Thick chewy udon noodles served in a rich, fragrant curry soup! 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 soup, you just want to grab your chopsticks and slurp away.
How to Make Curry Udon
Ingredients You’ll Need
- 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.
- Onion
- Green onion
- Udon noodles – More about it below.
- Dashi (Japanese soup stock) – homemade, which takes just 30 minutes, or dashi packet, or dashi powder). For vegans/vegetarians, make Vegan Dashi.
- Japanese curry roux – More about it below.
Overview: Cooking Steps
- Make dashi.
- 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 soup in a serving bowl.
A satisfying noodle dish whipped up in under 30 minutes! This curry udon is rich and flavorful, with just a tinge of sweetness in each spoonful.
What is 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 beginners, or for people who prefer a gentler, sweeter flavor.
To make the curry soup, 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.
Which Udon Noodles to Pick?
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 ones (choose one that says “Sanuki udon”) or dried udon noodles as they have a better texture than the refrigerated ones.
Make This Cold Curry Udon in the Summertime!
Oh by the way, if it’s in the middle of summer, try Cold Curry Udon!
Other Less-Known Curry Recipes
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Curry Udon
Video
Ingredients
- ½ onion (5.7 oz, 162 g)
- 2 green onions/scallions (for garnish)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- 6 oz thinly sliced pork loin (cut into bite-sized pieces; you can substitute your choice of protein)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi)
- 2 cubes Japanese curry roux (2 oz, 50 g; or make homemade Japanese Curry Roux)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 servings udon noodles (1.1 lb, 500 g frozen or parboiled udon noodles; 6.3 oz, 180 g dry udon noodles)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Break the boxed roux into cubes and use 2 cubes Japanese curry roux (keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator/freezer for 1–3 months). Prepare 3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) using your preferred method.
- Thinly slice ½ onion and 2 green onions/scallions. Set aside the green onions for garnish.
- Preheat a medium pot or Dutch oven (I used a 2.75 QT Staub) over medium heat. When the pot is hot, add 1 Tbsp neutral oil. Next, add the onion slices.
- Sauté the onion slices for 2–3 minutes. Then, add 6 oz thinly sliced pork loin that you‘ve cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Cook the meat until it‘s barely pink. Next, add 1 Tbsp sake.
- Add the dashi to the pot and cover with the lid. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.
- When simmering, skim off the scum and fat from the stock with a fine-mesh skimmer and continue to cook.
- Meanwhile, start boiling a large pot of water for the udon.
- After 5 minutes of simmering the stock and meat, turn off the heat. Next, put a cube of curry roux in a ladleful of hot stock.
- With chopsticks or a spoon, dissolve the roux cube completely in the ladle, then release it to the soup. Repeat with the next cube. Tip: You don‘t want to eat a chunk of undissolved curry roux, so take your time to dissolve it completely.
- Add 2 tsp soy sauce and mix well. Turn off the heat and cover with the lid to keep it warm.
- When the water is boiling, cook 2 servings udon noodles according to the package instructions (for this Sanuki udon, I heated the frozen noodles in boiling water for 1 minute).
To Serve
- Drain the noodles and divide into two bowls. Pour the curry soup over the udon noodles. Top with the green onions and serve immediately.
To Store
- Keep the leftover curry soup in a glass airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month. Defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours and reheat in a pot. I recommend cooking the udon noodles just before serving.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 13, 2012. A video and new photos were added in May 2020.
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. 🙂
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. 🙂
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 🙂
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 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! 🙂
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!
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.
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
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!
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!
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! 🙂
This was delicious! This recipe is definitely going into our family’s box of regular meals! Easy, quick and flavorful! Only downside is that the husband and I are now even more nostalgic of our trip to Japan! Thank you!
Hi Nadia! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind comment! I’m so happy to hear you two enjoyed this dish. I know, we miss being in Japan too! Hope all of us can go back to Japan soon. 🙂
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. 🙁
Made with leftover curry added a little dashi to make it more soupy! Thanks
Hi Kirie, Awesome! Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
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!