Chilled noodles soaked in a savory sesame miso sauce, Hiyashi Chuka is a popular cold ramen noodles enjoyed in the hot summer months.
Aren’t noodles the best? They seem to have a special power of bringing appetites regardless of the season and the mood.
During the hot and humid summer months in Japan, when we feel too darn hot to eat, we turn to cold noodles as the most delicious remedy to beat the heat. There are endless options of cold noodles, but today I’m going to introduce one of the favorites – Hiyashi Chuka (冷やし中華), which literally means cold Chinese-style (Noodles). It starts with chewy egg noodles, a mix of refreshing and crunchy toppings like shredded chicken, cucumber, slices of tomato, all blanketed in a savory nutty sauce. Slurping down the chilled noodles, you will instantly feel cool and find your appetite and spirit back.
On Just One Cookbook, you can find the classic Hiyashi Chuka recipe with soy sauce-base sauce, and this version is with a sesame miso sauce.
What’s Hiyashi Chuka?
Despite the popularity for ramen all over the US and around the world, cold ramen is still not too familiar among many Japanese food lovers. As Japan’s summer is pretty brutal with heat and humidity, most people long for chilled/cold noodle dish rather than ramen noodles in piping hot broth.
Hiyashi Chuka is served with cold ramen noodles placed on a plate with rim (not a bowl), each group of toppings is placed radially (clockwise/counter-clockwise), like a pie chart. Then the sauce is poured over before it is served.
The store-bought Hiyashi Chuka package often comes with the sauce, but it includes MSG and preservatives. For a healthier option, you can easily make my soy sauce-based sauce shared in my other Hiyashi Chuka recipe or make this sesame miso sauce in today’s recipe.
The sesame miso sauce is a simple mix of sesame seeds, miso, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and chicken stock. The sauce itself is light yet it delivers a dynamic punch of flavor – thanks to the umami-rich miso.
For this recipe, I used Hikari Miso® Organic Miso – Red Miso, but you can use other types of miso to try out different flavors. It is my favorite brand of miso. If you’re interested to try it out, you can purchase Hikari Miso from a majority of Japanese/Asian grocery stores or on Amazon.
Vegetarian/Vegan-Friendly Hiyashi Chuka with Sesame Miso Sauce
To make vegetarian or vegan sauce, you can use kombu dashi or vegetable stock to replace the chicken stock.
For toppings, instead of chicken breast, you can use firm tofu that you bake/fry, aburaage (deep fried tofu pouch), or various grilled vegetables to satisfy your cravings.
No matter what toppings you use, hiyashi chuka is quick to throw together. So ramen lovers, let’s bring on the noodles greatness this summer!
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Chilled noodles soaked in a savory sesame miso sauce, Hiyashi Chuka is a popular cold ramen noodles enjoyed in the hot summer months.
- 1 knob ginger
- 2 green onions/scallions
- 4 cups water
- ½ lb chicken breast (I use half of chicken breast)
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp salt (kosher or sea salt; use half if using table salt)
- 1 Persian/Japanese cucumber
- 1 tomato
- 1 bunch cilantro (for garnish)
- 2 Hiyashi Chuka noodles (or fresh ramen noodles)
- 2 Tbsp sesame seeds (and more for garnish)
- 2 Tbsp miso (I used Hikari Miso® Organic Red Miso)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 ½ Tbsp rice vinegar (you can use lemon instead)
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ⅓-½ cup chicken stock/broth (90 ml)
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Slice the ginger and cut the green onion into 2 inch pieces.
- Add 4 cups (cold) water in the pot and add the chicken breast.
- Add the sliced ginger and green onions. Add 2 Tbsp sake and 1 tsp kosher salt.
Bring water to a boil on medium heat. Once boiling, skim off foam and scum.
- Lower the heat to low and cover to cook for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, peel the cucumber skin alternatively. Slice the cucumber thinly.
- Cut the sliced cucumber into julienne strips. Thinly slice the tomatoes.
To make Sesame Miso Sauce, grind 2 Tbsp sesame seeds with a pestle and mortar. Set aside.
In a bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine 2 Tbsp miso, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 ½ Tbsp rice vinegar, and 2 Tbsp granulated sugar.
