Thick chewy udon noodles soaked in a rich, fragrant curry sauce! This Japanese Curry Udon will satisfy your noodles craving in an instant. Bonus: it’s simple enough to throw together on a busy weeknight.
Curry Udon (カレーうどん) has been a popular menu item in Japan for a long time. It is lesser-known compared to Curry Rice, but the creamy curry is just as fulfilling when you enjoy it with udon.
And to me, the silky noodles have a way to soothe the soul in a comforting way unlike the other. When you blanket it with a rich curry sauce, you just want to grab your chopsticks and slurp away.
Ingredients You’ll Need
1. Your Choice of Protein
I used thinly sliced pork loin in the recipe as it cooks in seconds, but feel free to use your choice of protein such as chicken, beef, seafood, or tofu.
2. Japanese Curry Roux
Since the Japanese modify the food from other cuisines to suit their palate, you can expect Japanese curry to be quite different from Indian curries or Thai curries. It is thicker, milder and sweeter, with a stew-like consistency. An ideal curry for curry beginner, or for people who prefer a gentler, sweeter flavor.
To make the curry sauce, we’ll need to make curry roux. Homemade curry roux from scratch is, of course, the best, but there’s always an option of using the convenient store-bought curry roux when needed.
This is going to be a quick curry recipe, so I take the easy route this time. Nowadays, you can even find the rectangular packages of Japanese Curry Roux sold at major American grocery stores. Look for them at the Asian/ global food aisle.
3. Udon Noodles
Thick, chewy, slippery udon noodles are so delicious! You can buy frozen, refrigerated, or dried udon noodles at Japanese or Asian grocery stores, and refrigerated ones in American grocery stores.
However, I only recommend getting frozen one (choose one that says “Sanuki Udon”) or dried udon noodles as they have a better texture than the refrigerated ones.
How to Make Curry Udon
Thick chewy udon noodles soaked in a rich, fragrant curry sauce! This Japanese Curry Udon will satisfy your noodles craving in an instant. Bonus: it’s simple enough to throw together on a busy weeknight.
- Make dashi (homemade, which takes just 30 minutes, or dashi packet, or dashi powder).
- Stir fry the onion and your choice of protein in the frying pan.
- Add the dashi and curry roux in the frying pan.
- Cook up udon noodles in a separate pot.
- Assemble drained udon noodles and curry sauce in a serving bowl.
A satisfying noodle dish whipped up under 30 minutes! This curry udon is rich and flavorful, with just a tinge of sweetness in each spoonful.
Make Cold Curry Udon in the Summertime!
Oh by the way, if it’s in the middle of summer, try Cold Curry Udon!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Thick chewy udon noodles soaked in a rich, fragrant curry sauce! This Curry Udon will satisfy your noodles craving in an instant. Bonus: it’s simple enough to throw together on a busy weeknight.
- ½ onion (5.7 oz or 162 g)
- 2 green onions/scallions (finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 6 oz thinly sliced pork loin (170 g; Or use your choice of protein; cut into small pieces)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 3 cups dashi (720 ml)
- 2 cubes Japanese curry roux (Roughly 2 oz or 50 g total. You can make homemade Japanese curry roux.)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 servings udon noodles (6.3 oz/180 g dry udon noodles; 1.1 lb/500 g frozen/boiled udon noodles)
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Gather all the ingredients. For curry roux, you will need to break into cubes and use 2 pieces. Prepare dashi with your preferred method, if you haven't made yet.
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Thinly slice the onion and green onions.
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In a medium pot (I used a 2.75 QT Staub), heat oil on medium heat and add the onion.
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Saute the onion for 2-3 minutes, and then add the meat.
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Cook the meat until almost no longer pink and add sake.
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Add dashi and cover with the lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.
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When simmering, skim off the scum and fat from the stock and continue to cook.
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Meanwhile, start boiling a large pot of water for udon.
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After 5 minutes, turn off the heat. Put the cube of the curry roux in a ladle, letting dissolve one cube at a time (We'll use 2 cubes total).
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With chopsticks or spoon, let the roux dissolves completely in a ladle, before releasing it to the soup. Tip: You don't want to eat a chunk of undissolved curry roux, so take your time to dissolve the roux completely.
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Add soy sauce and mix well. Turn off the heat and cover the lid to keep it warm.
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When water is boiling, cook your udon noodles according to the package instruction (For this Sanuki Udon, cook frozen noodles in boiling water for 1 minute).
