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I keep coming back to this, time and time again, and often freeze it in batches for easy dinners.
★★★★★
– Francis
Tsukemen is all about how you eat the noodles. You dip them into soup, then slurp. The flavor of that soup is yours to choose.
My choice is spicy miso. I fry doubanjiang and awase miso in the fat released by ground pork to make a dipping soup with plenty of heat. Each slurp starts with spice, followed by the savory depth of miso. Here’s how to make this easy, seriously good tsukemen at home.
Tsukemen
Recipe Snapshot
- What is it? A type of ramen, tsukemen comes with a separate bowl of rich, thickened soup for dipping each bite of noodles. Mine is built on spicy doubanjiang and awase miso.
- Flavor profile: Heat from doubanjiang, chili, and chili oil comes first, then the richness of miso, pork, and sesame. The thick soup coats the noodles and carries both into each bite.
- Why this recipe works: Frying doubanjiang and miso in pork fat replaces a long seafood simmer, so homemade tsukemen takes 15 minutes. Potato starch keeps the soup from turning watery or sliding off.
- How to make it: Fry the aromatics and pork, then the pastes in the fat. Add water and bouillon powder, thicken with potato starch, and salt last. Plate the boiled, rinsed, sesame-oiled noodles separately.
- What to expect: Allow about 15 minutes, 5 for prep and 10 for cooking. Watch the starch, and turn off the heat about a minute after the soup turns thick and glossy.
What Is Tsukemen?
Tsukemen is a type of ramen that originated in Tokyo and puts the noodles first. Cooked noodles and a rich soup are served separately, so you dip each bite as you eat. To coat the noodles, the soup is more strongly flavored than regular ramen broth and is often thick.
In Japan, this way of eating defines tsukemen. There is no single soup flavor, and shops make sour, sweet, fishy, or spicy versions. The rich pork bone and seafood version often associated with the dish is one style that became popular in the 2000s.
Several accounts describe how tsukemen started. The most familiar begins with a staff meal. The cook behind it later said the staff at a ramen shop in Asagaya, Tokyo, ate the leftover noodles, and he reworked that meal into a dish he sold at a shop in Nakano. A customer spotted the meal and asked for it too. It proved popular, and in 1955 the shop added it to the menu as morisoba. The story goes that it came with about 30 percent more noodles than a bowl of ramen, to look generous. A shop carrying on that recipe opened in Higashi-Ikebukuro in 1961. Another shop introduced the name tsukemen around 1973, though some shops still call the dish morisoba.
The rich pork bone and seafood style, gyokai tonkotsu, has 3 main elements. Pork bones are simmered into a thick, milky broth and combined with dried sardine and bonito stock, the noodles are extra-thick, and a mound of finely ground dried fish goes on top. Crumbling that fish powder into the broth a little at a time releases its aroma. This style is traced to a shop in Kawagoe, Saitama, in 2000. Several specialist shops opened in Tokyo around 2005 and helped spread the craze for rich broths across Japan. It remains the dominant style at many shops.
Seafood broth makes a good tsukemen, but at home I want to enjoy dipping my noodles without a long wait. I use a quick spicy soup instead. When it’s just a casual meal for a few of us, I won’t spend big money simmering seafood broth for hours. When that’s the bowl I’m after, I’d rather visit a ramen shop.
Spicy Miso Tsukemen Ingredients
- Doubanjiang (toban djan): Made from broad beans and chili fermented with salt, this paste controls the heat of the soup while adding saltiness and savory bean flavor. Look for labels reading Toban Djan or Chili Bean Sauce. I don’t recommend the authentic Sichuan version from Pixian for this recipe because it makes the soup too hot.
- Awase miso (yellow miso): This adds body to the soup, with gentle sweetness and mellow saltiness beneath the spice. Awase means blended. It combines several misos and is usually sold as yellow miso. Its flavor sits between red and white miso, less salty than red and less sweet than white.
- Thick ramen noodles: The noodles are the focus of tsukemen, so portions are larger than for a bowl of ramen. Thick noodles hold their own against the strongly flavored soup. When I made my own ramen noodles, I used a high-hydration dough and cut it thick. The springy, chewy result was just right for tsukemen. For store-bought noodles, look for fresh or frozen ramen. Thick noodles are my first choice, but use whatever ramen noodles you can find.
Substitutions & How to Customize
If you’re missing an ingredient or want to adjust the heat or the way you enjoy your bowl, these options will help, starting with the closest substitutes.
