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 carrots. In addition, an egg and a large shrimp tempura is served on top. The literal translation for nabeyaki udon is, you’ve guessed 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 (Japanese 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 such as 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.
How to Serve Nabeyaki Udon
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 donabeCook the noodles in a large donabe and serve in small individual bowls – similar to hot pot-styleCook the noodles in individual donabe pots and serve the pot directly – This is the restaurant-style
More Noodle Soup Recipes
Hoto – Noodle Soup from YamanashiOxtail UdonMiso Nikomi Udon
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