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This irresistible abura soba features chewy ramen coated in umami-rich sauce and topped with crispy pork belly. It delivers maximum flavor without broth, letting the savory tare shine in every bite.
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What makes this dish special
Now that I've successfully figured out how to make Japanese pancakes and egg onigiri, I've moved on to tackling one of my favorite noodle dishes, abura soba.
When I was in Kyoto, I stumbled upon a small noodle shop hidden in a dark alley. I randomly chose a dish, sat down, and a couple of minutes later was given a bowl of dry ramen, also known as "abura soba." After a couple of bites, I was in love. The noodles were just beyond words, a little sour, a little spicy, a little savory, and oh so delicious.
As soon as I returned to the States, I made it my mission to recreate what I had in Japan. Unfortunately, I couldn't find ingredients that were of the same quality as in Japan, but this was the closest I could get to recreating the dish. Here is the recipe for abura soba with shoyu!
Recipe
Abura Soba
Ingredients
Crispy pork belly
- 1 pound pork belly skin on
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sake
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 garlic minced
- ¼ cup salt
Tare
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sake
- 2 teaspoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- ½ tablespoon ginger finely minced
- 1 stalk green onion
- 1 3x3 inch kombu
- ½ ounce bonito flakes
Remaining ingredients
- 4 packs Sun ramen noodles
- ½ cup pork fat melted
- 2 soft boiled eggs halved
- nori strips for garnish
- 2 green onions chopped
- distilled white vinegar
- chili oil
Instructions
- Prepare pork belly. Pat skin with paper towels until completely dry. Mix together marinade including soy sauce, sake, brown sugar, mirin, and garlic. Place pork belly flesh only in the marinade, leaving the skin dry. Marinate for at least one hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Fill a roasting pan with 1 inch of water. Place a wire rack on the pan and lay the pork belly on top, skin side up. Spread the salt in an even layer on the skin. Roast for 40 minutes. Remove pork from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Remove the salt crust from the pork and continue roasting for another 30 minutes or until the skin is crisp. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Cut into bite-size pieces and set aside.
- Prepare the tare. Combine all of the ingredients for the tare in a medium saucepot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain and set aside.
- Bring a medium pot of water to a roaring boil. Cook the noodles for 1 minute. Drain immediately.
- Add 1 tablespoon of shoyu tare and 2 tablespoons of pork fat into each bowl. Portion the noodles into the 4 bowls. Top with pork belly, egg, nori, and green onions. Serve, instructing everyone to first mix their noodles. Drizzle with the desired amount of vinegar and chili oil and mix again. Enjoy.
Notes
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Cook pork belly
I didn't find out how to make an authentic bowl of ramen until I visited Japan. When preparing shoyu or shio ramen, you have a base component called the "tare" that serves as the flavor for the broth.
Tare recipes vary according to the chef, as there are many, many variations out there. My favorite was the shoyu abura soba, which is the dish I am preparing today.
This dry ramen, often referred to as "soup-less oil noodles," is tossed with tare and pork fat. Once served, the customer then finishes the noodles with vinegar and chili oil, adding as much or as little as they prefer.
Abura soba has the same toppings as ramen, such as pork belly, soft-boiled egg, green onions, bamboo, and nori. Chashu pork is the most popular choice for protein, but I decided to make crispy pork belly instead.
The most important part of cooking the pork belly is to keep the skin dry to get it nice and crispy. Marinate the pork flesh for at least 1 hour. Pat a nice layer of salt on top of the skin and roast for 40 minutes.
Remove the pork from the oven, and you will see that the salt has absorbed the moisture from the skin and created a crust. Peel off the crust and finish cooking the pork.
The skin comes to a beautiful crisp while the pork belly is moist and tender, the perfect topping for this abura soba.
Step 2: Prepare toppings
Abura soba is comprised of only a few ingredients, so each ingredient must be top-notch. I discovered through trial and error that the best brand of ramen noodles available in America is by Sun Noodle.
Their noodles are thicker and hold up better to the body of the tare better than other noodles. If you find another brand, I would love to hear your suggestions!
Be careful when cooking the noodles. They only take a couple of minutes; overcook them, and they will become gummy. Keep the boiling water hot and merely dunk the noodles just long enough for them to separate and warm up, about 1 minute.
I also found that tossing them in a little bit of cold water helps prevent them from becoming gummy.
