Nabeyaki Udon 鍋焼きうどん

Nabeyaki udon photo by Namiko Chen

Fight the cold days with this steamy nabeyaki udon served in a donabe. Topped with chicken, tenpura and heaps of vegetables in an umami dashi soup, this hot noodle soup will 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 tenpura are 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 film each step). Simply make dashi (soup stock), add the udon and ingredients you like in a pot and cook!

The most time-consuming part for me was making shrimp tenpura from scratch. I know quite a lot of readers do not have access to frozen shrimp tenpura in nearby grocery stores (for us, we can get them at Trader Joe’s), but if you do, I’d recommend using packaged shrimp tenpura to save time.

All the ingredients I have included for this nabeyaki udon are commonly used in Japan. If you cannot find the same ingredients like kamaboko (fish cake), it’s OK 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 a 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 restaurant-style.

How To Season Donabe (Earthenware Pot) (https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-season-your-donabe/)

More Noodle Soup Recipes Similar to Nabeyaki Udon

Hoto – Noodle Soup from Yamanashi https://www.justonecookbook.com/hoto-noodle-soup-yamanashi/

Oxtail Udon — https://www.justonecookbook.com/oxtail-udon/

Miso Nikomi Udon — https://www.justonecookbook.com/miso-nikomi-udon/

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/ingredient-substitution-for-japanese-cooking/.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Servings: 2

Ingredients
4 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup water (for soaking dried shiitake mushrooms)
1 stalk spinach (rinsed)
1 inch carrot
4 slices kamaboko (fish cake) (You will only need a few slices)
1/3 shimeji mushrooms (1 oz, 28 g; bottom trimmed)
6 inch Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion) (use white part, or leeks + green onions/scallions)
1 chicken thigh (4-5 oz,
113-142 g)
2 servings udon noodles (6.3 oz/180 g dry udon noodles; 1.1 lb/500 g frozen or parboiled udon noodles)
2 large eggs (50 g each without shell)
2 shrimp tenpura (see below for instructions; you can buy frozen shrimp tempura and follow instructions to reheat as well)

For Udon Soup
3 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock; https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi-jiru/) (I used the standard konbu + katsuobushi awase dashi https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/; use konbu dashi https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-kombu-dashi-vegetarian-dashi/ for vegan/vegetarian)
1/3 cup shiitake dashi https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiitake-dashi/ (reserved from rehydrating dried shiitake, see instructions)
2 Tbsp mirin
1 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp kosher salt (Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)

For Shrimp Tenpura
2 shrimp
4 Tbsp tenpura batter mix
3 Tbsp cold water or sparkling water
potato starch or cornstarch (for dusting)

For Serving
2 sprigs mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (optional)
shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional)

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/ingredient-substitution-for-japanese-cooking/.

Instructions
1. Gather all the ingredients.

To Prepare the Ingredients
1. 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.

2. 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 (https://www.justonecookbook.com/shiitake-hanagiri/) 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.

3. In lightly salted boiling water, blanch the spinach starting from the stem side for one minute.

4. Soak the spinach in iced water to prevent overcooking. Squeeze water out and cut into 1 1/2” (4 cm) pieces.

5. Slice the carrot. Or you can cut out the carrot into a flower shape with a vegetable cutter (https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-cut-carrots-to-flower-shapes/).

6. Cut kamaboko into thin slices and break shimeji mushrooms into small pieces.

7. Slice the long green onion diagonally and cut the chicken into 1” (2.5 cm) pieces.

To Make the Udon Soup
1. 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.

2. Once it’s boiling, add mirin, soy sauce, and salt. When boiling again, turn off the heat and set aside.

To Make Shrimp Tenpura
1. To make shrimp tenpura, follow these instructions (https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-prepare-shrimp-for-shrimp-tempura-ebi-fry/) to clean the shrimp and make them straight.

2. To make the tenpura batter, combine the tenpura 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 tenpura batter from scratch and learn tips on how to deep fry the shrimp, you can read the recipe at https://www.justonecookbook.com/shrimp-tempura/.

To Prepare Udon Noodles
1. 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.

To Assemble
1. Divide all the ingredients (except for the egg, spinach and mitsuba) into two individual earthen donabe clay pots (or use any big pot).

2. 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.

3. Add an egg, spinach and mitsuba and cover to cook until the egg is done to your liking.

4. Add shrimp tenpura on top and serve. Sprinkle shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) if you like the soup spicy.

To Store
1. You can keep the noodle soup and toppings separately in airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for up to three days. You have to prepare udon noodles right before you serve.

For the full recipe, visit https://www.justonecookbook.com/nabeyaki-udon/.