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Now you can make restaurant-quality shoyu ramen with chashu pork at home! With a rich chicken broth, homemade shoyu tare, and tender chashu pork, this noodle soup will surely win you over.
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What makes this dish special
Just as I was starting to prepare some shoyu ramen with chashu pork for dinner, I realized that I never shared the recipe on my blog. I've made this dish at least ten times and yet have never posted the recipe. For shame! It was time to put it out there, because, well, this is a damn good bowl of ramen. It, in fact, rivals my other popular ramen, Instant Pot shio ramen.
Homemade chicken stock is seasoned with shoyu tare and served with perfectly al dente ramen noodles, tender chashu pork, and soft-boiled eggs. It's the best comfort food that will warm you from head to toe.
Recipe
Shoyu Ramen with Chashu Pork
Ingredients
Chicken stock
- 2 pounds chicken bones
- 10 cups water
- 2 inch knob of ginger
- 5 cloves garlic
- 3 stalks green onion
Chashu pork
- 2 pounds pork belly boneless
- ½ cup sake
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 inch knob of ginger
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 stalk green onion
Shoyu tare
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sake
- 2 teaspoons mirin
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 garlic clove finely minced
- ½ tablespoon finely minced ginger
- 1 stalk green onion
- 1 3x3 inch kombu
- ½ ounce bonito flakes
Remaining ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh ramen noodles
- 4 teaspoons msg
- ¼ cup chopped scallions
- 4 soft boiled eggs
Instructions
- Make chicken stock. Rinse chicken bones and place them in a large pot covered with water. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain, rinsing bones and the pot.
- Place chicken bones back in the pot with water, ginger, garlic, and 3 stalks of green onion. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 2 hours. Skim fat and keep warm.
- Meanwhile, make chashu pork. Combine pork belly with sake, soy sauce, mirin, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, and the stalk of green onion. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer for 2 hours or until pork is fall-apart tender.
- Make shoyu tare. Combine all ingredients for tare in a small saucepot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain, discarding ingredients. Let cool.
- Assemble ramen. Cook noodles and drain. Pour 1 tablespoon tare, 2 cups chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon MSG per bowl. Add noodles and top with chashu, soft boiled egg, and scallions. Serve immediately.
Notes
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: Cook broth
As much as I enjoy tonkatsu ramen, I love shoyu ramen just a bit more. Tonkatsu ramen is made from pork broth, making it incredibly rich and creamy. For this shoyu ramen, I'm swapping out the pork for chicken for a lighter broth that still delivers on flavor.
I based this recipe on the shoyu ramen that I thoroughly enjoyed in Tsukiji market in Tokyo, so it has to be good, right?
To make the chicken broth, first blanch the chicken bones in water. Whenever we made chicken stock at the restaurant I worked at in Los Angeles, we first boiled the bones for 10 minutes. That's exactly what we're going to do here.
Boiling and washing the bones helps rinse off the impurities, yielding a clearer, cleaner-tasting broth.
I used chicken knuckle bones for this recipe, but you can use any chicken bones or even chicken feet.
Put the chicken bones back into the pot with the aromatics and water, and simmer for 2 hours. Skim the fat as it cooks or chill it overnight, and scrape off the fat.
I prefer the latter method because the fat floats to the top and hardens, making it easier to remove.
Step 2: Braise pork
While the stock is simmering, make the chashu pork. Chashu pork is the most common ramen topping and for good reason. The sweet, tender braised pork is the perfect complement to the saltier broth.
To make the chashu pork, all you have to do is simmer the pork belly with sake, soy sauce, mirin, water, sugar, ginger, garlic, and green onion. Keep the flame on low and cook the pork until it's fall-apart tender.
If you want to go the traditional route, you can tightly roll the pork belly and secure it with butcher's twine before braising. However, I couldn't be bothered, so I left my slabs as is.
You can also prepare the pork in the slow cooker or Instant Pot. If using the Instant Pot, I recommend braising the pork belly for 30 minutes on high pressure and letting the pressure release after 20 minutes.
Step 3: Prepare tare
Next, prepare the tare. This shoyu tare is the same tare that I use for my abura soba; it's where all the flavor is at!
Just like the other two components, we're essentially adding all the ingredients into a pot and letting them simmer.
Kombu is a type of edible kelp that adds umami to the sauce, while bonito flakes are thin shavings of dried, smoked fish. They also help add umami to the tare. You can find both ingredients at Asian markets.
After letting the sauce simmer, strain it and discard the aromatics. Bonito flakes absorb a lot of liquid, so make sure to squeeze them dry to extract all the tare.
You can make the shoryu tare several days in advance and store it in the refridgerator until ready to use.
Step 4: Putting it all together
Now, make the rest of the toppings, including the soft-boiled eggs and chopped scallions.
I kept it classic with this ramen, but you can add additional garnishes such as corn, nori, bamboo shoots, or even sauteed mushrooms.
Recipe tip
To easily slice the pork belly, chill it in the refridgerator until cold. This will help firm up the pork and make it easier to cut. Alternatively, cut the pork belly into chunks.
Finally, cook the ramen noodles until al dente and assemble the bowls with the prepared chicken broth, shoyu tare, sliced chashu, and toppings. I know people tend to refrain from using msg, but I personally think it's a must when making ramen. It adds that extra oomph that you can't get elsewhere.
Every time I make shoyu ramen, my husband gets overly excited. I take this as a sign that it's a good bowl of ramen. And you know what? I get just as excited.
Make-ahead and storage
- Make-ahead: You can cook the broth and chashu pork the day before and reheat them before serving.
- Store: Keep each component in separate containers in the refridgerator for up to 4 days.
More ramen recipes
Looking for more ramen ideas? Try these:
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All images shot and styled by Christine Ma. Available for food photography, styling, and recipe development.
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