Learn how to make Japanese Curry Roux from scratch. Only five ingredients! This easy recipe will help you cook up many delicious pots of Japanese curry.
Japanese curry (also known as Curry Rice/Kare Raisu/カレーライス) is the ultimate comfort dish. It is the staple meal for many Japanese households because it’s so easy to make at home.
The convenience comes from the readily made Japanese Curry Sauce Mix or curry roux (カレールー), which allows you to cook up the stew-like curry consisting of meat & vegetables in the shortest time.
What is Japanese Curry Roux?
The curry roux in block form was first introduced by S&B Foods in 1956. It refers to a solidified mixture of sauce, made with fat, flour, and curry spices as the base flavor.
These days we can even find many varieties of instant Japanese curry roux in the Asian aisle at American supermarkets.
The boxed curry roux often comes in a distinctive block that resembles a thick chocolate bar, where you break off individual cubes for the portion you need to make. Some of the common brands include S&B’s Golden Curry, House’s Vermont Curry, Java Curry, and Torokeru Curry.
Homemade Japanese Curry Roux
Although the boxed stuff may spare you some time in the kitchen, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make your own Japanese Curry Roux at home. And just like all curries, curry roux is best made from scratch. The other good reasons for homemade roux?
- No chemical seasonings, preservatives, artificial flavors, and other food additives, which are commonly found in boxed mixes.
- You can customize the flavor, spice level, and thickness to your preferred taste each time you make it.
How to Make Japanese Curry Roux
Ingredients You’ll Need
My recipe for Japanese curry roux requires only five ingredients that you will have in the pantry. They are:
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose/plain flour
- S&B Japanese curry powder
- Garam masala
- Cayenne pepper (optional for spice)
You can use salted butter for making the curry roux. If you do, adjust the amount of salt in the curry recipe you’re making. I use unsalted butter and add salt to taste as I cook.
Why Do We Combine Curry Powder and Garam Masala?
I have made homemade curry roux with just the S&B Japanese curry powder in the past, and it works great.
However, I wanted to make my own curry roux blend without having to buy all kinds of spices that I won’t necessarily use for my daily cooking. One day in my pantry, I found a bag of garam masala I purchased from my local Indian grocery store and I just mixed that into my curry roux. Garam masala added a wonderful fragrance and depth to the roux!
Since then (for the past 10 years), I’ve been using these two spice blends as my base for my curry roux. You can play around with the spices I listed on my pantry page for Japanese curry powder. Make your own blend for fun!
You’re probably wondering about the curry powder and garam masala, so I’ll cover these topics later in the post.
Overview: Cooking Steps
The roux is made with butter and flour that helps to thicken the broth. For the curry roux, we start by cooking the butter and flour mixture for a long time until it turns brown, somewhat chocolate color, for about 25-30 minutes.
When you add the curry powder, garam masala, and cayenne pepper to the roux, you’ll get delicious homemade curry roux.
The butter gives a rich sweet flavor and the toasted flour brings nuttiness. Feel free to modify the amount of the spices to your preference.
How to Store Homemade Japanese Curry Roux
The roux can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator for a month or in the freezer for 3-4 months. I recommend cutting the block of roux into cubes. Then, you can add pieces as you need in your curry recipe.
Japanese Curry Powder
The most notable Japanese curry powder is the S&B brand that comes in a tiny red can. It has a slightly sweet and rounded flavor, and it is the most common curry powder that many Japanese homes and restaurants use in making their curry dishes.
You can use other brands of curry powder. However, to achieve the authentic Japanese flavor, I strongly recommend using S&B Curry Powder for making the homemade curry roux. These days you can buy the S&B Curry Powder on Amazon.
Can’t find S&B Curry Powder?
To learn how to make your own Homemade Japanese Curry Powder, visit this pantry page.
What is Garam Masala?
Garam masala is a warming spice with a sharp and pungent flavor and this spice blend is used to add flavor and color to dishes. Depending on spice shops or home recipes, the blend varies. It typically contains:
- Cardamom
- Cinnamon
- Clove
- Coriander
- Cumin – nice to add more for curry
- Mace
- Mustard seeds
- Nutmeg
- Peppercorns
- Red chili pepper
Some of the spices overlap with Japanese curry powder and that’s okay. You can always tweak your own homemade curry powder blend as you like through trial and error.