Substitutions:
- Ground pork → Plain pork sausage meat, casings removed: A reader reported that using the meat squeezed from plain British sausages gave the soup even more depth.
- Japanese leek (naganegi) → Onion: A regular onion, finely chopped, provides the same aromatic base as the fried leek.
- Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder → Regular chicken bouillon powder: Regular powder works here, although its herbs and spices will change the flavor slightly. Start with less and taste before adding more, since salt levels differ by brand.
- Potato starch → Cornstarch: For the same thickness, use 1.2 times the amount of cornstarch. The soup will keep its body as it cools, with a slightly less glossy finish.
- Thick ramen noodles → Dried ramen noodles: If you can’t find fresh thick noodles, choose dried ramen intended for boiling, such as Hakubaku Authentic Plain Ramen Noodles, rather than an instant pack. The strands are thinner, but as store-bought noodles go, they taste very good.
- Thick ramen noodles → Spaghetti boiled with baking soda: If dried ramen isn’t available either, try spaghetti. Adding baking soda and salt to the cooking water gives it a yellow color and a ramen-like aroma, although the strands are still thinner and the texture remains closer to spaghetti.
Substitutions that I don’t recommend:
- Gochujang instead of doubanjiang: Gochujang is sweeter and less salty, and lacks the fermented bean depth needed here. It makes the soup sweet and spicy, changing the dish altogether.
- Bouillon cubes instead of chicken bouillon powder: Cubes are much too concentrated to substitute in the same amount, even if the size seems right.
Missing a Japanese pantry staple? My guide to Japanese ingredient substitutes has you covered.
How to Customize:
- Reduce the heat: Use less chili, chili oil, and doubanjiang. Add more awase miso to make up for the saltiness and savory bean flavor you lose with less doubanjiang.
- Add heat to an individual serving: Use the recipe’s amount of doubanjiang in the shared pot, then add chili oil to the bowl of anyone who wants more heat. A dab of yuzu kosho (yuzu-chili paste) on their noodles is another option.
- Choose aroma over extra heat: A little grated garlic stirred into the soup brings out its aroma and sharpens the flavor.
How to Make My Spicy Tsukemen
Before you start (Mise en place):
- Finely chop the white part of the Japanese leek, along with the garlic and ginger.
- Cut both chilies into thin rounds, keeping one for cooking and the other for topping the soup.
- Chop the garlic chives roughly and slice the green onions thinly.
i. Choose a large frying pan that will also hold the soup. Heat the toasted sesame oil over medium-low heat. Add the leek, chili, ginger, and garlic, and cook at a gentle sizzle for a few minutes, until fragrant.
Avoid high heat here. Scorched oil and burnt aromatics will make the soup bitter.
ii. Increase the heat to medium and fry the ground pork until browned. It will release enough fat that you won’t need to add more oil.
iii. Stir in the doubanjiang, awase miso, ground sesame seeds, and black pepper. Mix everything thoroughly and stir-fry for 1 minute.
Your cue is the oil turning red and the aroma filling the pan. The pastes can scorch soon after this, and you will smell it before you see it. Keep the heat at medium to avoid a bitter, burnt flavor.
Cooking the doubanjiang and miso in the pork fat seasons the meat before you add any water. The hot fat brings out the doubanjiang’s aroma and savory flavor, then distributes them throughout the soup when the water is added.
i. Pour in the water and add the chicken bouillon powder. Stir thoroughly and bring to a boil.
ii. Reduce the heat to low once the soup boils, then stir in the soy sauce and sugar.
i. Stir the potato starch and cold water together in a small bowl. Give this mixture another stir just before adding it to the soup, as the starch settles to the bottom.
Note: Adding dry potato starch directly to hot soup will create lumps, always make a slurry with cold water first.
ii. Stir continuously over low heat. When the soup is glossy and slightly thickened, cook for about 1 minute more, then switch off the heat.
iii. Now taste the soup and adjust the salt.
iv. Cover the pan to keep the soup warm until serving.
Note: Reheat the soup if it cools as you eat. If you leave it over low heat during the meal, don’t let it boil. Boiling evaporates the water, making the soup too thick and concentrated, and can scorch it around the edges of the pan.
Heat makes potato starch swell and hold water, thickening the soup as it becomes glossy. With continued cooking, the swollen starch grains break down and the soup becomes thin again. Turn off the heat about a minute after that gloss appears.
i. Finish the soup first, then cook the noodles according to the package directions. Put a large pot of water on to boil when you start the soup, so it’s ready by now.
