
Thick and chewy slurpable udon noodles swimming in a rich, flavourful curry sauce! This vegan Japanese Curry Udon is warming, comforting and so satisfying. Super easy to make in just 15 minutes!

Callin' all the noodle lovers!
Todays recipe for curry udon is super simple, super easy and highly delicious– just some thick chewy noodles with fried tofu pouches, veggies and a flavourful creamy rich curry that will comfort you like no other noodle soup. Plus, it's a great way of using leftover vegan Japanese curry from yesterday!

Ingredients (+substitutions)
There are three components to curry udon: noodles + add-ins, soup base and the curry. For the add-ins, this is what I typically use but you can add anything you have on hand.
Soup base (2 options)
- Vegan mentsuyu + water
- Vegan dashi broth, soy sauce + sake
Curry flavour (3 options)
- Curry roux (store bought or homemade)
- Japanese curry powder, starch, water + sugar
- Left over curry
Noodles + Add-ins:
- Onions
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Aburaage (fried tofu skin)
- Udon noodles
Udon noodles: fresh, dry or frozen?
Udon comes in 4 different forms: dry, vacuum sealed 'fresh', frozen & freshly made. I usually go for the frozen udon noodles because they tend to be thicker, chewier and are more convenient.
Frozen and fresh udon noodles require a very short cooking time (more like just re-heating). However, if using dry udon noodles be sure to cook them following the instructions minus 1-2 minutes so they don't get soggy.

How to make it
Curry udon is real quick and easy to make, which is why its so popular among students and busy moms. It's kinda like an upgraded version of instant noodles. Ready in 15 minutes, this is how it goes down:
- Prep the aburaage: To remove excess oil from the aburaage, simply just pour boiling water over and then squeeze it out.
- Cook the veggies: Fry the onions, mushrooms and carrots. Then the aburaage.
- Soup base: Add the soup base of your choice to the pot and then once boiling, reduce to a simmer. This is when I'll start cooking the udon.
- Curry: Dissolve the curry roux or curry slurry into the soup by adding it to a ladle first and slowly dissolving and mixing it in. Simmer and stir until thickened.
- Serve: Add udon noodles to a bowl and pour the curry soup over. Garnish with green onions and togarashi for a bit of spice.

If you're craving something hearty and comforting this curry noodle soup is here for you. It'll fill your belly and give you the warmest hug. Enjoy and slurp uppp!

More ways to use udon noodles:
- Tanuki udon (chilled udon noodles)
- Yaki udon
- Tempura udon (coming soon)
- Kitsune udon (hot udon noodle soup)
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓

If you recreate this Vegan Curry Udon recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Vegan Curry Udon (カレーうどん)
Thick and chewy slurpable udon noodles swimming in a rich, flavourful curry sauce! This vegan Japanese Curry Udon is warming, comforting and so satisfying. Super easy to make in just 15 minutes!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: entree
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: vegan, japanese
Ingredients
Udon noodles:
- 1 small onion (150g)
- 4 oz container of button mushrooms (100g)
- ½ small carrot (40g)
- 2 aburaage pouches
- 2 serving of frozen udon noodles (500g)
Soup base:
- Option 1: ¼ cup vegan mentsuyu + 2 ¾ cup water
- Option 2: 3 cups vegan dashi broth + 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp sake
Curry flavour:
- Option 1: 2 blocks of curry roux (or 3 blocks homemade)
- Option 2. 1 ½ tablespoon Japanese curry powder + 1 tbsp corn or potato starch + 2 tbsps water + 2 tsp sugar
To serve:
- 2 scallions, sliced
- Togarashi
Instructions
- Place aburaage in a bowl of boiling water to remove excess oil. Squeeze the water out and then cut it lengthways into ½ inch strips.
- Over medium heat, fry the onions, mushrooms and carrots for 3 minutes. Fry aburaage and fry for another 1 minute.
- Add the soup base (choose one of the two options) and then once boiling, reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. In the meantime, cook udon noodles.
- Turn off the heat, add the curry roux and dissolve it into a ladle. If using curry slurry mixture to a ladle and melt it thorough over medium-low heat. Stir until slightly thickened. Serve udon noodles and top with the curry soup. Serve with green onions and togarashi.
Notes
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
Keywords: vegan curry udon, japanese curry udon, curry udon noodles
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Liz says
Delicious! I made this with the mentsuyu base. It will definitely show up in our rotation again my husband and I loved it. Thanks!
★★★★★
Alice says
Delicious and really quick to make, I added some squash as I had some already cut in the fridge 🙂 Such a comfort to eat in the cold months, will definitely do it again !
★★★★★
Lisa Kitahara says
So happy you enjoyed it, Alice. Thank you!
Lidia says
We had it yesterday and enjoyed it a lot! Granted we made some substitutions - mirin for sake and regular boullion powder instead of dashi - but it was still delicious (though I am surely going to try it with the proper ingredients once we put our hands on them). We used ready curry blocks, vacuum sealed udon and had airfried tofu rather than aburaage, added broccoli to the veg suggested here. It was a really satisfying dinner and rather easy so I'm expecting it to make a return on our plates sooner than later. Lisa, as always, was the absolute nicest on instagram hahahah. Looking forward to trying more of the recipes and having this one again 🙂
★★★★★
Lisa Kitahara says
Thank you so much Lidia, I'm super happy to hear this one was a hit too!
Jordi says
I made this tonight (I added potatoes and unfortunately didn’t have aburaage) but this was hella good!!! I love Japanese curry and the udon noodles make this so extra comforting and perfect.
★★★★★
Lisa Kitahara says
Thank you so much Jordi! So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe too 🙂
Disa says
I first had curry udon at a restaurant not too long ago and it made me want to make my own. I can with an absurd amount of confidence say that this recipe was even tastier. I added two slices of plain tofu in addition to the fried tofu to get more protein. I also put some shiitake mushrooms in there for the looks lol
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe <3
★★★★★
Campbell says
This is a delicious recipe!! My husband and I both loved it. It's a perfect fall/winter comfort food and really easy to make. We used the golden curry mild curry blocks. For us this made 3 servings instead of 2!
Subs/changes I made: Firm tofu instead of aburaage, used mirin and soy sauce and a tiny bit of "No chicken bouillon" instead of the mentsuyu, added some roasted kabocha squash I had leftover, topped with roasted broccoli. Also I cooked the udon in the soup to reduce dishes and it came out just fine 🙂
★★★★★
Diana Vassilenko says
This was absolutely delicious! I made the mentsuyu using your recipe as well, and chopped the marinated dried shiitake into this, was sooo good!
Thank you
★★★★★
Paula says
Just finished eating the curry powder version (with your curry powder recipe.) I used daikon and carrot for the veg. Thank you for the easy and delicious dinner!
★★★★★
Ali says
Great recipe with lots of flavour, made my own Japanese curry spice mix and curry roux according to your recipes. Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Karanbir Singh says
Being a south asian and seeing japanese curry for the first time, I was genuinely super skeptical. I looked up how it came from british influence and then it finally made sense how it landed in Japan. Anyways, I ended up using the S&B Golden Curry Cubes from my local asian supermarket and it was honestly super reminiscent of the Maggi instant noodles I grew up eating, but with a japanese twist. Will definitely make it again.
★★★★★
Nicole says
My partner and I love this recipe, so delicious and easy to customize!
★★★★★