What to Make with Japanese Curry Roux
With the homemade curry roux, you will be eager to start cooking a myriad of Japanese curry dishes at any time. Here are some delicious recipes you can make with homemade curry roux:
- Japanese Chicken Curry
- Instant Pot Japanese Curry
- Soup Curry
- Japanese Beef Curry
- Katsu Curry
- Curry Udon
- Japanese Seafood Curry
- Cold Curry Udon
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How to Make Japanese Curry Roux
Video
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz unsalted butter (7 Tbsp)
- 3.5 oz all-purpose flour (plain flour) (about ¾ cup; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off; use GF flour or rice flour for gluten-free)
- 4 Tbsp Japanese curry powder (I recommend S&B Curry Powder; available on Amazon)
- 1 Tbsp garam masala
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Before You Start: I highly encourage you to weigh your flour and butter using a kitchen scale. If you don‘t have a kitchen scale, please use this “fluff and sprinkle“ method to measure the flour: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle it into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may end up scooping more flour than you need.
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make a Brown Roux
- In a small saucepan, melt 3.5 oz unsalted butter over low to medium-low heat (you can cut the butter into small pieces first).
- When the butter is completely melted, add 3.5 oz all-purpose flour (plain flour). With a blunt-end wooden spatula, stir to combine the butter and flour.
- Soon, the butter and flour will fuse and swell. Cook for 20–25 minutes over low heat. Stir constantly because the roux burns easily. If the roux starts separating, switch to a whisk and mix vigorously.
- The roux will turn golden brown. You can even go for a bit darker color (watch my video).
To Make the Curry Roux
- Add 4 Tbsp Japanese curry powder, 1 Tbsp garam masala, and ½ tsp cayenne pepper (optional) to the roux. Tip: If you can‘t find garam masala, you can add more curry powder in its place or try adding the other spices that I suggest in the blog post.
- Cook and stir for 30 seconds and remove from the heat. You can use the roux immediately if you‘d like (see the instructions below).
To Mold into a Block (overnight)
- Transfer the roux to a glass or metal container lined with parchment paper. Let it cool completely on the kitchen counter, then refrigerate to solidify overnight.
- On the following day, take out the curry block from the container. If the curry block gets stuck to the container, release it with a butter knife or an offset spatula.
- With a sharp knife, cut the block into 1- x 1-inch (2.5- x 2.5-cm) squares. I cut my single block into 8 pieces. Transfer the curry roux squares to a glass container.
To Store
- Store in the refrigerator for 1 month or in the freezer for 3–4 months. Use them soon before they lose their flavor and aroma.
To Use in a Curry Recipe
- Very important! Please season your final dish with more salt, as the homemade roux is unsalted. I usually add 2–4 tsp salt per block to the broth, on the recipe. Store-bought roux is quite salty, so you may want to add more salt to your homemade Japanese Curry Roux to achieve a similar taste.
- Add the curry roux mixture (before it solidifies) or the roux cubes to the broth of your curry recipe. Follow the recipe instructions on when to add the roux. Try it in recipes like my Chicken Curry, Instant Pot Curry, Vegetarian Curry, Beef Curry, Keema Curry, and Curry Udon.
- How much roux or how many cubes should we use? Roughly 6–7 cubes of this recipe are equivalent to one box of store-bought curry roux (that requires 4 cups or 1L of broth/water). Simmer over low heat for 5–10 minutes. Heat will thicken the roux.
- If the curry flavor is lacking or the curry does not thicken, add more roux. When you add meat and/or veggies, they release more moisture to the broth; therefore, you will need to adjust the amount of roux you use according to what you’re cooking.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on March 18, 2013. The video and new images were added in August 2018. The recipe was revised and the post was updated with new images and blog content in October 2021.
Hello! Noticed the recipe has changed from this:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 Tbsp garam masala
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
To this:
3.5 oz unsalted butter (7 Tbsp)
3.5 oz all-purpose flour (plain flour) (¾ cup)
4 Tbsp Japanese curry powder
1 Tbsp garam masala
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Just wondering, why the change? Also, the new recipe seems to make much more roux – is that correct?
Appreciate your great recipe!
Hi Adam! Yes! I’ll be publishing the updated (new) video this Wednesday and will add the new video to the recipe card soon (sorry it’s not the same recipe at the moment).
I have finally revised the recipe after going through readers’ feedback (since 2013) and re-testing multiple times. I will never change my recipe unless I believe it’s a good change, and I’m extremely happy with this updated and improved version as it works so much nicer and more comparable to the store-bought curry roux. The flavor and texture we’re looking for in Japanese curry. Also, it’s almost 1:1 substitution for store-bought curry, which makes it so much easier for readers who decide to choose a store-bought or homemade roux.
