Peanut-Orange Broccoli Soba with Beef or Tofu
Album: Bringin’ It | Christian McBride Big Band
This Peanut-Orange Broccoli Soba with Beef or Tofu offers the combination of peanut butter, ginger, and fresh orange, which is surprisingly wonderful for the ol’ taste buds. The recipe offers a super flavorful and nutritious meal. When I can get Cara Cara oranges, this is a go-to dish. One of the great shortcuts in this recipe is using an immersion blender (more on that below) to make the sauce. Using the immersion blender affords the opportunity to only coarsely chop garlic and ginger, saving time. The combination of savory, nutty, and slightly sweet orange flavors makes this an easy weeknight dinner that still feels elevated. If you can find Cara Cara oranges, their naturally sweet, low-acid profile takes the sauce to another level, but standard navel oranges work beautifully as well.
Christian McBride’s Big Band brings the heat, which pairs wonderfully with this noodle dish. The flavors are bright, which matches the bright energy from this Grammy-winning big band album. My favorite tracks on the album are the opener, “Gettin’ To It,” which kicks off with a high-impact opening hook led by the saxophones, “Used ‘Ta Could,” which has a great gradual build-up that feels like a blend of soul and jazz heard in an old-school club, and the closing track, “Optimism,” which opens with a series of dramatic full-band chords. The entire album is a perfect accompaniment for cooking an intensely flavorful dish which involves lively stir-frying.
Built around nutrient-dense ingredients like broccoli, whole-grain soba noodles, and your choice of protein (tender beef or crispy tofu), this recipe is both flexible and wholesome. It’s ideal for anyone looking for a healthy stir-fry, a quick peanut noodle recipe, or a vegetable-forward dinner that doesn’t sacrifice flavor.
This recipe had the honor of being featured on WORT, Madison’s community radio station, in January 2026. The jazz program Journeys into Jazz was kind enough to host me to talk about the cookbook and this recipe. To hear my interviews, look for the sessions hosted by Chuck France and listen at the one-hour mark (3pm local time).
Album pairing
Bringin’ It is a fantastic big band album which makes for a great pairing in the kitchen while cooking with its energy–it will keep you moving.
Album Pairing: Bringin’ It | Christian McBride Big Band
🎵 Listen to the album while you cook or eat 🎵
Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendation: Immersion Blender
Hello, dads and dad-adjacents. Here’s a Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendation* for your kitchen. An immersion blender is a critical tool for Peanut-Orange Broccoli Soba and many other sauces, soups, dressings, and more. I primarily use it to make soups and frothy, fancy salad dressings without needing to mince garlic and ginger, which saves lots of time and cleanup. The blade goes straight in the dishwasher, so cleanup is easy with no handwashing involved. I like the Braun MQ5000 (Amazon link).
The immersion blender handles cooked potatoes, veggies, ice cream (for shakes!), fruit, etc. like a charm. Be warned though: I wore out the motor in my first blender when I tried to make garlic butter with near-frozen butter. So soften butter before trying to blend with add-ins if you have similar aims.
*Genuine Dad Equipment Recommendations are real, tested recommendations for equipment I’ve used for years in my kitchen. These recommendations are exclusive to Dads Jazz Cookbook. I only recommend products that I have personally found to be durable, high-utility, and nearly essential for my cooking.
Make Peanut-Orange Broccoli Soba with Beef or Tofu
Peanut-Orange Soba with Beef (or Tofu) and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb flank steak or 2 14-oz packages extra firm tofu
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 Tbsp soy sauce divided
- 6 Tbsp peanut oil divided
- 2 Cara Cara oranges for their zest and ½ C juice
- 2 Tbsp fresh ginger
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ C creamy natural peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 14 oz soba noodles e.g. Roland Buckwheat Soba
- 6 C broccoli crowns
Instructions
- Slice beef or cube tofu. If using beef, toss with 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbsp soy sauce and set aside.
- If using tofu, start cooking it now (otherwise, skip to next step): Pat tofu dry. In a large skillet, heat 3 Tbsp of peanut oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, and add cubed tofu. Toss occasionally until tofu has browned on all sides. Add 2 Tbsp soy sauce and toss. Set tofu aside on a plate.
- Bring a pot of water to boil for soba noodles.
- While water is heating, zest and juice both oranges. Peel and coarsely chop the garlic and ginger. Chop broccoli into florets.
- Use an immersion blender in a large bowl (or food processor) to puree the garlic, ginger, ½ C peanut butter, the orange zest, ¼ C of the orange juice, ¼ C of the soy sauce, and 2 Tbsp water.
- In a small bowl, mix ¼ C orange juice with 2 Tbsp oyster sauce, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, and ¼ C water.
- Cook soba noodles in water per package directions, just until tender. Drain and add to the bowl with the peanut butter sauce. Toss well.
- If using beef, cook it now (otherwise, skip to next step): heat 3 Tbsp peanut oil until shimmering in a large skillet, add beef, and cook until it loses its raw color, approximately 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
- Heat remaining 3 Tbsp peanut oil in skillet, add the broccoli, and cook while stirring occasionally until starting to brown. Add oyster sauce mixture, cover, and cook until broccoli has changed color but is still crisp, about 2 minutes.
- Add the beef or tofu back to the pan with the broccoli, and serve noodles with beef and broccoli placed on top.
Notes
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