Does the summer heat have you dreaming of taking a dip? Then cook up a bowl of Tsukemen – cold ramen dipped into a bowl of intensely flavorful hot soup!
Have you heard of Japanese Dipping Noodles? Known as Tsukemen, it is one of the most beloved styles of ramen in Japan, especially during the summer months.
The dish involves serving cold noodles alongside a bowl of hot soup. You would dip the noodles into the soup and enjoy the toppings served atop or on the side of the noodles. The contrast of cold noodles and hot broth, in my opinion, is literally the best of world worlds.
When the noodles craving hit, even in the heat of summer, this sensational ramen is going to satisfy. So let’s make it at home today!
A Brief History
There are a few theories about the origin of Tsukemen, but it is said that Masayasu Sakaguchi and Kazuo Yamagishi, invented the noodles in the late 50s. Both Sakaguchi and Yamagishi are relatives and owned famous Taishoken ramen restaurants in Tokyo.
On sweltering summer days, the staff would eat cold leftover noodles by dipping it into a hot soup flavored with soy sauce, just like zaru soba. The staff seemed to enjoy their meal very much that curious customers began to request trying out the dish. Eventually, they decided to put the dish on the menu.
Soon the word got out and Tsukemen’s popularity started to spread across Japan during the 1970s and 80s, and it received all the rage during the ramen resurgence in the past two decades. You can now find specialty shops throughout Japan serving a variety of Tsukemen dishes.
And of course, the Tsukemen ramen craze finally hit shores in the US. In 2019, Taishoken opened its first location in San Mateo, serving up its famous bowls of Tsukemen.
Tsukemen VS Ramen
The most distinctive difference between Tsukemen and the standard ramen is the noodles and soup are served separately for Tsukemen. You would dip the noodles, typically chilled or at room temperature, into the hot soup before slurping them down. This way the noodles stay cool without losing its firmness and the soup stays hot enough for you to flavor and moistens the noodles. What a simple yet thoughtful idea!
For Tsukemen, the noodles matter more than the soup. Since you’re tasting more of the noodles, a good bowl of Tsukemen is judged by the quality and texture of the noodles. At the specialty shops, they often serve homemade noodles that are thicker, chewier, and springy as the textures provide wider surface areas to absorb the sauce.
The soup also tends to be saltier and more intense than the typical ramen broth, as it’s for dipping rather than drinking.
How to Assemble Tsukemen at Home
Just like ramen noodles, there are many types of soups and flavors for Tsukemen. Today’s recipe is one that my family really enjoys – a soy sauce-vinegar based Tsukemen which comes with a tangy kick.
The noodles – I usually use chukamen (fresh ramen noodles) that are springy and chewy when I serve Tsukemen at home. After you boil the noodles, dunk in cold water to cool them down right away. This method is known as ‘shimeru‘, which means tightening, and it helps to bring back the springiness of the noodles.
The soup broth – I use fatty pork belly to create a rich broth, but you can substitute with ground pork or other meat/seafood. It’s tempting to drink the soup, but it is intentionally made to be salty to drink. But when the cold noodles soak up the sauce, it balances the saltiness off and you get the optimal flavor.
I also like to jazz up the broth with spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang) for a deep bold, spicy flavor, but feel free to leave it out.
Toppings – I serve my Tsukemen with shrimp, eggs, narutomaki (fish cake), and nori. You can use other ingredients too. Whatever you like to dip in the soup!
Dipping Ramen for the Summer
To enjoy this summer-perfect ramen, pick up a few strands of the noodles with your chopsticks, dip into the soup and make sure they are fully submerged, then slurp!
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Tsukemen is cold ramen noodles served with a separate bowl of flavorful broth for dipping. Enjoy with a variety of topping for the perfect summer bowl!
- 2 servings ramen noodles (10-12 oz or 283-340 g fresh noodles; 6.3 oz or 180 g dry ramen noodles; For gluten-free, use these GF ramen noodles)
- ½ lb sliced pork belly
- ½ inch ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 shiitake mushrooms
- ½ shimeji mushrooms
- 2 green onions/scallions
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil (roasted)
- 1 Tbsp Doubanjiang (spicy chili bean sauce/broad bean paste)
- 1 package katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
- ⅓ cup Mentsuyu/Tsuyu (noodle soup base) (100 ml; to make Homemade Mentsuyu, click here.)
- 1 cup water (240 ml)
- 1 tsp miso (I use awase miso)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 ½ Tbsp rice vinegar
- 6 shrimps (+ 1 Tbsp sake for boiling)
- 2 soft/hard-boiled egg
- 2-3 slices Narutomaki (fish cakes)
- nori (seaweed)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Cut the meat into 1 inch pieces. Mince the ginger and garlic. Discard the bottom of shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and slice shiitake mushrooms. Finely chop scallions. Remove the shell and devein shrimps.
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In a medium saucepan, heat sesame oil over medium-high heat and add ginger and garlic when oil is hot.
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When fragrant, add (spicy) chili bean paste (Doubanjiang or La Doubanjiang) and stir constantly so it won’t burn.
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Add the meat and cook until no longer pink.
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Add the shiitake and shimeji mushrooms and cook until wilted.
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Add Menetsuyu and water and bring to a boil.
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Using a fine sieve, skim off the scum and foam if necessary.
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Lower the heat to medium-low and add miso and soy sauce in the soup and simmer for 5 minutes.