So that’s why. It’s been bothering me for the past 2 years, and I finally got it done!
Confession: I make curry about every 6 weeks, using this recipe. I make the roux the night before, so when I started cooking the other night and the recipe had changed, I found myself in a tsukemono: stay with the tried and true or test the new recipe. I’m a creature of habit, but this time I went rouxgue (rolling my eyes at myself). I tried the new version.
Verdict: The new recipe was an instant winner with me and my family. Maybe it’s not too surprising I liked it because it tracks the modifications I make to the original roux and curry recipes, including reducing the garam masala relative to the other ingredients and reducing the chicken stock (to better match the amount of roux for a thickness level close to what we like in our house). With the new recipe, the modifications are unnecessary. I’d take this recipe over the boxed curry blocks any day.
Hi Adam! Thank you for your kind feedback and I’m so glad to hear this new version worked out great! Thank you so much for letting me know. You’ve made my day! 🤗
I’ve made this multiple times now but when I use the metric system I get really thick roux (100 gram flour with 100 gram butter) it’s not like the video. I made this a lot 2 years ago and used a US system as I then had a metric bowl that had cups and oz in it but I lost it. Using your metric system now, my roux always becomes like the video. (Don’t mind the quantity I always make double portions.)
Hi Mary! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We are glad to hear the Metric system worked well for you!
Hi Naomi, if I wanted to add chicken powder or bouillon to this how much should I add for the whole batch? I’d like to do this so my kids can use without having to add more seasoning since they are familiar with using the store cubes. Thank you!
Hi H chiang! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Nami usually adds chicken broth to the curry and not to the homemade curry roux. So this has never made it with chicken bouillon, and not sure how much bouillon would be a good amount. Most bouillons are used with 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of water. So 4 teaspoons will be a good amount if you are planning to use this with 4 cups water, and you can try adding the bouillon at the same time with curry powder.
We hope this works for you! Let us know how it goes!😊
OK Nami, I’m sure this recipe is great, but I want to comment on your choice of kana fonts. I appreciate the aesthetic of the font you use, but a font with a single linewidth is much more readable. Maybe you would consider changing to that.
Hi Richard! Could you please explain a bit more? Are you specifically talking about the Japanese characters used throughout the site or specific area? Maybe a few examples would be appreciated so I will know exactly what you’re talking about.
Namiko san and JOC crew, I hope you and your family are well. Just a note…While looking at the scaling for multiple servings (which I really like): The values in parentheses following the scaled values do NOT change. Example: 3.5 oz unsalted butter (7 Tbsp), when 2x is chosen, will become 7 oz, but the value in parenthesis, 7 Tbsp, remains the same. Perhaps some others have already mentioned this. If so, gomen nasai. Thank you, as always, for sharing your recipes, knowledge, family adventures and being our sensei. mike
Hi Mike! Thank you so much for your kind words. We get this question sometimes, but I can’t change it.
The parenthesis next to the ingredient (such as 7 Tbsp) is a “note” section of the ingredient in the recipe plugin. It’s meant to use for a little note, like “peeled” or “minced” in most American recipes and the note section does not change even though serving scales change.
Having said that, I use this note section for 2 purposes:
1) I use it for Americans (half of my audience) who like to use cup/Tbsp because they don’t want to use a kitchen scale. When I believe the recipe should use weight measurement because it’s the key to success, I use weight and put the other options (like 7 Tbsp) in my note section.
2) I use it for kitchen scale users who want to know the weight of 1 onion or 2 carrots. In American/Japanese recipe writing, it’s common to write the number of vegetable pieces, like 2 carrots. But the typical American carrot size is different from carrot size in Asia, for example. Some readers requested the weight of these ingredients, so I always measure the weight of every ingredient and write in the parenthesis for the past several years (out of my 11 years of blogging).
Hope this makes sense. 🙂
I have been grating my curry roux blocks and adding the gratings to the pan of curry to speed up the incorporation. It seems to work. Is there any reason to dissolve the blocks as traditionally done?
Hi Gayle! Oh, that’s wonderful and I think it works with a store-bought curry roux better. I’m not sure why Japanese people don’t do this way “traditionally” but my guess is that we do not have a common boxed cheese grater or similar kind in Japan. They don’t use fresh cheese (finally getting more!) and don’t have the same cheese culture (mostly processed cheese, already shredded or sliced). Anyway, graters are for vegetables and maybe we never think of using them for curry roux. Haha. Plus the small edges of a Japanese grater don’t seem to work? That’s my guess.
