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Fight the cold days with this steamy Nabeyaki Udon served in donabe. Topped with chicken, tempura & heaps of vegetables in an umami dashi soup, this hot noodle soup would be your favorite kind of winter comfort food.
Nabeyaki Udon (鍋焼きうどん) is a hot udon noodle soup traditionally served in individual donabe (earthenware pot) or iron pots.
Besides udon noodles, the soup usually includes chicken, kamaboko (fish cake), mushrooms, and vegetables such as spinach, long green onion (Negi), and carrot. In addition, an egg and a large shrimp tempura is served on top.
Watch How to Make Nabeyaki Udon
Tender udon noodle served in savory dashi soup, topped with chicken, carrots, shrimp tempura, kamaboko, and mushrooms.
The literal translation for nabeyaki udon is, you’ve guess it, “cook in hotpot udon”. This nabeyaki udon recipe (especially with step-by-step pictures) might seem long, and to be honest, it took quite a while for us to shoot the video. BUT! The recipe is easy and doesn’t take that much effort to make (if you don’t have to video each step). Simply make dashi (soup stock), add udon and ingredients you like in a pot, and cook!
The most time-consuming part for me was making shrimp tempura from scratch. I know quite a lot of readers do not have access to frozen shrimp tempura in nearby grocery stores (for us, we can get one in Trader Joe’s), but if you do, I’d recommend using packaged shrimp tempura to save time.
All the ingredients I have included for this nabeyaki udon are ones that are commonly used in Japan. If you cannot find the same ingredients like kamaboko (fish cake), it’s okay to skip and use ingredients that are available to you.
On a cold and rainy day like today, a steaming pot of nabeyaki udon served right at the table is definitely comforting.
Get Your Donabe (Earthenware Pot) Ready!
You have a couple of options to cook and serve this dish.
- Cook the noodles in a large pot and serve in individual bowls – you don’t need donabe
- Cook the noodles in a large donabe and serve in small individual bowls – similar to hot pot-style
- Cook the noodles in individual donabe pots and serve the pot directly – This is the restaurant-style
How To Season Donabe (Earthenware Pot)
More Noodle Soup Recipes Similar to Nabeyaki Udon:
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
- ½ cup water (for soaking dried shiitake mushrooms)
- 1 stalk spinach (rinsed)
- 1 inch carrot (3 cm)
- 1 package Kamaboko (fish cake) (but you will only need a few slices)
- ⅓ shimeji mushrooms (1 oz or 28 g; bottom 1/2" trimmed)
- 6 inch Negi (long green onion) (15 cm; use white part, or leeks + green onions/scallions)
- 1 chicken thigh
- 2 servings udon noodles (6.3 oz/180 g dry udon noodles; 1.1 lb/500 g frozen/boiled udon noodles)
- 2 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 2 stalks Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (optional)
- 2 Shrimp Tempura (see below for instructions; you can buy frozen shrimp tempura and follow instructions to reheat as well)
- Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)
- 3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock; click to learn more) (720 ml; I used Awase Dashi)
- ⅓ cup shiitake dashi (reserved from rehydrating dried shiitake, see instructions)
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 1½ Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- 2 shrimp
- 25 g tempura batter mix (1 oz)
- 40 ml water (about 3 Tbsp; use cold water)
- corn (for dusting)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in water to rehydrate for 15 minutes. You need just enough water to cover the mushrooms and place a smaller bowl on top to keep the mushrooms submerged in water.
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Squeeze the excess water out of rehydrated shiitake mushrooms. Cut off the stems if there are any and score a cross on top like this and set aside (use it later for topping). Reserve the leftover soaking liquid (shiitake dashi) for udon soup by straining it through a mesh strainer to remove any grit or impurities before using it.
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In lightly salted boiling water, blanch the spinach starting from the stem side for 1 minute.
- Soak the spinach in iced water to prevent overcooking. Squeeze water out and cut into 1 ½” (4 cm) pieces.
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Slice the carrot. Optionally you can cut out the carrot into a flower shape with a vegetable cutter.
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Cut kamaboko into thin slices and break shimeji mushrooms into small pieces.
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Slice the long green onion diagonally and cut the chicken into 1” (2.5 cm) pieces.
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To make udon soup, combine the dashi and shiitake dashi (reserved liquid from dried shiitake mushrooms) in a small saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Once boiling, add mirin, soy sauce, and salt. When boiling again, turn off the heat and set aside.
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To make shrimp tempura, follow this instruction to clean the shrimp and make them straight.
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To make the tempura batter, combine the tempura batter mix and water. Lightly dust the shrimp with potato starch/cornstarch before dredging the shrimp in the batter. Deep fry at 340-350 ºF (170-180 ºC) until golden brown. If you want to make the tempura batter from scratch and learn tips on how to deep fry the shrimp, you can read the recipe here.