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Add the chopped green onions and rice vinegar. Turn off the heat and set aside.
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Prepare toppings. In a small saucepan, bring 1 ½ cup water to a boil. Add 1 Tbsp sake and shrimp. Once the shrimp starts changing color, turn off the heat and cover to let the remaining heat cook the shrimp (so you won’t overcook the shrimp). Drain and set aside.
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When all the toppings are ready, bring a big pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles. Make sure to separate each noodle when you drop them into the boiling water. Cook according to the package instructions, but keep the noodles al dente. Drain the water and rinse the noodles to remove starch. Soak the noodles into a bowl of ice water to cool. Drain completely and divide the noodles into plates/bowls. Serve all the toppings on the noodles or on a separate plate.
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Pour the hot soup in a bowl. Serve the cold noodles, toppings, and soup and sprinkle katsuobushi in the soup right before eating. Enjoy!
Mentsuyu (noodle soup base): Homemade recipe, click here.
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 in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Hi Donna! Hope you will enjoy this noodles! This is more “Japanese” taste than the Soba Salad and you can use udon instead of ramen noodles too. 🙂
Hi Nami! I will definitely try it with udon as I recently bought some Sanuki Udon! Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you!
Do you have any recommendations for increasing the thickness of the soup?
Hi Andy! Less broth, a bit more fat in the soup to make creaminess? 🙂
Ah, good point. I think more pork belly and less water. Any thoughts on corn starch?
Thanks for the help on this adventure!
-Andy D
Seattle, WA
Hi Andy! I wouldn’t use cornstarch to thicken… I’ve never had tsukemen sauce that looks like they use cornstarch to thicken. 🙂
Hi Nami!
The simmering step was the important part for thickening. I simmered for 15 min and it got extra thick. I will be playing with that to make my perfect tsukemen. Thanks again for the tips 🙂
Hi Andy! Wonderful! Thank you for your update! I’m excited and happy to hear that! 🙂
Oh wow…this looks like some serious summer comfort food! Too bad it’s winter here now, gotta save this one! 🙂
Thank you Melissa! The noodles are cold but you dip in hot soup so we actually eat in winter too. 🙂 Thank you for your comment!
Tried Tsukemen at Tsujita LA last week and it was amazing. I love to cook so of course I’m gonna give this a try. Gonna head to Lil Tokyo and shop for specialty ingredients no available to me locally. Tsujita says they simmer broth for 60 hours. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Hi George! I’d like to try Tsujita next time I’m in LA! Wow 60 hours! I hope my recipe is decent enough even though we don’t cook for 60 hours. Let me know what you think if you try! 🙂
Ok so I made it finally. I followed your recipe to the letter using the spicy bean paste and simmered about 45 min. before transferring to a crock pot for the 60 hour low simmer. I added the scallions and rice vinegar after the simmer prior to serving. If you have the time, I highly suggest trying it once. I tried the broth before putting into the slow simmer and the flavor was amazing but after the 60 hours the flavors infused into the broth and it was thicker and richer by far. Squeeze of lime wedge and garnished and OMG you are the best for sharing 🙂 P.S. for anyone using recipe, don’t use shortcuts and use fresh garlic and fresh ginger minced as instructed.
Hi George! Thank you so much for your kind feedback and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! 60 hours! Now I want to try your soup!!!!! I can totally see how delicious it must have been! I now own a slow cooker so I shall try it next time! 🙂
I love the bowls! Where did you get them?
Thank you so much Amy! I brought them back from Japan…
This looks like a really fun one to try! I love dipping noodle dishes a bunch and the hot broth variety would be perfect for the chilly spell we’ve been getting over here.
Quick questions though- what would be a good vegetarian substitute for pork belly? Does it need a sub?
Hi MC! I apologize for my late response (have been quite busy…). Yeah, I hope you give this recipe a try. It’s fun dipping in the hot broth – so delicious too!
As for the sub for pork belly… boost the flavor with dried shiitake mushrooms instead (it has more flavor than raw shiitake mushrooms).
All the fermented seasonings have bold flavor, so you shouldn’t be missing the umami flavors (but will miss that savory note from the meat). It will be still delicious! Enjoy!! xo
Thanks so much!
Happy holidays!
hi! can we use minced pork instead of the belly for the dipping sauce?
Hi Cheok! Sure, you can do that. 🙂
This is delicious. My partner and I have made this twice in 1 week. It is so good and reminds us of the time we lived in Tokyo. Thank you.
Thank you, Nikki! I’m glad to hear you enjoy this recipe. Hope you had a wonderful time in Tokyo! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! Is there a way or alternative to make this with cold broth?
Hi Artur! Typically tsukemen broth is typically hot but you can make it cold broth. If you make a fatty broth, you have to remove the fat solid once the broth is chilled. You may need to strain into a fine-mesh sieve to get rid of the fat. 🙂
Great!! But how much water do you boil before adding sake and the shrimp? I’ve never figured that out.
Hi Ann! 1 ½ cup would do for the amount of shrimp we use. I updated the info in my recipe. Thank you for asking!
Hi! Is it ok if I use Somen straight Mentsuyu for this recipe? Or should I use a different kind of Mentsuyu? Thank you!! This looks delicious
Hi Alison! I use concentrated one, so if you use “straight”, you need to use 1 1/3 cup straight mentsuyu and see if the taste is okay. Sorry I couldn’t get back to ou sooner!