Last Updated on July 21, 2022

[ヴィーガン温うどん]

A warm bowl of Vegan Udon Noodle Soup is a vegan version of the traditional Japanese comfort food that’s prepared authentically minus the use of bonito flakes and/or high fructose corn syrup and other additives. This kombu dashi based vegan udon noodle soup tastes very clean and delicate which is a perfect match with any udon or somen noodles.

Udon Noodles

Udon noodles are one of my favorite noodles of all. It’s made with wheat flour, water and salt. Sometimes, it may contains tapioca starch which gives the chewy texture. You can make both hot and cold noodle dishes with udon.

In Japan, there are many different types of udon noodles available. To name a few;

• Sanuki-style udon (thick)
• Inaniwa-style udon (medium thin)
• Kishimen-style udon (flat)
• Somen (it’s technically not udon but it’s made of the same ingredients)

In Japan, the different style of udon noodles are preferred depending of the regions. However the the most common one is the sanuki-style which is the thickest udon noodles. It has a pleasant chewiness which is very satisfying and filling!

I use the sanuki-style udon noodles for this vegan udon noodle soup! You can find sanuki udon noodles either dried, frozen or fresh.

Frozen udon typically comes in a few serving size blocks! All you have to do is to cook them in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. It’s very convenient and tastes great!

The Soup (Broth)

Vegan Udon Tsuyu Broth

This recipe features my vegan udon tsuyu broth made from scratch using my cold brew kombu dashi or simmered kombu dashi. The cold brew one is super easy to make but takes 8-10 hours (or overnight) soaking. On the other hand, the simmered one takes only about 1 hour (5 minutes prepping, 30 minutes soaking and 25 minutes cooking.)

Vegan udon tsuyu broth is clean & delicate with umami flavor from kombu (kelp) in the background. It’s made of kombu dashi, light soy sauce, mirin, sake and sea salt which complements the flavor of udon noodles.

Traditionally speaking, udon tsuyu has kombu and bonito flakes (fish) which makes it not vegan. There are many udon tsuyu base products (non-vegan) for the convenience. However, these type of products often contain high fructose corn syrup or other chemicals & additives that you don’t want to consume.

My vegan udon tsuyu broth recipe uses only kombu as the dashi so it’s 100 % vegan. Of course, other ingredients are all clean and safe to consume. You won’t believe how delicious it is where you want to just sip all the way to the bottom of the bowl!

How to Serve Vegan Udon Noodle Soup

Simple is Best

This recipe is the simplest way to serve warm udon noodle soup. In Japanese, we call it kake-udon [かけうどん] which literally means udon noodles with soup (broth) poured over. In japan, kake-udon is considered a humble and inexpensive dish.

Kake-udon basically consists of udon noodles, soup (broth) and scallions as a topping. It’s very minimally presented but it’s super flavorful. Kake-udon is the best way to appreciate the flavor of each component because nothing else is in it.

Not to mention, you want to serve this immediately while it’s still hot.

Other Topping Suggestions (Optional)

If you want to use other toppings & condiments to udon noodle soup, my suggestions are:

• Shichimi pepper
• Wakame (seaweed)
• Veggie tempura (make sure it’s vegan/egg-free)
• Tempura bits (make sure that’s vegan/egg-free)
• Yuzu kosho

To serve with a side of nukazuke (Japanese pickles) or onigiri (Japanese rice balls) would also be fantastic! Carb on carb is my favorite way to eat 🙂

Print Recipe

5 from 27 votes

Vegan Udon Noodle Soup

A warm bowl of Vegan Udon Noodle Soup is a vegan version of the traditional Japanese comfort food that's prepared authentically minus the use of bonito flakes and/or high fructose corn syrup and other additives. This kombu dashi based vegan udon noodle soup tastes very clean and delicate which is a perfect match with any udon or somen noodles.

*The default recipe yields 3 servings of hot udon noodles.