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Bring a large pot of water to boil for udon noodles. My favorite udon is the frozen Sanuki Udon. Cook the frozen udon noodles in boiling water for 30 seconds (no need to defrost). If you use dry noodles, follow the package instructions. Drain the water and chill in ice water to prevent the noodles from cooking further.
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Divide all the ingredients (except for the egg, spinach, and mitsuba) into two individual earthen donabe clay pots (or use any big pot).
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Add udon soup and cover with the lid. Bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat. When it comes to a boil, leave the lid slightly open to let some steam out, or it will overflow. Lower the heat and simmer to cook until the chicken is cooked through.
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Add an egg, spinach, and mitsuba and cover to cook until the egg is done to your liking.
- Add shrimp tempura on top and serve. Sprinkle shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) if you like the soup spicy.
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.
I love the flower shaped carrots. So cute!
Thank you Alexis! 🙂
Your recipes are so interesting and beautifully explained. I would love see an extra page on your site that helps us to understand the cooking implements you use and the serving dish ware. For instance, the crockery in these pictures are veru pretty. They have lids. So would these be cooking pots, or serving dishes? Is this a single serving or a family sized portion? I also noticed something leaning against the crockery that looks like it is made of wood., but we don’t see the entire item. Thanks so much for sharing the Japanese cuisine, ettiquet and culture.
Hi Deborah!
Interesting! I’ve never thought of sharing information about Japanese cooking implements/utensils or dishware (maybe because I have limited items here in the U.S.). Something to think about. 🙂
Yes this pot is used for cooking and serving at the same time. Japanese uses portable stove (or built in stove for restaurants) and we can eat while food is cooked. Sometimes we share a big pot, and each person serve the food into your bowl/plate, sometimes individual small pot like today’s post.
What you see is the wooden scooper/ladle, which is only used for serving (we don’t use for cooking). It’s just a little fancier than cooking ladle. 🙂
Your questions and observation made me realize things that are “normal” for me maybe not be so for some people. I live in the U.S. but many of things can be purchased here, so I feel like nothing is so “special”… but if you have never seen a clay pot like this or serving ladle (which are pretty common in Japanese restaurants here), it can be an interesting topic!
Thank you so much for writing Deborah!
Oh my god, I love Nabeyaki Udon. I always order this when I’m going to a certain Japanese restaurant in Duesseldorf. It’s so delicious. The ones I had always had a piece of mochi in it.
Hi Asami! I noticed a lot of my friends order this too. 🙂 Me too! Mochi in any food/dessert is my favorite!!! <3
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us! It’s perfect for the snowy and wet weather that we’ve been having in the Northeast… =) I also love how personalized the size of your nabe pot is. It’s encouraging me to shop for a smaller one for easier cooking and portioning when I eat by myself.
Hi Kimmi! You guys are having a really cold winter this year. Wish I can send you a pot of Nabeyaki Udon! 🙂 Stay warm… 🙂
I really enjoy the step by step instructions for your recipes. You make me feel like you are standing beside me guiding me through each step . Thank you!’
Hi Virginia! Thank you so much! I’m happy to hear you like my step-by-step instructions. It really takes time (too much time) to prepare step by step, but feedback like yours keep me going! 😀 Thank you!!!
Hi Nami,
Another keeper for me.
Since I came across your blog, I’ve been making japanese cooking at least twice a week.
My family is a big fan of Japanese food (to the point where we think we must be Japanese in our previous lives) and Japanese cooking ingredients are always in my grocery list. But my knowledge was limited, so I always ended up cooking ‘fusion’ kind or the same thing over and over again.
Now, thanks to your blog, I improve so much in my knowledge and cooking Japanese food. I really feel like congratulating myself 🙂
Thank you, Nami!
my oldest son s
Hi Jayne! Your comment has just made my day! Thank you for your kind feedback. I’m so happy to hear you like Japanese food. It’s okay to make it fusion (and I do that with my own cooking with other cuisines), but if you can find authentic ingredients, do give them a try! Congratulations to you for cooking more Japanese food! 🙂
Dear Nami,
I and my wife are Japanese food lovers, and so it was a happy accident that I discovered your website. Have tried out few recipes, and love the simple instructions for cooking.
Again, thank you!
sam
Hi Sam! I’m so glad you found my site, and welcome to my blog. 🙂 I’m happy to hear you tried some recipes already. Thank you so much for following! 🙂
Nami, I’ve been sick all week and finally felt up to giving this a try. I had to improvise with items I had in my pantry, instant dashi, baby bok choy, etc. but no matter, I’m so happy with the results, I feel better already! Thanks for this and all your other recipes and this wonderful website.
