I cook Soba Noodles so often at my house and it’s one of my go-to dishes everyone loves! It took me quite a few tries and some fine tuning to cook them right so that they don’t stick and have good bounce. So, here are 3 Top Tips on How to Cook Perfect Soda Noodles and my Step by Step instructions.
Tips on How to Cook Perfect Soba Noodles
Boil over stove
Walk through the noodle section at your supermarket and you will see many packets of noodles that are pre-cooked. If you pick up these you would know that all they need is a quick minute in a bowl of hot/warm water to come to life again. But, dried Soba noodles, a bit like some of the other dry noodles you can find, need to be cooked over a stove in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes. DON’T put them in a bowl and just cover them with hot water as it will make them break down and go to mush!
I have been using Hakubaku Soba Noodles for years and I love them! You can find them in your local supermarkets, specialty stores and also on Amazon. There are also many other varieties, like some that are Cha Soba (flavoured with some green tea powder and have a slight green tinge) and brands that may have more or less buckwheat flour in them.
Put a timer on for the cooking time
Might sound like an obvious one, but, honestly how many times have you put a pot on the stove and then walked off and gone to do other things and you forgot how long you had something bubbling away?
These noodles are not the kind that you can just forget on the stove. I find that normal wheat pasta will allow those extra few minutes, but Soba noodles won’t. The buckwheat flour that is in them is actually gluten free, so it has less elasticity than gluten. Any extra cooking time will make the noodles get way too soft and break when you stir or drain them! Every brand will have different cooking times – so follow the instructions exactly as per the packet. Put a timer on and when it goes off, drain them immediately.
Rinse them
Super important step after draining them to make sure you have perfect soba noodles: Run them under cold water immediately! Keep them there and make sure they are completely cold the whole way through. That will stop the cooking process and ensure that the noodles don’t stick together.
My Step by Step Recipe below will ensure you know how to cook perfect Soba Noodles every time!
How to eat Soba Noodles
You can serve them cold, with some sliced spring onion and sesame seeds. To make a simple dipping sauce (for 2 people) mix a cup of Dashi or Chicken Stock, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce and 4 teaspoons of mirin. With your chopsticks grab some noodles and dip them in as you eat them. Don’t worry about the slurping.. the lounder the better! This is how they are eaten in Japan.
And if you want to try a wonderful cold salad with these bouncy soba noodles, give a try to my Healthy Soba Noodle Salad Recipe on the blog. Enjoy!
How to cook the perfect Soba Noodles
Instructions
- Bring 2.5 litres of water to the boil in a large saucepan
- Add the dry soba noodles and cook them exactly as per packet instructions (3 to 5 minutes)- put a timer on!
- Once the timer is up, drain them over the sink and run cold water on them
- Run your hands through all the noodles and run the water until they are cold the whole way though to stop the cooking
- Place them in a bowl and serve or add a tablespoon of peanut or sesame oil to stop them from sticking together if you are serving them later.