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Drain the noodles and divide into two bowls. Pour the curry over the udon noodles. Top with green onion and serve immediately.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Other Less-Known Curry Recipes
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 13, 2012. A video and new photos were added in May 2020.
Yay! you posted the recipe. I can’t wait to make this. I love udon and curry. =)
Hi Candice! I’m glad you liked the recipe. 🙂 Enjoy!
Sanuki udon is three times more expensive than the udon I normally purchase (some random brands) but since it is recommended, I have decided to give it a go when I plan to try out this curry udon recipe. Oh my, the udon is marvelous! Just as the udon I eat in the fine dining Japanese restaurants. Thank you fore the recommendation, Nami : )
Hi Po! 3 times more expensive? I’m sorry it’s so expensive. 🙁 But I’m glad you gave it a try. I hope your home cooked udon is much cheaper than when you eat out at the restaurant so you can justify your purchase. The texture of sanuki udon is definitely better than regular udon, and once you like sanuki udon, it’s hard to go back to regular kinds. I’m happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for writing, Po!
Yes, you are absolutely right, Nami! I doubt I will satisfy with the usual udon now. The texture of sanuki udon is very much better than the regular one so I guess there’s a price to pay : )
p/s: I couldn’t find Ito Togarashi though, not even in Isetan. Maybe I will fake them by cutting the dried chili into tiny threads next time I cook curry udon : ) They look so beautiful as toppings!
You might want to try dried udon one time. If it’s good quality one, it’s also better than regular packaged udon too. Packaged udon breaks so easily and texture is not my favorite. Hope you have some option of dried udon and sometimes splurge on Sanuki udon. 🙂 I also had a hard time finding in the US, so I asked my mom to send it. She said it was not easy to find either. 🙁
I just made this last night and it was wonderful!! We currently live in Okinawa and have had the joy of having curry udon at one of the local udon restaurants here. I am so glad that I now have a recipe for it! I accidently left out the soy sauce, however, I think the soup did just fine without it. Also I added an extra block of curry roux…. we like curry flavor 😉 This is now my new, go to cold weather comfort food. Thank you, Nami, for this wonderful recipe 🙂
Hi Amanda! Thank you so much for letting me know! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. 🙂 Soy sauce adds a little bit more “koku” (savory flavor) to curry, but it’s not necessary. I just like to play with flavor. Thank you so much for stopping by to let me know! 🙂
Just found your blog while searching for a Curry Udon recipe. I tried it out today with the only difference that I substituted the meat for shiitake mushroom since I didn’t have any meat to use, and it was delicious! Thank you for the wonderful recipe, now I gotta try some others 🙂
Hi Julia! Thank you for letting me know! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe. Shiitake has great umami flavor and perfect thing to add in curry! I hope you find some recipes you like on my blog. 🙂 Thanks for writing!
Could I used dried udon noodles instead? Before I buy fresh udon noodles I want to use up more of the dried Udon I accidently bought in bulk. Thought I was ordering soba and ended up with 12 packages of udon to use up.
And this recipe looks fantastic. I love curry. ^_^
Hi Dani! Sure, you can use dried udon noodles and I sometimes use it too! 🙂 12 packs of udon… my daughter will be happy if I have endless stock of udon noodles. Hope you enjoy the curry udon!
I made this tonight and was going to take a picture, but my husband ate everything! He would like to thank you, Nami, for turning me into a Japanese cook!
Ahahaha! Your comment just made my day! I’m glad your husband enjoyed it. Soon you don’t need my recipes anymore and you can make all the Japanese food! 😉 Thank you for your feedback, Christina!
Thanks for the great recipe. I just tried it out and it’s awesome.
Hi Karin! Yay! Thank you for your feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Your curry udon looks amazing! 🙂
Instead of using a block of Japanese curry roux like you, I really want to try your curry roux recipe.
So I was wondering how many tablespoons/grams of your homemade roux do I need to use for 2 blocks of curry roux ?
Bye, Cassandre.