Martin in Denver
Hi Martin! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Improvising is great as we don’t always have the ingredients ready in the kitchen, or some ingredients can be hard to find in your area. I’m glad you tried this recipe! I hope you’re feeling much better from sickness. And thank you very much for reading my blog. 🙂
Made it for my lunch today, and it turn out really good! The udon soup was very tasty ; wonderful flavor.
I’m going to keep the recipe for udon soup, even alone it make a great light dinner (or soup for breakfast!).
Your recipes are very easy to make and so good, so thank you. 🙂
Hi Cassandre! Yay! So happy to hear you liked it. It’s very comforting and you can make many different variations with ingredients you have in your fridge. 🙂 Thank you very much for your kind words! 🙂
this is awesome! thank you so much for sharing this!
Hi Tang! Thank you for your comment! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Very nice ! But won’t the udon be overcooked until the meat is cooked ? Thank you
Thank you Kelly! Unless you put a lot of meat, it should be okay. Udon should not be overcooked. In Step 13, you just need to loosen up udon, so you still need to cook more at the final stage. Hope this helps! 🙂
I love nabeyaki udon. I’ll have to try preparing it at home…unfortunately without the shrimp tempura
Hi Caroline! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
I first had this dish while pregnant when visiting Hawaii… It was the ONLY thing I could eat in the morning and keep down. Its been many years since that time and while I have been able to find and consume this at local Japanese restaurants, Am and so very happy to be able finally to make this and eat it at home!!!! Thank You for making this possible!!!!
Hi Lyn! Aww thanks so much for your sweet story. I’m so happy to hear you tried it at home! You can make your variations with toppings you enjoy if you make it at home. Thanks so much for your kind feedback, Lyn!
Went with a friend to an Asian market to purchase fish cakes and some other necessary items to make my Nabeyaki Udon ‘taste” more authentic!!!! While I still do not have an authentic ceramic Nabe, I do own the perfect size cast iron pot that I Will use until I Am able to locate a ceramic one in my area…. Can’t wait to try your recipe tomorrow!!!
Thank you Lyn! Hope you enjoy making this dish this winter! 🙂
I wanted you to know that I made Nabeyaki udon for my 93 year old mother last night for dinner and she was amazed! Thank you for the easy to follow directions and for making me look like I know what I’m doing . My mother is traditional old school Japanese and I’m so Americanized even though I was born in Japan that I really don’t know how to cook Japanese food. Thanks to you I am Learning….
Hi Anne! So happy to hear your mom enjoyed this recipe! I don’t make fusion dishes (maybe sometimes) so my recipes must be very “nataukashii” (nostalgic?) to your mom. 🙂 Thanks so much for your kind feedback!
Hi Nami , i found all the ingredients at a japanese store in SF but i dot have the hot pots with lids to cook it in , if i cook it in a normal pan I guess i transfer it carefully scooping in a bowl? thank you for all your hard work and beautiful recipes
Hi Nike! Instead of Donabe that I used for this recipe, you can simply use a regular pot/saucepan with a lid. Donabe retain the heat very well after cooking, but you can just use a regular pot or maybe dutch oven? Thank you for your kind words. Your photography is amazing! I wish I have the photography talent. 🙂 Good to know a local photographer! 🙂
I tried this recipe and it’s so yummy! Thank you so much Nami for yet another good idea and recipe! I am lucky enough to be able to get frozen ready made tempura shrimps at the supermarket. Can I ask whether I can deep fry a bit more at one go and leave the extra pieces for next day’s rice ball filling by just heating them up in the toaster?
Hi Judy! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! I’m not always a big fan of frozen ready-made food BUT sometimes it’s so convenient to just put the premade tempura on top of Nabeyaki Udon and the whole meal gets much better. 😀
Yes, as long as you use the toaster oven, it will get crunchy again (but then when you put in onigiri, it gets soften). 🙂
this would be extra good with tofu!!
Yes! Hope you will like this recipe with tofu! 🙂
Have you had this dish at Yayoi? At Yayoi, it comes with this delicious yuzu sauce, made from yuzu and salt. Is it possible to buy that sauce in the bay area? I am addicted to eating nabe mixed with that sauce.
Thanks so much for introducing Yayoi – I’ve never been there but I’ll check it out when I go back to the States. I love that they do teishoku style – instead of typical “Japanese menus in the US”.
Yes, you can buy yuzu extract in a Japanese supermarket. Nijiya sells this bottle and it’s the best one we can get here (I don’t recommend other cheaper kind because it doesn’t taste good).
https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/yuzu/
Thank you so much for the link. Thanks to your page, I figured out the sauce — Yuzu kosho. I can’t wait to buy it and use it.
