By Grocery List Plus Editorial Staff | Published on June 14, 2026
Serves 4
232 cal · 20 min
Classic Cold Soba
Recipe GLPRcfd052f0942d7a
A refreshing Japanese cold noodle dish featuring chewy soba noodles served with a savory dipping sauce made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. Topped with crisp nori strips, fresh daikon radish, and green onions with a touch of wasabi heat.
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dashi
1/2 cup light soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon wasabi, or to taste
3 ounces peeled and finely grated daikon radish
2 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped
8 ounces dried or fresh soba noodles
1 large sheet nori, cut into thin strips
Directions
In a small bowl, combine the dashi, light soy sauce, and mirin. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add wasabi to taste, stirring until smooth. This is your dipping sauce (tsuyu). Set aside to cool to room temperature.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the soba noodles and cook according to package directions, usually 4-5 minutes for fresh or 8-10 minutes for dried, until tender but still slightly firm.
Drain the cooked soba noodles in a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold running water, stirring gently with your fingers to separate them. This stops the cooking and cools the noodles.
Divide the cooled soba noodles evenly among four serving bowls or plates.
Arrange the grated daikon, chopped green onions, and nori strips on top of or beside the soba noodles in each bowl.
Pour the dipping sauce into small individual bowls or cups, one per person. Serve the soba bowls and sauce together, allowing each diner to dip the noodles into the sauce before eating.
Comments
Soba noodles and nori are easy finds at any major Charlotte grocer, including Walmart and Harris Teeter, but dashi—the anchovy-kelp stock base—will require a trip to an Asian market or a specialty section you may not find at every location, adding friction to a weeknight cook. The ingredient list is lean and the 20-minute claim is honest for boiling noodles and chilling them, but the real cost driver is dashi, which runs $4–6 per small package and is hard to stretch across four servings when you need proper umami depth; wasabi and mirin are also specialty buys. This is a refreshing summer dish that does not reheat well and is best eaten fresh the same day, making it better suited to meal prep or a planned dinner rather than a spontaneous fix.
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