Now for the most important part, the tare. There was no way of replicating the exact tare that I had in Kyoto. Not only could I never find the recipe, but I also couldn't find ingredients of the same quality.
My only solution was to wing it and test batch after batch. Although this is still not 100% the same as the one I had in Japan, I believe it's quite close.
Step 3: Putting it all together
Toss the noodles with the tare and pork fat - yes, pork fat. As essential as the tare is, so is the pork fat. It coats the noodles and gives the dish body, something that sesame oil or other substitutes cannot offer.
Top the noodles with crispy pork, green onions, soft-boiled egg, and nori. Serve and let the diner drizzle vinegar and chili oil, adjusting the amount according to their preference.
I love to add a little more vinegar as I continue eating; trust me, you need these last two components to complete the dish.
If you've never had abura soba before, I urge you to give it a try. It is a comforting bowl of noodles that you have never had before...I think it's time to make myself a second bowl!
Try this recipe with shio tare instead of shoyu tare for a different take!
Make-ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: The tare can be made 1 week ahead and refrigerated. Cooked pork belly can be refrigerated for 3-4 days and reheated in the oven to re-crisp the skin. The noodles should be cooked fresh just before serving.
- Store: The components are best stored separately, and the dish is best enjoyed when it is assembled right before serving.
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All images shot and styled by Christine Ma. Available for food photography, styling, and recipe development.
ashlee says
You nailed it! Thanks for this great recipe. Like you I fell in love with Abura noodles in Kyoto at a place called Nekomata in Gion about 3 years ago. Since then I have been trying to get close to that fabulous flavour and texture. Your Tare was spot on, and the inclusion of pork fat is essential to get the right depth of flavour. I was making it with a poached chicken breast, but I quickly boiled some pork mince and waited for the fat to cool before I added the solid mass to the bottom of the bowl. It worked beautifully. I also added some fresh diced white onion, which is what they do at Nekomata and it tastes really good. So I had green onion, soft boiled egg, poached chicken, bamboo shoots, and white onion and finished it all off with vinegar and chilli oil.
The things I've struggled with (I am in Australia) has been getting the Tare right and finding noodles with enough chew. I found some fantastic dry noodles which are hearty and give the right chewy texture.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful, well researched recipe, I know how you feel about this dish, I get your quest, and I'm so happy because I just made some great Abura thanks to your help.
noodle website
https://shop.waiyeehong.com/noodles/eggwheat-noodles/guan-miao-ramen-noodles
cma0425 says
Wow thank you for your kind words! You may be the only one I know who actually had abura soba in Japan - I heard that even people who live there for years never even heard of the dish. I'm going to add fresh diced white onion the next time I prepare this dish.
I, too struggled with finding the perfect noodles. Perhaps I will make it my next goal to make ramen noodles! Thanks for visiting!
ashlee says
You're welcome! Yes, I found that not many people know of them in Japan either, infact I introduced my Japanese friends to them! I'm going to do your pork version next week. Yum.
Ashlee
DomG says
I'm so excited to find this recipe. Just as you and the other person on your comments said, I fell in love with this in Japan. I just happened to stumble on it when walking through Tokyo. I loved it so much I had it 3 times when I was there and returned to the same restaurant recently on my next visit! I even found a packaged dry Abura Soba in the supermarket similar to Ramen that I brought back to the states. It's not as good but better than just ramen for me. My Japanese friends were also unaware of what Abura Soba is so they loved it when I introduced them and they are also hooked! I'll be trying this recipe soon!
cma0425 says
Haha you're just like me when it comes to abura soba! I went back to Japan a couple of months ago and had it again - just as delicious as I remember it 2 years ago. Hope this recipe turns out a winner for you!
Nyasha says
What a great recipe and I quite like abura soba cause it's not everyday have some broth in my bowl of soba.
Cherry on My Sundae says
Thank you! It's one of my favorite Japanese noodle dishes
Cristy says
I’ve been in Japan for 2.5 years now and just had abura tonight! BEYOND delicious!! I can’t wait to make these!
Cherry on My Sundae says
Isn't it such a great comfort dish? I crave it so often haha. Hope you enjoy my version!
Rachel Avelena says
I’ve just tried cooking with this recipe and it turned out great! My fiancé loves it, particularly the pork belly. Cooking it this way resulted in very tender pork that we love so much. I’ll definitely share this recipe!
Cherry on My Sundae says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you Rachel!