Happy 2022! New Year Yakisoba

Every NYE I make my absolutely favorite holiday dish… Yakisoba! This Yakisoba recipe is a Myers family tradition. My mom prepared this every single New Year’s Day because it incorporated a lucky ingredient for the New Year, cabbage. 

It’s customary to eat cabbage on NYD as it’s a “good luck” vegetable. There are other lucky things to eat on January 1st, like fish, black eyed peas, collards. Cabbage leaves are considered a sign of prosperity and representative of paper money. Who wouldn’t like to see a little extra money in 2022?!

While my family was never big on black eyed peas or collards, my mom took a spin on the cabbage leaves tradition with this satisfying dish.

I hope you enjoy, and I hope 2022 brings you lots of luck, and maybe a little more money too!

Do you have a traditional New Year’s Day dish?

If so, what is it?

NEW YEAR YAKISOBA

prep time 30 minutes
cook time 15 minutes
total time 45 minutes
6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pound chicken
• 2 cups bacon (about 10 slices)
• 2 cups cabbage
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• 1 box yakisoba noodles*
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 fresh ginger clove
• 1 tbs. butter
• 2 tbs. sesame oil (you can use olive oil here if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup yellow onion
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tbs flour
• sprouts for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook the bacon to a crisp, set aside then crumble (you can also bake the bacon in the oven for easier cleanup)
3. Dice onion
4. Cut chicken into small, thin cubes
5. Clean bacon grease from skillet. Add 1 tbs. butter, a little soy sauce, onion, garlic, ginger and chicken… cook until brown, add 1 tbs. flour to thicken sauce – set aside
6. Boil noodles for half the time that reads on the box, drain and set aside
7. Heat oil in a second pan and cook cabbage and other veggies until fragrant
8. Mix all ingredients together with soy sauce and sugar in a large mixing bowl
9. Put all ingredients in baking dish and put in oven for 15-20 minutes, be careful not to burn noodles
10. Serve warm with sprouts

*If you have trouble finding Yakisoba noodles, rice noodles or ramen works great too!