A seriously tasty bowl of noodle goodness! These Beef Soba Noodles are dressed with a fantastic dressing reminiscent of traditional Japanese soba sauce. Quick to make, you’ll have this on the table in just 15 minutes. Fantastic for hot summer nights or a midweek dinner option, and a great way to make a little bit of steak stretch further!
Here’s the thing about Asian families (I’m betting we aren’t the only Asian family with this attitude!). When it comes to faux Asian food (modern / contemporary / fusion Asian), we are snobs. We love it when it’s done right. But there’s a line – and if it’s on the wrong side of that line, we turn our noses up at it.
So when I announced that I was going to make a “faux Asian beef soba” meal for a family dinner, the response was……well, underwhelming. Dubious is a fair word to describe their response.
In my family, we are each others greatest supporters and greatest critics in everything we do. We are always appreciative of effort, but we ain’t beating around the bush when it comes to food.
Too salty, not seasoned enough, the pasta’s not al dente, the Ragu isn’t rich enough, the roast potatoes could be crunchier, I’m the Roast Beef Queen, you’re the Pasta King, you’re the Queen of Salads….and so on.
Tough crowd!!! But it’s always said in good jest and we are always very complimentary as well. We like to say it’s constructive feedback. And we all give it as good as we get!
As for their response to this Beef Soba Noodle Bowl? They were shocked. Shocked at how good it is!!!
So as you can imagine, I was gloating away, grinning smugly as everyone scoffed it down. (Yes, we relish our victories, yes we are all that immature). SCORED!
PS Just to assure you, none of us are like this in real life outside of family dinners!!!
This has long since been my favourite way to serve up beef and soba. Actually, it’s the only beef and soba recipe I make.
In typical Asian form, one of the things I really like about this recipe is that you only need a small amount of beef. Very different approach to the Western way of cooking huge slabs of steak the size of my head (which, to be clear, I enjoy just as much as this Beef Soba Noodle Bowl!).
For this recipe I’ve used a very familiar cut – rump steak. It’s probably the steak cut I use the most because it’s great value for the quality you get. A quick sear, few minutes of resting then you have a beautiful tender, juicy steak to dig in to. YUM!
The dressing for this Beef Soba Noodle Bowl is really lovely, it reminds me of the sauce for traditional Japanese Soba but it has a stronger flavour so it’s more similar to a salad dressing rather than a Japanese soba dipping sauce. If you are after a traditional Japanese Soba recipe, my mother has shared her Zaru Soba recipe (traditional Cold Soba Noodles) – the ultimate hot weather noodle dish!
With just a wee bit of multi tasking, this is a super quick dinner you can get on the table in 15 minutes. Just get the water boiling while you cook the steak, then while the steak is resting, make the dressing and cook the soba and beans.
See? Totally manageable. And just to really show you how simple this is, there’s a quick recipe video below. 🙂 Nagi xx
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Beef Soba Noodle Bowl with Green Beans
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, light or ordinary (Note 1)
- 2 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
- 3 tbsp rice vinegar (Note 2)
- 1 tbsp mirin (Note 3)
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp ginger, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
Steak
- 200g/7 oz rump or sirloin beef steak, excess fat trimmed (Note 4)
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 6oz/180g soba (Note 5)
- 6oz/200g green beans, trimmed
- 1 scallion/shallot, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp crispy Asian Shallots (Note 6)
Instructions
- Take the steak out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to cooking (or 15 minutes if it's a stinking hot summer day).
- Combine dressing ingredients in a jar and shake.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat until smoking, then cook the steak to your liking. I like mine medium rare - perfect for absorbing the flavours of the delicious dressing - so I cook this rump steak for 2 minutes on the first side and 1 minute 45 seconds on the second side.
- Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with foil. Rest for 5 minutes, then slice into fairly thin slices against the grain (i.e. find the direction of the fibres then cut at a 90 degree angle straight through them).
- Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil. Cook the soba according to packet instructions (usually 5 minutes). For the last 1 minute of cooking, add the green beans.
- Drain the noodles and beans and rinse under cold water to stop them from cooking further and to cool the noodles. Roughly separate beans from noodles.
- To serve, divide the noodles between 2 bowls, top with the beans then the steak slices. Drizzle with the dressing (over the steak and noodles), then garnish with shallot slices and Crispy Asian Shallots.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
LIFE OF DOZER
No beef for Dozer! How about a bean instead? 😉
IF YOU LIKED THIS RECIPE, TRY THIS!
15 Minute Asian Steak – with a sauce inspired by the great Tetsuya!
Today’s recipe is brought to you in partnership with You’re Better on Beef, celebrating Australian beef. Because Aussie beef rocks, it’s perfect for super quick dinners and we should eat more of it!!
This was really good. Light dinner, easy to make with so much flavour. We eat soba with tsuyu often in the summer but this brings it to another level. Thank you Nagi for another wonderful recipe.
This was a winner! I’m not very confident with cooking steak but I followed the instructions and it turned out beautifully, something the whole family enjoyed. Thanks Nagi.
Can I substitute another oil for the peanut oil?
I first made this to use up leftover soba noodles and now I always have soba noodles in the pantry, just so that I can always make this recipe. It’s amazing.
Hey
I’d love to try this but I don’t have white wine vinegar. Can I use an alternate?
I usually make something similar to this recipe since discovering it a few months back, but I use soba or somen sauce in place. Thanks for sharing your food with the world!
I am so glad you enjoyed it Esther! N x
Made this tonight for dinner. Fabulous. Just so easy. Thank you.
Another silly question. Can you use other noodles or does soba have a particular taste
Soba does have a sort of nuttiness to it as it contains buckwheat and is a different texture to other noodles. N x
oh, dear lord!! Why did I wait so long before trying this? I’m in heaven!
I’ve been slowly making my way through all your recipes. From someone who could not cook 1 year ago, you have made me look good in front of my family with each meal a bigger hit than the last. Thank you Nagi!
Hi Nagi,
Thinking of making this next week as I have soba noodles. Was just wondering if I can replace the rice vinegar with sake? We have a small pantry space and as it is, it’s already full of sauces so don’t want to keep on adding more to it. ☺️
Husband says, “This is my new favourite dish!”
The sauce is balanced. The dish is filling but not heavy – really quick and easy to make too!!
Fantastic!! Great taste combo. Served with thick cut shiitake/negi stir-fry as no beans…
Sounds perfect Dee!! N x
Delicious and super fast. I will definitely make it again. Thanks for another great recipe Nagi.
I tried this, yum. Will do again.
Just a quick question. I have a visitor coming soon and he says he loves noodles for breakfast. Can you suggest something I could cook for him please. Thank you
Delicious, and I only had minute steaks.
Hey Nagi. I was wondering what would you think about, say… jazzing up the steak a bit with salt pepper, and maybe a bit of garlic when it’s in the pan?
Hi Raymond, I find the recipe great as is – the flavour really is in the sauce that dresses the salad 🙂 N x
We have a peanut allergy (and no other oil handy!) so just used olive oil. Yum! This is a keeper.
I’m so glad you loved it Camille, that’s great to hear!! N x
Hi nagi! Can I replace the peanut oil with sesame oil? Thanks!
Hi Ceecee, I wouldn’t replace the whole amount as it will overpower the dressing, you could certainly add a teaspoon though for flavour. N x
I have made this recipe with my 11 years old boy as we were looking for a Japanese inspired dish to cook noodles with steak. We used Welsh picahna and it was cooked beautiful! We used the veg I had in the fridge. Posted the pic @cristyraad