**The recipe requires Kombu Dashi prepared in advance (see the link in the ingredients and/or notes.)

***The Total Time does NOT include the time to prepare kombu dashi.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings: 3

Author: Plant-Based Matters

Ingredients

Vegan Udon Tsuyu Broth

• 4 cups kombu dashi use my Cold Brew Kombu Dashi or Simmered Kombu Dashi
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 4 tbsp mirin Japanese sweet cooking rice wine
• 2 tbsp sake
• 2 tsp sea salt adjust to taste

The Rest

• 3 servings frozen or dried udon noodles of your choice
• 1 scallion finely chopped
• Shichimi pepper optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Start boiling water in a medium pot (or large one for dried udon noodles) for cooking udon noodles.
• In the meantime, prepare the vegan udon tsuyu broth. Place the prepared kombu dashi in a sauce pan. Cover it and cook at medium high heat until a gentle boil.
• Once the kombu dashi is at a gentle boil, reduce the heat to medium. Add in light soy sauce, mirin, sake and sea salt. Continue to cook for 1-2 minutes (uncovered) until the alcohol from mirin and sake is evaporated. Adjust the heat as necessary. Reduce the heat to medium low to keep it warm until the udon noodles are done.
• Once the water is boiling, start cooking frozen udon noodles.

  For frozen udon: cook udon noodles for 1-2 minutes. Once udon noodles are cooked, transfer to the serving bowl.

  For dried udon: cook udon noodles according to the instructions on the package. keep your eye on it as it tends to overflow. Once the udon noodles are cooked, use a colander to drain and rinse with running water to remove some starch and stop the cooking. Shake off the excess water.
• Serve.

  For frozen udon: simply pour the udon tsuyu broth over the noodles in the serving bowl.

  For dried udon: pour boiling water (prepared separately) over the cooked udon noodles in the colander to reheat the noodles. Shake off the excess water then transfer to a serving bowl and pour the udon tsuyu broth over. Top with scallion and a dash of shichimi pepper for some heat (optional.)

Notes

Vegan Udon Tsuyu Broth

Kombu Dashi

• • It’s easy to use my Cold Brew Kombu Dashi recipe as a base to make this vegan udon tsuyu broth.
  • If using my Simmered Kombu Dashi, start with 1100 ml water / 37 fl oz purified water and 11 g / 0.4 oz kombu which should make about 960-1000 ml/32-34 fl oz (4 to 4 1/4 cups) kombu dashi that you can use for this recipe.
  • The cold brew one is super easy to make but takes 8-10 hours (or overnight) soaking. On the other hand, the simmered one takes only about 1 hour (5 minutes prepping, 30 minutes soaking and 25 minutes cooking.)

Light Soy Sauce

• • Light soy sauce is a type of Japanese soy sauce that has lighter color but contains more sodium than the regular soy sauce.
  • Light soy sauce is NOT “low sodium” soy sauce.
  • I use Premium Usukuchi Soy Sauce from Umami Insider.

Mirin

• • Mirin is Japanese sweet cooking rice wine which adds the natural sweetness and depth to the flavor.
  • Use high quality mirin with no high fructose corn syrup.
  • I use Organic Genuine Mirin from Gold Mine Natural Foods.

Sake

• • Sake adds a hint of sweetness and gives background flavor and the aroma.
  • The alcohol content will be cooked off.
  • Be sure to look for vegan-friendly sake. I use Organic Junmai Sake from Hakutsuru.

Sea Salt

• • I recommend using Japanese sea salt.
  • My recommendations are Uminosei Arashio, Shiomaru (blue) and Amami Coral Sea Salt from the rice factory New York.
  • Some Japanese sea salt may contain foreign sea salt but the ones I recommend is 100 % domestic Japanese sea salt.
  • 1 tsp of the Japanese sea salt I use measures about 5 g.
  • Feel free to substitute with other sea salt.

Adjusting The Flavor

• • If you don’t want to use sake, you may omit it.
  • If you want to control the saltiness, use more/less sea salt.

Serving Size

• • The default Vegan Udon Tsuyu Broth recipe yields enough for 3 servings of hot udon noodle soup (about 1000 ml.)
  • 1 serving of vegan udon tsuyu broth is about 300-330 ml/10-11 fl oz.

How to Store Vegan Udon Tsuyu Broth

• • You can store the leftover in a container with a lid and keep in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 weeks for the best flavor. Frozen vegan udon tsuyu broth can be thawed in the fridge for 36-48 hours or at a room temperature for a shorter time.

Choice of Udon Noodles

• You can use any udon noodles of your choice; dried, frozen, or fresh.
• I use frozen sanuki-style (thick) udon for the chewy texture.

Topping Suggestions

The simplest way to serve udon noodle soup is with scallions. Other choices are:

• shichimi pepper (Japanese seven-spice blend chili pepper flakes)
• wakame (seaweed)
• veggie tempura (make sure it's vegan/egg-free)
• tempura bits (make sure that's vegan/egg-free)
• yuzu kosho

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