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
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
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.
Hello,
I have been trying recipes from all over the site and this one is one of our favorites. In these pandemic times I had to try a hack and used smoked turkey deli meat as the protein. Surprisingly delicious so I wanted to share.
Also – I have been hunting for a ladle to match the one in these photos as it seems to be perfect for the curry roux. Can you let me know where you got it or what brand it is?
Hi Heather! We are so happy to hear you enjoy Nami’s Curry Udon recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback.
The ladle that Nami used for this recipe is from Uchicook but currently unavailable at the Amazon shop. We found the ones that similar but never used them before. https://amzn.to/3fCGJmQ
Thank you so much. I look forward to trying more recipes.
Lovely recipe. Tastes just like the restaurant’s
Hi Po Po, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
Another great recipe! I am a very keen consumer and cook of Indian curries. this is very different, it has a more typical oriental taste thanks to the different spices used in the Japanese curry cubes and it is fruitier. I took Nami’s advice and bought frozen Udon noodles – they are just SO much better. I’m using them all the time now, to mix with leftovers of other dishes instead of rice.
Hi DJ Slasher, We are glad to hear you had a chance to purchase the frozen Udon noodle for this dish. Yes! So much better texture!😉
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Absolutely amazing! My hubby said he could eat this every night 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi Laura! We are glad to hear it turned out great!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
This is the first of many Japanese meals from Nami that I’m using to impress my friends and family with, some of whom lived in Japan for a while so I rely on their honest feedback. So far so good! I make sure to follow each detailed step, even though I’ve been cooking for years. Sometimes the end product doesn’t meet expectations because we stray too far from the recipe. This curry udon is as close to what I’ve had in Japanese restaurants. I wish I would’ve found “JustOneCookbook” years ago!
Hi Russell, Aww… Thank you very much for trying the JOC recipe and for your kind feedback!
Nami read your comment, and she is happy that you enjoyed many of her recipes. Thank you very much for your love and support!
Made this for my husband and it was an instant favorite😁
Hi Celia, Yay! We are glad to hear this Curry Udon became your husband’s favorite! Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!🤗
I actually have a question? Am I able to use chicken instead of pork?
Hi Meria, Sure, you can. It can be beef too. We hope this helps!
Thanks so much! Curry Udon was my favorite dish from Japan. I added a tiny bit of corn starch to thicken it as I remember the place I had it had a thicker broth. Either way, this was perfect.
Hi Adam, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this dish.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made a double curry roux per the directions elsewhere on this site, also made homemade dashi, and finally doubled this one, all for my family of four. The entire process took about two hours; for anyone trying to rush dinner to the table (I was, and I failed in that regard), that all-homemade plan is probably not your best bet 🙂 … but this was very easy, and I highly recommend it. Food amount was maybe too much for the four of us. I think we could have gotten away with 1.5x the amounts quoted here.
I served it with crispy tofu rather than the pork, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. (I also tried it with a bit of aonori at the end and that worked nicely too and amped up the umami a bit.) The soup is delicious and luxurious — the roux really makes it have a wonderful consistency — although for my taste the curry flavor was just a tiny bit on the weak side. But I tend to favor intense Thai-style curries. Anyway, this was still great and I’ll definitely be messing around with it some more. Really an excellent base technique.
Hi Adam,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
The Crispy tofu sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us.
This is so delicious, simple and comforting. Tastes just like the curry udon ramen I had in Hawaii a long time ago. Mmmmm yum
Hi Leigh,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, and it brings back some yummy memory for you.🙂
I might add a little more curry next time or maybe more dashi. I want a little stronger flavor. I used 2oz of the vermont curry and 2 teaspoons of dashi powder from the jar.
Hi Mark!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for sharing your cooking experience and tips with us!🙂
Delicious! Everyone loved it. The nearby typhoon was bringing loads of super cold rain and this was just perfect.
Hi Janelle,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
We are so glad to hear everyone loved it!😊
Please keep warm with this Curry Udon and stay safe!💞
This recipe is super easy. My family loved it very much, the curry is very mild so we get to enjoy the taste, will definitely make it again 😋
Hi Stephanie!
We’re so glad to hear you and your family enjoyed the Curry Udon!
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.
i used chicken stock instead of dashi and it still turned out delicious 😋 thanks for sharing the recipe, will definite make this for dinner again 🇯🇵
Hi Jackie,
Thank you for trying this recipe and sharing your cooking experience/tips with us!
I made this last night and LOVED every bit of it!! However, I found myself quite full after i ate it all since I live by myself. I want to make this and share with my friends in the future, but do you know how well leftovers could keep in the fridge? Or would you recommend using half of the listed ingredients to make a Single Serving?
Hi Marlena,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We are so glad to hear you enjoyed the dish and LOVED it!
You may keep leftovers in the refrigerator for a day or so but the udon noodle will soak up all the soup and it would be a different texture with no soup left. I recommend keeping the udon noodles and curry separately. Please reheat your curry soup well before using it. I hope this is helpful!