Chef Chris Cho making Udon Noodle Soup — This is how you make Udon Noodle Soup!

This Udon Noodle Soup is a quick and healthy dish you can cook as an alternative to ramen. It’s light yet savory, super easy yet so filling!

As a Korean, I love ramen. It’s easy to make, delicious, and super comforting. But as a father, I need to keep myself healthy for my kids. To me, this Udon Noodle Soup feels like a healthier alternative because you can use noodles and toppings that you find more suitable to your health without sacrificing taste.

Udon Noodle Soup is a common Japanese dish made with thick and chewy udon noodles swimming in a light yet umami-filled tsuyu-based broth. It’s customizable, allowing you to add your preferred protein and vegetables to make it more filling.

This soup is perfect for cold or sickly days, or when you need something easy to make after a long day. It’s just as comforting as ramen! Bonus, this is a vegetarian-friendly dish that everyone can enjoy!

Ingredients for Udon Noodle Soup

Udon Noodles

These are thick and chewy noodles made from wheat flour. It’s usually available in Asian markets, specially Japanese groceries, either frozen or vacuum-sealed.

If you’re in a rush, you can directly cook the noodles in the soup (even frozen), simply let it boil for a couple of minutes, and allow it to soften first before mixing so it does not break.

As an alternative, you can also use other noodles in the recipe such as fresh noodles, egg noodles, soba, etc.

Tsuyu Soup Base

Better known as Mentsuyu, this is a multi-purpose sauce base for many Japanese dishes from rice bowls and noodles, to dipping sauces. It is made from a combination of soy sauce, sake, mirin, and dashi powder or broth yielding a savory, sweet, and smoky soup base.

I was able to get a tsuyu soup base (concentrate) which I diluted in water and this yielded a light and umami-filled broth. It literally tasted like the broth served in the food carts in the streets of Korea. I didn’t expect it to be so good, I didn’t have to add more seasonings to it other than garlic, scallions, and black pepper for additional aroma.

This should be available in Asian groceries, especially Japanese groceries, but feel free to make it from scratch using the ingredients above, simply research the correct ratio of each ingredient.

If you want a spicier variety of Udon Noodles, check out Kimchi Udon Noodles.

What Toppings Can I Add to Udon Noodles?

This dish is highly customizable. I opted to add fishcake and enoki mushrooms to make it simple. But you can also add a variety of protein and vegetables like thinly sliced pork or beef, frozen seafood, hotpot balls, dumplings, mayak eggs, napa cabbage, bokchoy, beansprouts, fried tofu, etc.

How to Make Udon Noodle Soup at Home?

In a pot, bring water to a boil and add tsuyu soup base.

Once the soup is boiling, add the udon noodles and season with garlic and black pepper. Sometimes I prefer to boil the noodles separately to remove excess starch, but you can also add it directly to the soup if you’re in a rush.

Add fishcake and enoki mushroom and let boil

Slice the fish cake and clean the enoki mushrooms, and add them to the soup. If you find some ingredients may take longer to cook, add them first before the rest.

Let the noodles boil for a couple of minutes until everything is soft and cooked. Place in a bowl, garnish with scallions, then serve hot.

This recipe is good for one serving, so feel free to multiply according to how many people will eat. Prepare only what you will consume as the texture of the noodles may change when refrigerated. Enjoy!

Other noodle dishes you might like:

Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!

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