Ohhh Yuzu Kosho! Yes, they have it in a jar. 🙂 Spicy and delicious!
Step 4 just says “%https://www.justonecookbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Nabeyaki-Udon-3.jpg”
Thanks so much for letting me know! It’s been fixed. 🙂
Hello Nami! First I would like to say I really love your recipes, I grew up on japanese food because I live in a highly asian area, and I love it, but your recipes are even better than some of the homemade Japanese food I’ve eaten at my friends’ houses!! Thank you for sharing!!
I live very close to a large japanese supermarket (Mitsuwa), so I am able to buy frozen shrimp tempura. I was wondering, is there a brand you recommend/prefer? Or will any be fine?
Thank you so much!
Hi Dani! Aww thank you so much for your kind words. I’m so happy to hear you like my recipes. 🙂
Nope, I don’t particularly have a favorite brand. In the past, I purchased frozen shrimp tempura from Costco, Trader Joe’s and Nijiya. 🙂
Pretty! How much dried udon would we use for one packet of the Sanuki udon? Thanks!
Hi Jeanie! I recommend roughly 100 grams to start? I read online that the weight is increased 3 times after being cooked. Each frozen udon package is 250 gram. 🙂
Thanks! I was thinking something like an amount the size of a dime in cross-section per person, but this seems much more quantifiable, lol.
Hi Jeanine! Oh… sorry… Some udon noodles are flat some are thin… hard to tell… just like pasta, use the similar measurement. 🙂
Hello! For the 3 cups of Dash is that Awase Dash made with kombu and katsuobushi? I understand about the ⅓ cup shiitake dashi just not sure about which type of Dashi from your “How To make Dash” guide to use. Thank you!
Hi Zach! Thank you for asking the question. I added that I used Awase Dashi. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Thank you!
Hi, this is Shuko. I have an online site, and was looking for Nabeyaki udon and found your recipe site! your site is perfect. Could I link your page for my website? Thank you very much!
Hi Shuko! My recipes and images are copyrighted so please do not use; however, you can link to my site. Thank you!
Where did the potato/corn starch go? What am I dusting with it?
Hi Gio! I apologize for the incomplete recipe instructions. I updated a little bit and hope it helps.
Basically it’s for dusting the shrimp before dipping in the batter (so the batter will stick to shrimp better). I explained in the Shrimp Tempura recipe.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shrimp-tempura/ (See Step 10).
This was so delicious! Thank you for the recipe. I moved to Buffalo NY a few years ago from southern California and I have really missed nabeyaki udon. It was a treat to make for my husband and daughter who have never had it. Thanks again!
Hi Danielle! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe with your family. Thank you for trying it and for your kind feedback. 🙂
Do you use the mushrooms in the soup or only the liquid? 🙂
Hi Maureen! Yes, I used the dried shiitake mushrooms for the topping too (it’s used at 12 o’clock, but it’s hard to see from the way I photographed….sorry!). 🙂
Hi Nami
Thanks for the recipe!
You say “Add udon soup and cover with the lid. Bring the soup to a boil over medium-high heat. When it comes to a boil, leave the lid slightly open to let some steam out, or it will overflow. Lower the heat and simmer to cook until the chicken is cooked through.”
Presumably by this stage the Udon Noodles had already been cooked (say according to the instructions on the pack). Assuming everything is going to be cooked in a big pot, how do you make sure that the Udon Noodles are not overcooked by, first, being cooked according to the package instructions and by, second, being in the same pot with everything else while the chicken is cooking through?
Warmest regards,
Nikolai
Hi Nikolai,
The Nabeyaki Udon’s noodle is usually served as an overcooked noodle. The noodle is cooked together and absorbed the umami from the ingredients, and it tastes better that way.
The instruction on the package is for making udon as noodle soup, like Kitsune udon, etc. https://www.justonecookbook.com/kitsune-udon/
Hence, They are two different types of dish.
We hope this is helpful!
Thank you, Nami!
It’s all clear now! Look forward to trying it!
Warmest regards,
Nikolai
You are welcome, Nikolai! Let us know how it goes!😊
Hi Nami!
Just cooked it! Absolute delight! My wife and I cooked it together in less than an hour from scratch (used store bought shrimp tempura though). Fantastic meal, really happy we made it. We’ll add it to the list of our fav recipes.
Thanks again for your hard work and for sharing this!
Regards
Nikolai
Hi Nikolai!
Yay!👏🏻 Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you and your wife enjoyed this Nabeyaki Udon!!! 😁