- Add the ground sesame seeds, 1 tsp sesame oil, and then mix all together.
- After 15 minutes of cooking the chicken, reserve ⅓-½ cup chicken stock (90 ml), and gradually add to the Sesame Miso Sauce (I used about 90-100 ml).
Remove the chicken breast from the water and shred it using two forks.
To cook the noodles, bring a lot of water to a boil. Separate the noodles and add into the boiling water.
- Cook according to the package instructions and chill the noodles in the ice water.
- Drain well and serve on the plate. Place the toppings on top of the noodles and sprinkle extra sesame seeds. Garnish with cilantro (optional) and drizzle the Sesame Miso Sauce before serving.
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.
Hi Nami,
It’s been awhile since I’ve commented. Hope you’re well.
Where can I purchase the Hiyashi Chucka noodles? Is there a specific brand you use? Where do you purchase yours?
Thanks.
Hi Candice! I’m good, surviving in this crazy heatwave in Japan. 🙂 I buy my Hiyashi Chuka noodles in Nijiya (most of my Japanese ingredients come from this grocery store).
I believe the noodle brand they have is either Myojo or Maruchan or maybe one more brand…forgot the name temporary….
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/hiyashi-chuka-noodles/
Noodles ARE the best! Never met a noodle dish I didn’t like. This is perfect for summer — refreshing and tasty. Really nice — thanks.
Great recipe and perfect for the humid heat wave in Europe right now.
Hi Angelos! Thank you! Humid heatwave there too? We’re struggling in Japan as well…. chilled noodles are the best food in summer. 😀
This looks so delicious! Can I pack this as an box lunch option!m? If so, how do you suggest I pack the food for maximum freshness? Thanks!
Thank you Truc! If you pack this as lunch box, you will need to keep it chilled all times. You can add chilled noodles, and all the toppings in one box. Then put the sauce in separate container. Both containers should be in thermal lunch box with ice packs. I’m already jealous of your lunch choice….. 🙂
I’m excited to see this here! I first saw a recipe for hiyashi chuka on Michele Tam’s Nom Nom Paleo blog. I made it with soba noodles (because that’s all I had on hand and the cravings were real) and it was delicious but I wasn’t sure how “authentic” the recipe was so I’m excited to see this post 🙂 The sesame miso sauce looks soooo delicious! I’m excited to try this one out!
Hi Carolyn! I didn’t realize Michelle has Hiyashi Chuka recipe on her blog. This noodle is considered Chinese style in Japan, so we use Chinese style noodles “Chuka men” in Japan (Soba is considered Japanese noodles).
In Japan, we usually serve either sesame sauce or soy sauce base. I have soy sauce base dressing one here in case you want to check it out:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/hiyashi-chuka-cold-ramen/
Hope you enjoy!
Yes, Michele used blanched and spiralized daikon radish for the “noodles”. I ended up using soba noodles because those were the only noodles I had in my pantry ha ha.
I’m excited to try both versions that you’ve posted!
I hope you and your family are enjoying Japan!
Ooh this looks lovely and the dressing sounds great! I was planning on making some Hiyashi Chuka for lunch this week, so great timing 🙂
What a timing – I’m so glad you gave this recipe a try! 🙂
I made it and it’s so fresh and tasty, the dressing is lovely! Thank you for sharing.
I included some sliced thin omelette, just to have a little extra.
Hi Emy! Yay! Thank you so much for trying this recipe already! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. Thanks for your kind feedback. xoxo
This sesame-miso sauce is soooo good. I could practically drink it by itself. It’s so simple but has such a depth of flavor. You could even use it as a dressing on a salad. Thank you for posting this recipe. This will definitely be my go-to hiyashi chuka sauce.
Hi MH Syin! Aww thank you so much for your kind feedback and for trying this recipe! I love this sauce too! So happy you enjoyed it. Thank you so much! xo
I made the vegetarian version of your recipe. It’s a nice summer dish! https://tmifood.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/hiyashi-chuka/
Hi AV! Thanks so much for trying this recipe! Your Hiyashi Chuka looks DELICIOUS!! 🙂