Curry udon (カレーうどん) is the lovechild of Japanese Curry and a steaming bowl of udon noodle soup . With a rich, savory chicken curry broth and thick, springy udon noodles that are begging to be slurped, it’s the kind of dish that comforts you from the inside out. Growing up, my mom would often make this the day after preparing a big pot of Japanese Curry by ladling a scoop of the thick, flavorful curry roux over a bowl of steaming hot udon noodle soup. The rich, slow-cooked stew melds into the clear dashi-based broth, transforming the light soup and unleashing a torrent of umami. The only problem? I don’t always have leftover curry on hand, so I created this quick version from scratch that takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. The inspiration for this curry udon recipe comes from a Japanese chain called Konaya (古奈屋). Their version has all the umami of a traditional udon soup base, with the sweetness of caramelized aromatics, warm spices, and a hint of creaminess that mellows the heat. Let’s dig into what makes this bowl work.
- Why My Recipe Works
- Ingredients for Curry Udon
- How to Make Curry Udon
- Serve it With
- 📖 Recipe
- FAQs
- Comments
Why My Recipe Works
- Grated aromatics + baking soda = rapid flavor base - Grating onion, carrot, garlic, and ginger increases surface area for fast browning. A tiny bit of baking soda raises the pH, encouraging Maillard browning for deeper, roasted flavor in just a few minutes.
- Skin-on chicken thighs - Browning the skin crisps it while releasing flavorful fat that can be used to caramelize the aromatics.
- Creamy, long-simmered mouthfeel - A final swirl of tempered sour cream adds tangy body and smooths out the broth. The mild acidity also helps to make the flavor of the spices pop.
- Layered Japanese umami - Instead of relying on instant curry roux blocks, this version leans on traditional Japanese seasonings for balance and umami depth, keeping it lighter and more fragrant.
Ingredients for Curry Udon
- Chicken - I like to use chicken thighs for this dish because it cooks quickly, stays tender, and releases a lot of umami into the broth. Skin-on chicken allows you to get some nice browning on the skin side without drying the meat out and making it tough. The oil that renders out from the skin also helps in caramelizing the vegetable paste. If you go with skinless chicken, be sure to increase the amount of vegetable oil. You can also make Curry Udon with beef or pork, but it’s important to slice it very thinly; otherwise, it’s going to end up tough due to the short cooking time. Another option here is to use ground meat.
- Vegetable paste - The foundation of all good Japanese curry starts by sauteing garlic, ginger, and onions until they’re caramelized. This is a time-consuming process, even with my baking soda hack. To speed this up even further, I’ve grated the aromatics along with some carrots. Together with a little baking soda to raise the pH, this slurry brings the caramelization time down to a few minutes, and the resulting vegetable paste forms the base for the curry.
- Curry Powder - Japanese curry powder has a unique blend of spices, including star anise and Japanese citrus, that are not added to other types of curry powder. This recipe will still work with curry powder from other countries, but if you want to make it taste like Japanese curry, finding a Japanese curry powder is key. I also have a recipe for blending your own curry powder .
- Dashi - Dashi is the Japanese word for soup stock, and it most commonly refers to a traditional Japanese soup stock made from konbu and katsuobushi. Dashi is the base for most traditional Japanese soups, including miso soup, udon, and soba. You can read more about it in my post on how to make dashi . If you can’t find it, you can substitute another kind of soup stock such as vegetable or chicken stock, but keep in mind that it’s not going to taste quite the same.
- Mirin - Mirin is a sweet alcoholic beverage made by fermenting wholegrain rice with kōji. The sweetness is created due to kōji breaking down the starches in the rice into simple sugars. Mirin is usually added to noodle soups to add umami, as well as a balancing sweetness. Since Japanese curry tends to be quite sweet, I’ve added a little more mirin than you would typically add to a noodle soup. This provides sweetness without having to add any extra ingredients. The alcohol in the mirin (as well as the soy sauce) is burned off as the soup is cooked, so you don’t have to worry about getting drunk off the soup. When you’re buying mirin, be sure to read the ingredient label, as there is a lot of fake mirin out there. It should contain rice, kōji, and alcohol; it should not contain corn syrup, MSG, or salt. If you can’t find good mirin, you can substitute 2 tablespoons of sake plus 4 teaspoons of sugar.
- Soy Sauce - Japanese soy sauce is the seasoning of choice for traditional udon noodle soup. I don’t like using too much soy sauce in my soup broths because it can become overwhelming. That’s why I use a mixture of soy sauce and salt to season all of my soups. For this Curry Udon, there’s just enough soy sauce to add umami and a subtle nutty flavor, but not enough to have a noticeable soy sauce taste.
- Chuno Sauce - Chuno sauce is not generally added to noodle soups, but it is added to Japanese curry, which is why I’ve added it to my Curry Udon. It’s a sweet and spicy fruit sauce that tastes a little like sweet Worcestershire sauce. Chuno sauce is in the same category of sauces as tonkatsu sauce and okonomiyaki sauce, making these suitable substitutes. If you can’t find any of those, you can make an approximation by mixing ketchup and Worcestershire sauce in a 50:50 ratio.
