Wok-charred udon noodles with chicken and bok choy from Myers+Chang at Home: Recipes from the Beloved Boston Eatery (page 207) by Joanne Chang and Karen Akunowicz

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Carriejean76 on May 25, 2026

    Good. It does take multiple steps. I didn’t vevet chicken as directed- I did marinate and then stir fried chicken in small batches. I doubled the amount of chicken (husband prefers more protein). I followed the rest of the recipe as written.

  • Bessp on May 25, 2026

    I followed the recipe exactly, including velveting the chicken. It was a bit of a faff, and I don't think I liked it better than getting a good sear on it in the wok. I also had issues with the noodles sticking badly to the pan, there was very little char to be had because it all fused with my wok. Still, it was a tasty dish, and there's a lot of room for simplification if you skip the velveting.

  • bernalgirl on November 09, 2025

    This is fantastic! I used a deep 12” carbon steel pan and got a nice char on everything cooking one item at a time in stages before combining with the sauce. I did not velvet as directed, instead I marinated the chicken for several hours then stir fried the chicken before continuing with the recipe as written. I thought it strange that there’s no alliums but the sauce is wonderful and the dish came out very flavorful. Next time I will add salt to the marinade to get a more layered flavor.

  • dbuhler on February 16, 2024

    This was a good stir fry. I subbed broccoli (blanched in the noodle cooking water) for the bok choy since that is what I had on hand. I also cooked this in my large nonstick skillet because I opted to skip the frying step of the velveting chicken. After I let the chicken marinate in the fridge for about 45 minutes I put it straight into a hot skillet with two tablespoons of oil. Once I got the chicken all in a single letter I let it cook for a couple minutes on each side to get brown and then took it off the heat and proceeded with the rest of the recipe. This way I was able to save a lot of time and a lot of oil. Also, since I used non-stick, I only used one tablespoon of oil when she called for two. I didn't get very much "char" on my noodles but I was able to get a good portion of them spotty brown.

  • nadiam1000 on June 19, 2022

    I really enjoyed this but it was pretty involved to make and used a lot of oil. I would like to velvet the chicken without cooking in 2 cups oil. Like others I got some sticking of the chicken but mostly the noodles. I oiled the noodles and the wok but the noodles stuck to the bottom. It all worked out in the end with a really tasty dish. Looking forward to leftovers.

  • D.Barker on April 17, 2021

    This was okay. Kind of a hassle with all the different dishes and processes going on at once. Happy we tried it, but it won't be in our regular dinner rotation.

  • Kduncan on June 19, 2019

    Great recipe, made straight from the recipe. Good way of using the insane amount of bok choy we got from our CSA last week. Found it great as leftovers too.

  • meggan on January 25, 2019

    Liked this but had to use Korean rice cakes instead of fresh udon and so they didn't char in the same way that the noodles might have although they tasted fine. I also had to use turkey breast (which was very tender after velveting) and grown-up bok choy. I thought the amount of sauce was just right.

  • damjih on January 08, 2019

    I made this and it was amazing, not so much the next day, Ill make extra sauce to mix in for lunch next time ~

  • julesamomof2 on December 01, 2018

    I made this with the ingredients as written, but in an effort to majorly cut back on the amount of oil used, I ended up with both the chicken and the noodles sticking to my non-stick wok. The end result was kind of a mess and my noodles ( I used dried, not fresh ) didn't have much char. I would like to find a way of velveting chicken that doesn't use 1/2 c (!) of oil.

  • anya_sf on January 27, 2018

    Thanks to bwhip for pointing out the need to marinate the chicken first. I had no problem with the velveting and it did seem to make the chicken very tender. Still, I'd prefer to avoid deep-frying and would try this again just sauteing the chicken to compare the results. I was afraid the noodles would stick, so I used my nonstick wok, so of course did not get as much char. My bok choy were larger, weighing 1 1/2 lbs, which I thought was a good amount. Overall, we really liked this, but I thought there was too much sauce. Plus the sauce was a bit sweet, so I would omit the sugar next time (there's plenty in the hoisin sauce). But I'd definitely make this again with less sauce.

  • bwhip on January 11, 2018

    Very good dish. My baby bok choy heads were a little larger, so there was plenty of that in proportion to the chicken. Shame on me for not reading the whole recipe through first - the instructions don't begin with the need to marinate the chicken for at least a half hour, so I was already underway with the first step (cooking noodles, mise en place, etc. before discovering everything would have to stop for a while to marinate. They probably could have mentioned that as the first step in the recipe, too :). My noodles kind of fell apart in the wok, as everything was sticking to the surface quite a bit (a newer stainless steel one). Still, flavors were great and we'll likely make this one again.

  • twoyolks on January 11, 2018

    This was great. The star of this is really the udon sauce. The chicken was tender but a tad bland. I would've liked more greens (or possibly my baby bok choy are particularly small). I used ~9 oz of dried udon noodles instead of fresh which worked fine. I'm not sure that velveting the chicken added enough benefit for the additional time and complexity of deep frying (it made the chicken tender but didn't add much flavor).

  • Rutabaga on January 04, 2018

    Delicious! I can hardly wait to try more recipes from this book, if this one is a good indicator of what's in store. The flavor is rich and satisfying, My experience velveting the chicken was very messy; perhaps my chicken was too damp, causing the oil to spatter. The chicken also liked to stick to the pan, and I had to really pry at some of the pieces to free them. But it turned out beautifully tender and succulent.

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