I find the homemade roux made of real butter melts in your hands too quickly and it’s quite slippery if you have to grate. If someone wants to grate it, please note that it’s oily (butter!) and I recommend not cutting into cubes and grating the block to keep your hand safe (depending on the thickness, it may break).
Can I substitute olive oil for some of the butter?
Hi Kerry! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
To solidify nicely, we recommend using butter only. If you add olive oil, it would be a different texture.
We hope this helps!
Hi! My husband can’t have dairy. Any suggestions for a butter substitute for this recipe?
Miyoko’s Kitchen makes an excellent vegan butter sub.
Hi Coco! Thank you very much for sharing the info!
Hello I used this recipe a few times and my roux never turns as dark as the recipe shows and I can’t seem to figure out why that is while my curry hasn’t turned out bad I’d still like to find ways to make it better. If anybody knows the solution it would be a big help
Hi Allison, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
To make the curry roux darker, please cook a little longer.
We hope this is helpful!
I had the same problem. I doubled the recipe amount which made it take longer and I wasn’t patient enough to stir for that long. My solution was to mix it directly in a glass container and put it in the oven at 180C (350F) for about 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. You get the dark colour without having to baby sit the pan, you can make larger quantities, and you can store it in the same container if it comes with a lid.
Hi Alex, Thank you for sharing your experience. We have to try it one day.🙂
Just made this to use for curry udon. One of the first recipes to actually taste like the ones from the box. Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Mia! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed the homemade curry roux!
Thank you very much for try Nami’s recipe and your kind feedback!
Happy Cooking!
I made your chicken curry and this curry roux. However, I made this recipe with King Arthur’s gluten-free flour and the curry did not thicken at all after adding the roux to it. The curry needed about 1/2 cup of corn starch to thicken it. Also, the roux required two more tablespoons of butter to look like the consistency in your photos.
Then I tweaked your recipe a little more to make Japanese black curry. I think my garam masala was a little stronger than intended but overall, your recipe is the closest I’ve come to making black curry. The only other adjustment was using German curry ketchup in place of regular ketchup.
Thank you for your delicious recipe.
Hi Kate! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are glad to hear you tweak the recipe for the gluten-free version and enjoy the homemade curry!
Thank you very much for sharing your cooking experience with us!💞
Ms. Nami, I am so grateful to have found this recipe! Several years ago I had to go gluten free and developed diabetes, so for me that meant no more of one of my favorites; Vermont Curry. How do I adjust this recipe to achieve that amazing flavor? I am super excited to give this a try. I hope my 1 to 1 flour doesn’t muck up the flavor too much though 😀
Hi Jamie! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s recipe!
JOC reader told us that gluten-free flour works well with this recipe! 🙂 And we hope you enjoy it too!
Let us know how it goes!
Hello, Nami
I have made this recipe and love it – it tastes SO much better than the store bought curry! The spice level is fine for me, but my husband likes HEAT. What do you suggest for making it spicier? More of all the spices or more of just the cayenne pepper?
Hi Karen! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this homemade curry roux!
To make it spicier, you can add more cayenne pepper.😉 Enjoy!
Heyo! Would this be considered Kanazawa style? Or is there another roux recipe in the works that would be considered Kanazawa style?
Hi Tony! Thank you for reading Nami’s post!
This roux is a general Japanese curry roux and not the Kanazawa-style roux. Kanazawa-style curry is difficult to copy, and currently, we do not have a recipe. Sorry!
Hi Nami, I made your roux in the past few times already and want to make again this time, but couldn’t measure in grams. Did you delete something or change a little bit this recipe? I mean, because as I remember there was measurements in grams (not only in tablespoon). how many grams of flour, curry powder, garam masala, chili, etc.
I’ve tried to make using tablespoon only measurement, but it didn’t look exactly like previous roux or in your video/picture. I wish that the gram measurement is still here…. if you can as it did 🙁
Hi Lia! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe!
We had upgraded our plugin a while ago and now show both US customary and Metric measurements.
Please click the Metric bar next to the ingredients list in the recipe card.
We hope this helps!
Naomi-chan, I followed your instructions down to a T…hmmmmm oishiii desune! I was 8 years old when my mother brought me and my younger back to her motherland, Japan; it was during that time that she introduced Curry Raisu to us. Ever since then I fell in love with the favor, it was the cube kind, absolutely addicting.
Thank you for all your hard work in creating the most wonderful recipes for us to see.
Hontoni arigatogozaimau,
Jay Jeoung
Hi Yun-j, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you! Arigato~