Asian Meatballs over Yakisoba Noodles

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A few weeks ago I made meatloaf and the recipe I used called for three different kinds of ground meat.  We didn’t buy the exact amounts, so I ended up with random amounts of ground veal, pork and beef.  We also had yakisoba noodles on hand and a crowd to feed so I decided to use up the meat and make meatballs with Asian flavors and yakisoba noodles with veggies- kind of like an Asian meatballs and spaghetti if you will.  It turned out pretty great so I decided to share it with you guys! I made a few tweaks like using one kind of meat (ground pork) and adding some binders to lighten up the texture.

Let’s get to it!

The first order of business is the meatballs.  Plop your ground pork, onion, garlic, ground ginger and panko crumbs in a large bowl.  Now in a smaller bowl whisk together the egg, soy sauce and fish sauce.  Don’t worry, the fish sauce doesn’t actually taste fishy, we’re just using it for a salty flavor.  You can definitely find fish sauce at an Asian grocery, but can probably also find it in the Asian section of your local grocery store.

Next get out a large plate to hold all of your meatballs. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with your meat mixture and now comes the fun part!  Get your hands in there and mix it all together.  I feel like using your hands is really the best way to do this because you should churn your fingers through the meat and make sure everything is getting combined.

Pinch off some of the meat mixture and form it into a meatball that’s about 1 1/2″ in diameter.  It doesn’t have to be exact, just make sure all of the meatballs are relatively similar in size.

After you wash your hands, pour the sesame oil in a cast iron or nonstick skillet and heat it over medium-high heat. Then preheat your oven and coat a 9×13 pan or casserole dish with cooking spray.

Now you’ll brown the meatballs in the skillet..  You’ll have to flip them a few times to get them browned on both sides.  You’re not trying to cook them completely, just get some nice color on them.  Depending on the size of your skillet, you may need to do this in batches. Put your browned meatballs in the casserole dish.

Once they’re all done, put them in the oven to cook for about 20 minutes.

While the meatballs are in the oven, you’ll work on the noodles and a glaze.  You’ll be using the pan the meatballs were browned in to make the sauce.  Put it over medium heat and use the chicken broth to scrape up any meaty bits on the bottom of the pan.

Now add your soy sauce and honey and let it come up to a simmer.  Once the honey is dissolved, measure out 3 tablespoons of the mixture and set it aside. Continue to simmer the remaining sauce over low heat until it’s thickened a bit, about 10 minutes.  It’s going to thicken more off the heat, so it doesn’t need to get all the way right now.

For the noodles, you’ll start by sautéing the mushrooms and onions in the remaining sesame oil.  I can never get enough of sesame flavor which is why I am using the oil here.  However if you are worried about sesame overload, you can use vegetable or canola oil instead. 🙂

Saute the veggies for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms have released their liquid.  Now add the broccoli and cook another 5 minutes, or until the broccoli has started to soften but it still bright green.

Then add the water chestnuts and stir.  Put in the yakisoba noodles and sauce you set aside and toss everything together.  Leave on the heat until the noodles are heated through.

At this point the meatballs should be ready to take out of the oven.  Take them out when they are 160° or no longer pink in the center.  Brush some of the sauce over the meatballs and put them back in the oven for another 3 minutes.  You’re just caramelizing the sauce on the meatballs.

Serve right away with the remaining sauce in a bowl on the side so people can drizzle it over the top.

The combo of the pork meatballs with the chewy noodles and sweet sauce is delectable!  This dish also reheats wonderfully, so it makes for great lunches over the next few days.

Enjoy!