Korean Zucchini Noodles Recipe - Japchae | Steamy Kitchen (2024)

This Zucchini Noodle recipe is very simple and cooks in 10 minutes. Slivers of zucchini noodles – or zoodles – are mixed with seasoned beef slices and other veggies, for an easy and delicious meal!

Why This Korean Zucchini Noodles Recipe Is So Good

• A take on the classic Korean Japchae Noodles recipe, substituting spiralized zucchini noodles for the traditional sweet potato noodles.
• Get the best flavor by cooking the ingredients separately in the stir fry.
• Zoodles that aren’t mushy!

Ingredients

• Soy sauce, honey, sesame oil
• Lean beef
• Onion, zucchini, carrot, green onion, mushrooms, spinach
• Egg
• Sesame seeds

How To Make This Korean Zucchini Noodle Recipe – Step By Step

The first step to making the Korean Zucchini Noodles recipe is to spiralize 3 mediumzucchini with the 1/8-inch “spaghetti” setting. Also spiralize one smallcarrot.

For our dish, we have 4separate groups of ingredients:

• Egg
• Vegetables
• Zucchini Noodles
• Meat + Onions

We will cook each of these groups separately. But, don’t worry, the recipe comes together very quickly!

Marinate the Meat + Onion

Before we start the frying, let’s create the main sauce withsoy sauce, honey and Asian sesame oil. Use 1/3of this sauce as a marinade for the meat and onions, and the other half to be added as the sauce for the stir fry.

In a bowl, add thinly sliced onions and the sliced sirloin. Pour in just half of the sauce and mix well. Marinate on the counter while you proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Why marinate onion?Onion and beef can fry together at the same time, over hight heat. The marinade will also help caramelize the onions faster and provide more flavor, too.

Fry theEgg

The first ingredient to get fried is the beaten egg. Heat a non-stick wok or large saute pan with high sides with just a tiny bit of cooking oil. When hot, add in the beaten egg and tilt pan so that the egg can cook in a thin, even layer. If you don’t have a wok or large saute pan, you’re better off using a large pot vs. a shallow frying pan to preventthe ingredients from flying out of the pan during the stir fry.

After the egg is cooked, cut into julienne strips.

The egg is placed into a large serving bowl or platter.

Stir Fry theVegetables

The same pan (no need to wash, you can wipe with paper towel if you wish) goes back to the stove with a little more cooking oil.

Next up is the green onions, mushrooms,carrot and garlicfor 30seconds.

Now add in the baby spinach. I used a baby spinach/baby kale mixture and pour in 1/3 of the soy/honey.sesame oil mixture.

After the greens arebright green andjustwilted, remove them to the same bowl as the egg.

Stir Fry the Zucchini Noodles

Return the same pan to the stove. Add a little more cooking oil. Now it’s time to cook the zucchini noodles.

Stir fry them until the dark green of the skin turns bright green, but that the zucchini noodles still hold some of the curl and shape. You don’t want to over cook the zucchini, or it will turn mushy. Pour in the remaining soy/honey/sesame oil mixture and toss well to distribute evenly.

See the color change and how they still hold some of their shape? Give a zucchini noodle a taste.

Remove the zucchini noodles to a separate plate or bowl.

Stir Fry the Meat + Onion

Return same pan to stove, swirl in a little cooking oil. Add the meat and onions to the pan and spread everything out over the surface of pan so that we can cook evenly and faster.

If you leave the meat and onions alone, and resist the temptation to keep tossing them in the pan, they’ll caramelize much better. Just spread everything out in the pan, leave it to cook without touching until just the centers of the meat are red/pink, then flip.

Cook the other side.

Once the meat is cooked through, it’s now time to put the dish together. Tossall of the ingredients together in the wok, taste the zucchini noodles and add more soy sauce if you’d like.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Completed Korean Zucchini Noodles recipe.

How We Make Zucchini Noodles

To make a quick zucchininoodle recipe, we normally just use the inexpensive $10Oxo Julienne Peeler, which is affordable, small, easy to clean and works like a champ. Watch my video review of several different spiralizers.

For this recipe, we tested out the “Inspiralizer,” a product from Ali Mafucci ofInspiralized. We recently reviewed her cookbook and made Korean Bi Bim Bap with spiralized daikon. Could her $49.95 (Price is now $34.95) machine rival the 4-blade Paderno powerhouse machine or match the ease and convenience of the sub-$10 Oxo julienne peeler?

The Inspiralizer is more expensive than many of the spiralizers on the market. Though, I can remember just a year ago, the prices were nearly $80 for a Paderno. Prices have been falling due to increased competition. Is the Inspiralizer worth the extra $5-$10 over these competitors? If you’re a big spiralizer fan, then absolutely. Get the Inspiralizer. I recommend the product because of Ali. She’s a real person with a real email address and one of the pioneers of spiralizing vegetables. If you ever had any questions or problems, I know that Ali and her team would take care of you.

Plus, the machine is just designed better. The one-piece machine easy to clean, I just used a long-handled scrub brush with warm soapy water. The handle doesn’t fall off. The blade and teeth are all built in. No extra cartridges to wash and store. No assembly. Lightweight and smaller footprint.

If you only make zucchini or carrot noodles once in a while, and don’t care about them being nice and curly, grab the $9.95Oxo Julienne Peeler. It fits in your drawer, is easy to use (watch my video on how to safely use the Oxo Julienne Peeler with carrots and zucchini).

What’s The Best Beef For This Stir Fry?

I like using sliced sirloin. Any lean steak will work just fine. You can use flank steak as well (just remember to slice ACROSS the grain). Some supermarkets will sell pre-sliced steak for cheesesteak sandwiches. This is fine as well.

The Best Way To Stir Fry

The best noodle stir fries require you to cook ingredients separately. This is to keep all the flavors of each ingredient distinct (you want your zucchini to taste like zucchini, and not just a mishmash of flavors!) Plus, each ingredient has a different cooking time. The method in this recipe will prevent a soggy, mushy mess of a stir fry, especially with using zucchini noodles.

Top Tips For This Korean Zucchini Noodle Recipe

• Cook your different ingredient groups in stages to avoid mushy noodles and overcooked beef!
• You can use any lean steak for this recipe – I like sirloin.
• have all your ingredients prepped before you fire up the wok, things move fast!
• If you do not have a wok you can use a wide bottomed pan.

Check Out These Other Delicious Stir Fry’s

• Shrimp Teriyaki Stir Fry Recipe
• Green Beans with Chinese Preserved Radish Stir Fry
• Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry
• Stir Fried Beef and Nectarines Recipe

Have you tried this Korean Zucchini Noodles recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

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