Hi Cassandre! Thank you so much for your kind words! This curry udon is so good! I hope you get to try this. I haven’t made this with my homemade curry roux yet (I should!), so it’s hard to say… but the curry roux recipe is for one box of store-bought curry roux. So you probably need a few Tbsp. Great thing about making curry dish is that you can add curry roux until the consistency you like. I really like “thick” curry udon (my mom used to make thicker version), but my family likes thinner curry udon. You can adjust how much curry roux to use based on your preference. The homemade curry roux should be enough as long as you don’t exceed using one box of store-bought curry roux. Hope this helps. 🙂
Nami,
Yes, don’t worry, it helps. 😉 I think I get it, not really an exact science but more like cooking with your taste buds and heart, right? how you feel it in the moment… I tried this dish a few times at the restaurant and I like it thick too (finish udon and drink all the dashi like a soup, it’s wonderful =D).
I think I’ll try cooking this curry udon next week. I’ll come back later and keep you updating on the amount of curry roux I used!
Thank you Cassandre! I hope you enjoy! 🙂
So, I’m back ! 🙂
First, I made homemade curry roux according to your recipe. Well… I think I was wrong somewhere. I tried to convert tablespoons in grams and maybe it’s here I made a mistake. Then my roux turned brown after only 5 minutes ; I think I burned it ><'… My homemade curry roux came closer to the one I buy normally at 70-80% maybe? But it was good, not the taste of Japanese curry I expected but good nonetheless! 🙂 I will definitely give it another try.
Now the udon! Obviously, because of my roux, it wasn’t the taste of the one I eat at the restaurant. Same here, 70-80%?
I used for about 30 grams of roux (2 tablespoons?) for 1 block, but my mistake was that I forgot that the curry would thicken so after 4 minutes of heating the curry, it was really really thick and I had to add some water.
Next time, I’ll cook it with curry sauce mix and I will get the right taste! 😉
Hi Cassandra! Thank you so much for writing your feedback. I’m sorry the curry roux didn’t turn out well. Probably 5 minutes is a bit too short so I think your heat was a little too strong. Hope your next curry udon will come out well next time! 🙂
This may seem like a silly question, but I love your soup skimmer. Where did you get it? I can’t find any like it. 🙁
I’m not sure where you are located but if you are in the US, Japanese grocery store/hardware store, or search “mesh strainer” on Amazon. It’s like $5-10.
The Curry Udon was a very nice and fast to make, which was what I just needed for tonight as I was home a bit late. This was also a slightly different way of enjoying curry because of the Japanese seasoning with Dashi stock, Sake and Soy Sauce.
As with other recipies, I was really satisfied with this – 5 stars.
ありがとうございます！
Hi Leo! I’m so glad to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you for the 5 stars! どうもありがとう！
I happen to have a few blocks in the fridge from earlier this week and can’t wait to try this out tomorrow.
Hope you enjoy this recipe Rekha! It’s so delicious! 🙂
Love your recipes Namiko! I’ve recently begun to cook with curry. I was just wondering if instead of curry cubes I could use powder. If so, how much powder per ml of water?
Hi Alan! Thank you so much for your kind words! Sure, you can use curry powder, but you will need to thicken the soup to make it Japanese curry (otherwise, it’ll be curry “soup”).
I suggest to check out this homemade curry roux to make Japanese curry recipe, so you don’t need to use cubes but it’s homemade curry. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how_to/how-to-make-curry-roux/
I ended up making this two nights in a row at the behest of my fiancee! This recipe is excellent and really easy to follow. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe!
Hi Brittni! I’m so happy to hear you two enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for your kind comment. xoxo 🙂
Hi Nami,
Im wonderinf if you also have a recipe for stir fry kare udon? It was one of my favorites when I was living in Japan.
Thanks!
Hi Carmela! I’m with a Japanese friend now and both of us never heard or tried stir fry kare udon before! That is pretty creative as we have kare pirafu (kind of like fried rice) but not with noodles. We only had “wet” curry udon. I’ll try making it myself. Not sure what kind of flavor the chef used besides curry (since it’s not a common dish, I’m sure he/she created their own version), but I’ll see what I can make. Maybe if it’s good I’ll share one day. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Thanks for another great recipe as always 🙂 I just have a quick question. I made Curry Rice today and there is leftover curry (with meat, carrot and potato). Is there any correct way to dilute the leftover curry to make this Curry Udon?
Thank you very much in advance. Have a nice day!
