it, I loved it, and I even have some leftover for lunch tomorrow! Thanks!!!
Love all the singular elements in this dish, and would love having this as a cold salad lunch since we’re warming up here in Australia. Just perfect!
We love soba noodles! They are also perfect for serving cold!
I absolutely LOVE cold soba noodles, especially in the summertime!
Since there isn’t any instruction on drying out the tofu can I assume that you can take it out of the water it’s in and plop it right in a pan? No draining/drying necessary?
Yes, no draining or drying necessary. I find it too tedious and time-consuming so I just throw it in the pan until it gets nice and crisp.
Love this recipe!
Looks so delicious. Do you know if they sell soba noodles at Trader JOe’s… so is that something we can only get at the Asian food market?
I’ve never seen it at TJ’s – I usually pick them up at the Asian market.
This looks so tasty, my mouth is watering! I cannot wait to make this recipe 🙂
This looks yummy !! I love soba noodles 🙂
This looks really good! I’m going to have to try it…I love soba noodles and we get sprouted organic tofu once a week. Looks yum!
Oh how I love seeing meatless dishes like this!! 😉 I must try this soon!
I’ve never eaten tofu but this is totally making me want to try it!
This looks so delicious! Tofu and soba is one of my go to weeknight dinners.
Chung-Ah, this is fab! Love the soba, which my kiddos inhale! And, I love tofu. Being an LA girl all my life, I came to MN in flip flops and quickly – very quickly- went shopping for boots ;). I sure miss flip slops year-round. I recently finally threw out my very old Bruins sandals, so sad.
Oh how I wish this bowl was in front of me – I’d inhale these noodles!
Sounds and looks delicious. Thank you.
I’ve been following your IG feed and it looks like you guys are having a blast! Lucky girls!!
I’ve never wanted soba noodles as much as I want them right now… that bowl just screams EAT ME! 🙂
This looks SO delicious! I’m adding this to my weeknight meal rotation for sure. Hope you’re having an awesome time in Iowa, never been there 😉
This looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it!
I am so wowed by everything you make – and your food photography is amazing!
Yum I love recipes like this! Simple and great for time poor students like me, at least I can pretend to be healthy after a night out.
These look so good! Love all of the fresh flavors!
You would love this, Liz! Plus, we need a side of truffle fries to share 🙂
This sounds fabulous! I love that you can throw it together so fast too! Have fun in Iowa, what a total contrast from LA, huh?
It’s a HUGE contrast! I think I need to get out more.
Your pictures make this dish look absolutely mouth-watering!!! I’m sure it is delicious!!!
That’s awesome that you’re rocking some flip flops! And I love the golden, seared, and perfectly cooked pieces of tofu. You have a knack for it! Pinned