- Udon Noodles - Udon Noodles are a wheat-flour-based noodle that comes in various thicknesses. For Curry Udon, I recommend using one that’s on the thicker side (⅛-1/4-inch in diameter). It typically comes either dried, fresh uncooked, fresh pre-cooked, or frozen pre-cooked. In the case of pre-cooked udon (both fresh and frozen), you can just drop the blocks straight into the soup after the chicken is cooked. For everything else, check the packaging for cooking times, as it will vary depending on the type of udon and thickness. Since you want to finish cooking the udon in the curry, be sure to reduce the cooking time by 3 minutes. If you want to try your hand at making your own udon, it’s made with just water, flour, and salt, so check out my homemade udon recipe .
- Sour Cream - The curry udon at Konaya gets its subtle creaminess from milk, but I prefer adding a little sour cream instead. Since it’s tempered and added at the very end, you can avoid any issues with curdling, and its concentrated nature prevents the dilution you’d get from adding milk at the end. It also adds a barely perceptible tartness that adds more depth to the soup. When adding the sour cream to the curry, it’s important to temper it first by whisking in a little hot soup at a time to raise its temperature slowly.
How to Make Curry Udon
Brown the Chicken and Prep Aromatics
- Cut the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and season with salt.
- Brown the skin side of the chicken in a bit of oil until it’s golden brown and crisp.
- While the chicken browns, grate the onion, carrot, garlic, and ginger. Combine with a pinch of baking soda.
- 🧪 SCIENCE : Baking soda raises the pH, speeding up Maillard browning .
Build the Curry Base
- When the chicken has browned, remove it from the pan and sauté the grated aromatics in the chicken fat until it forms a golden-brown paste (about 3 minutes)
- Add the curry powder and toast it for about thirty seconds.
- 🧪 SCIENCE : Heating spices releases aromatic compounds , making them more fragrant.
Simmer the Broth
- Add the dashi, mirin, soy sauce, chuno sauce, remaining salt, and sliced onions, and then return the chicken to the pan.
- Simmer the curry udon soup until the chicken and onions are cooked through.
Prep Noodles and Serve
- Boil udon noodles separately according to package instructions, then drain.
- Temper the sour cream by adding a ladle of curry soup base to it and stirring it in.
- Turn off the heat and pour the tempered sour cream into the pot with the soup.
- Divide the udon noodles between 2 bowls and pour the chicken curry soup over them.
- 💡 TIP : Tempering the sour cream prevents it from curdling and keeps the broth silky.
Serve it With
Curry udon is a satisfying one-bowl meal on its own, but if you want to level it up, try topping it with crispy chicken katsu , juicy karaage , or golden ebi fry (panko-fried shrimp) . For veggies, my spicy smashed cucumber salad or spinach ohitashi make great sides. Or keep it simple with a green salad dressed in my creamy Japanese sesame dressing . And if you’re in Japan, you’ll often see curry udon served with a side of short-grain rice to soak up the leftover soup once the noodles are gone. Highly recommended!
📖 Recipe
Equipment
Units
Ingredients1x2x3x
Chicken
- 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Curry Paste
- 100 grams onion (½ medium onion, grated)
- 60 grams carrot (½ carrot, grated)
- 10 grams garlic (2 medium cloves, grated)
- 10 grams ginger (grated)
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons Japanese curry powder (such as S&B brand)
Curry Udon Soup
- 2 ½ cups dashi stock
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chunou sauce
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 100 grams onion (½ medium onion, sliced)
- 240 grams fresh udon (450 grams pre-cooked udon or 150 grams dried udon)
To Finish
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Scallions (chopped for garnish)
Instructions
- Cut the 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and season on all sides with ¼ teaspoon salt .
- Set a large pot of water on the stove over high heat to boil the udon. If you are using pre-cooked frozen udon, you can skip this step.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and then the chicken, skin-side down. Let the chicken fry undisturbed until the skin-side is browned (about 2-3 minutes).
- While the chicken is browning, grate the 100 grams onion , 60 grams carrot , 10 grams garlic , and 10 grams ginger . Then mix in the ⅛ teaspoon baking soda .
- When the chicken has browned on the skin-side (it’s okay if the chicken isn’t fully cooked), transfer it to a bowl while leaving as much of the oil behind in the pan as possible. Set the chicken aside.
- Add the grated vegetables to the pan you fried the chicken in. It will spatter, so be careful. Sauté this mixture until it has formed a paste and is caramelized (about 3 minutes).
- Boil the 240 grams fresh udon for 3 minutes less than what the package directions say. Udon tends to boil over, so be sure to keep an eye on it.
- Add the 2 tablespoons Japanese curry powder to the pan with the caramelized veggie paste and continue sautéing until the mixture is uniform in color and very fragrant.
- Add the 2 ½ cups dashi stock , 2 tablespoons mirin , 1 tablespoon soy sauce , 2 teaspoons chunou sauce , and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt to the pan with the curry paste. Return the chicken to the pan, and add the 100 grams onion . Let this simmer for about 5 minutes, or until your udon is cooked.