Hi Selina! Thank you for your kind words! I love the dashi broth in curry so I used it to make this particular curry udon. With leftover curry, you could use dashi or simply water to dilute. Now regarding the amount, it’s up to preference. I actually enjoy thicker leftover curry udon instead of soupy one by diluting just a little bit so it’s not thick sauce like one for curry. But not as thin as “soup”. If you prefer soupy type, then you can add more water/dashi. Flavor should’t be lost. There is no correct measurement as everyone has different amount/thickness of curry leftover and hard to explain. Add liquid on simmer and see the consistency. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hi Nami! Thanks a lot for the quick response 🙂 However, I only managed to read your reply now as the notification somehow ended up in the Spam mailbox 🙁 (maybe because the email address of the notification is different from the newsletter one). I have marked it as not spam now 🙂
Hi Selina! Sorry it went into the spam folder. I’m using a plugin that send my response to the commenter so I don’t have the control. If you have any further question, feel free to email me. 🙂
Hello Nami,
I just tried your beef udon recipe the other day and my husband simply loves it! The tender sweet slices of beef go very well with the warm soup udon. I then decided next on the menu shall be curry udon!
The curry udon recipe states it is for 1 serving. Will 2 packet udon be too much then? And 3 cups dashi will be how much in volume? 720 ml?
Thank you for sharing all these great recipes. 🙂
Hi Bernice! I apologize for my late response. I’m so happy to hear your husband liked the beef udon recipe. 🙂
Thanks for bringing it up to my attention. This recipe is for two. I think when we were converting the recipe to a different plugin, some of the serving size got changed, and I truly apologize for the confusion. Yes, 3 cups = about 720 ml.
Sorry I couldn’t write you back sooner. I’ve been a bit busy….
If i want to use your homemade recipe for curry roux instead of the 2 blocks, how much do i need?
Hi Anita! It’s hard to say, but I’d say try adding 1/2 Tbsp increment to the soup and taste how thin/thick you want to eat. It’s really up to individual in terms of curry udon’s thickness. Everyone prefers different style… 🙂
Super delicious! Tossed in some carrots and green onion and a little cayenne pepper. Making this again.
Hi Neeki! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this dish! Thank you for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. 🙂
What do you mean by “2 blocks curry roux?”
Hi Elaine! I apologize for my “loose” measurement for this recipe. What I meant is that storebought-curry roux came in a package like this (https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-curry-sauce-mix-roux/).
Each square roux has divided lines (kind of like bar chocolate?), and with hands, you can easily break it into 4-6 smaller blocks/cubes depending on brands. 1 piece (block/cube) is 3 x 3 cm (really roughly) and 20 grams.
I have been making Curry Rice with S&H Curry for many years and made last week. I never thought of using Udon but now I am dying to try it. Thank you for all the curry variations.
Hi Barbara! Hope you enjoy the recipe! It’s a great quick meal! 🙂
Another winner Nami-chan! Thank you so much! Easy and so yummy. The dashi was clutch, gave it that really comfort food taste. Used instant dashi – Hondashi brand. Thank you for sharing. You are my go to for Japanese cooking 🙂 aloha from Hawaii!!
Aloha! Thank you so much! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thanks for trying it! 🙂
Thank you Nami! Question, is it possible to share a Kakiage Tenpura Corn recipe if you have one? We often order this side dish at one of our favorite ramen shop here in Hawaii and now that corn is in season I’d like to give it a try at home. I’m not sure which direction to go for a “light” and crispy batter. Tenpura batter is a little tricky for me. I can never get it “light” and fluffy. Thank you so much! 🙂
Aloha! I’ll add it to my list. 🙂 I think the oil temperature is the key.
Curry Udon is one of our favorite comfort foods. Do you remember the little Mom and Pop Udon noodle shop in Nakaodai that was walking distance from our house? Our favorite place for sure. We love the medium House curry in the green package, if we make it at home. Hope you are doing well. Take Care
Ah, I’m not familiar with the shop, but I can imagine the curry udon they serve in Japan. So delicious, especially on cold nights. We’re doing okay. I hope you and your family are well. 🙂 xo
I like the recipe, it’s simple and filling. However, there was too much dashi in my opinion, the curry was too diluted for my taste.
Hi Maria! This curry udon is dashi based, more liquid version (for example, my mom prefers thick curry sauce udon and made that for us growing up). So please adjust as you like. I try to make it close to the standard curry udon noodle soup served in Japan. 🙂
I made this for my dinner last evening. I love Japanese curry and I love Udon so what could be wrong.
Nothing really. I think next time I will add a small amount of other vegetables that I add to the curry beside onions. Keep up the good work.
Hi Barbara! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it and thanks for your kind feedback. 🙂