- When the udon is done (3 minutes less than what the package directions say), drain the noodles and wash any extra starch off the noodles with cold water. Add the udon to the curry and simmer until the chicken and udon are cooked through.
- To finish the curry udon, turn down the heat to low. Ladle some of the hot soup into a bowl with the ¼ cup sour cream and whisk this together. Keep adding soup and whisking until the sour cream is warm. Pour this into the pan with the curry udon and stir-to incorporate.
- Serve the curry udon immediately, garnished with Scallions .
Nutrition Facts
Curry Udon is a Japanese noodle soup. It was conceived as a mashup of traditional udon noodle soup with Japanese-style curry, but it’s since become one of the most popular udon dishes.
In the early 20th century, Tokyo saw an influx of “western-style” restaurants enter the market, featuring dishes like curry rice and hamburg steak. Seeing a loss of business due to the new competition, Sanchōan (三朝庵), a storied soba shop near Waseda University, created a mashup using their dashi stock with the flavors of curry rice.
Curry udon is pronounced karé udon in Japanese: ka like co py ré the extended “re” sound does not exist in the English language and the best way to make it is to say the word " ray " with the tip of your tongue at the front of your mouth. u like oo ps don like don ut
If you happen to have some leftover Japanese curry, it’s very easy to turn it into Curry Udon. Just use the dashi, mirin, soy sauce, and salt from the Curry Udon Soup recipe below, and then add your leftover curry to taste. Then you can boil and add the noodles and garnish with some scallions.
It is possible, but this recipe relies on chicken, dashi, and sour cream, so it won’t be an easy 1 for 1 swap. If you want to see a vegan version of this recipe, please leave me a comment below. If I get enough interest, I’ll do a recipe for it.
Curry Udon
Equipment
- 1 Heavy Bottomed Pot
- 1 Cooking Chopsticks
- 1 Small Glass Bowl
- 1 large non-stick saucepan
- 1 daikon grater
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Colander
Ingredients
Chicken
- 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Curry Paste
- 100 grams onion (½ medium onion, grated)
- 60 grams carrot (½ carrot, grated)
- 10 grams garlic (2 medium cloves, grated)
- 10 grams ginger (grated)
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons Japanese curry powder (such as S&B brand)
Curry Udon Soup
- 2 ½ cups dashi stock
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chunou sauce
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 100 grams onion (½ medium onion, sliced)
- 240 grams fresh udon (450 grams pre-cooked udon or 150 grams dried udon)
To Finish
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Scallions (chopped for garnish)
Instructions
- Cut the 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and season on all sides with ¼ teaspoon salt . 250 grams boneless skin-on chicken thighs, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Set a large pot of water on the stove over high heat to boil the udon. If you are using pre-cooked frozen udon, you can skip this step.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat until hot. Add the 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and then the chicken, skin-side down. Let the chicken fry undisturbed until the skin-side is browned (about 2-3 minutes). 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- While the chicken is browning, grate the 100 grams onion , 60 grams carrot , 10 grams garlic , and 10 grams ginger . Then mix in the ⅛ teaspoon baking soda . 100 grams onion, 60 grams carrot, 10 grams garlic, 10 grams ginger, ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- When the chicken has browned on the skin-side (it’s okay if the chicken isn’t fully cooked), transfer it to a bowl while leaving as much of the oil behind in the pan as possible. Set the chicken aside.
- Add the grated vegetables to the pan you fried the chicken in. It will spatter, so be careful. Sauté this mixture until it has formed a paste and is caramelized (about 3 minutes).
- Boil the 240 grams fresh udon for 3 minutes less than what the package directions say. Udon tends to boil over, so be sure to keep an eye on it. 240 grams fresh udon
- Add the 2 tablespoons Japanese curry powder to the pan with the caramelized veggie paste and continue sautéing until the mixture is uniform in color and very fragrant. 2 tablespoons Japanese curry powder
- Add the 2 ½ cups dashi stock , 2 tablespoons mirin , 1 tablespoon soy sauce , 2 teaspoons chunou sauce , and remaining ¼ teaspoon salt to the pan with the curry paste. Return the chicken to the pan, and add the 100 grams onion . Let this simmer for about 5 minutes, or until your udon is cooked. 2 ½ cups dashi stock, 2 tablespoons mirin, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons chunou sauce, ¼ teaspoon salt, 100 grams onion
- When the udon is done (3 minutes less than what the package directions say), drain the noodles and wash any extra starch off the noodles with cold water. Add the udon to the curry and simmer until the chicken and udon are cooked through.
- To finish the curry udon, turn down the heat to low. Ladle some of the hot soup into a bowl with the ¼ cup sour cream and whisk this together. Keep adding soup and whisking until the sour cream is warm. Pour this into the pan with the curry udon and stir-to incorporate. ¼ cup sour cream, Scallions
- Serve the curry udon immediately, garnished with Scallions .