Cook them last because they will be served separately and can stick together if left to sit.
ii. Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse under lukewarm running water to remove excess surface starch.
iii. Let the noodles drain thoroughly.
iv. Transfer them to a bowl, drizzle with sesame oil, and toss to coat. Put them on a plate immediately so they don’t dry out.
i. Arrange the noodles in a mound on a plate. Scatter the green onions and shredded nori over them, then add any toppings you enjoy, such as narutomaki fish cake, menma (seasoned bamboo shoots), or a ramen egg.
ii. Divide the soup among small individual bowls. Top with garlic chives, the reserved chili, and toasted white sesame seeds, then drizzle with chili oil.
iii. Dip each bite of noodles into the soup as you eat.
If you follow the default recipe, it will yield 2 servings.
Tips for the Best Tsukemen
- Begin with a little less chicken bouillon powder. Hold back some of the amount in the recipe until you’ve thickened and tasted the soup, then add the rest as needed.
- Once a spoon has been in your mouth, keep it out of the pot. Saliva on a used spoon breaks down potato starch and thins the soup. Use a fresh spoon for each taste, or ladle some soup into a small dish to taste separately.
- Give the noodles plenty of cooking water. Thick noodles can press against each other and stick when the pot has too little water. Separate them with chopsticks as soon as you add them.
- Wash away the slippery coating on the noodles. Keep rinsing until it is gone, or it will prevent the soup from coating them.
Season with salt at the end, keep the soup thick, and rinse the noodles so they stay loose and hold the soup, with its heat and rich miso flavor, through to your last bite.
Storage & Meal Prep
Fridge: Sealed soup keeps 3 to 4 days. Cold, it weeps and looks thin until reheated.
Freezer: Thawed soup separates. Freeze portions of the fried pork and pastes for about 1 month.
Meal prep: Make the soup ahead and keep refrigerated for 3-4 days. Noodles should always be cooked fresh, right before serving.
Reheating: Warm in a pot, stirring. If thin, add starch mixed with cold water.
What to Serve With Dipping Ramen
Tsukemen Troubleshooting
The starch may need more cooking, or there may be too much water in the soup. Potato starch needs to heat until glossy to thicken properly. Turn off the heat and add a little potato starch mixed with cold water, then return the pan to low heat and stir. Once the soup turns glossy, cook for about 1 more minute before removing it from the heat.
The doubanjiang, miso, soy sauce, and chicken bouillon powder all add salt to the same soup. Bouillon powder contributes the most, and its salt content differs greatly between brands. Stir in hot water a spoonful at a time, tasting after each addition. If the soup becomes too thin, turn off the heat, stir in a little starch slurry, and reheat until glossy.
When the heat takes over, the mellow richness and sweetness of miso drop out of the flavor. Salt is already doing its job. Bouillon powder and soy sauce will only raise the salt level. So I’d stir in a little awase miso and a pinch of sugar, then taste again before I touch the salt. I add more doubanjiang only when I want the heat to increase.
More Spicy Japanese Recipes
If this heat has you hooked, there are more bowls waiting, with soup and without, in my Spicy Japanese Recipes.
Did You Try This Recipe?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
💬 Leave a review and ⭐️ rating in the comments below. 📷 I also love to see your photos – submit them here!
Spicy Miso Tsukemen (15 Minute Dipping Ramen)
Ingredients
For the mince
- ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 30 g Japanese leek (naganegi) white part, finely diced
- 1 chili pepper dry or fresh finely sliced (red or green)
- 1 clove garlic finely diced
- 1 tbsp ginger root finely diced
- 50 g ground pork
- 1 tbsp chili bean sauce (toban djan)
- 1 tbsp yellow miso paste (awase)
- 1 tbsp ground sesame seeds
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
For the soup
- 300 ml water
- 1 tsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)
- 1 tbsp water for slurry
- 1 tsp potato starch (katakuriko) for slurry
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 1 dash chili oil (rayu)
- 1 chili pepper red or green, finely sliced to garnish
- 30 g garlic chive(s) nira, roughly chopped to garnish
Ramen noodles and optional toppings
- 2 portions ramen noodles thick
- water for boiling noodles
- 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp finely chopped green onions green part finely chopped
- kizami nori (shredded nori)
- narutomaki fish cake or kamaboko
- seasoned bamboo shoots (menma)
- 2 ramen egg
The ingredient brands and tools I trust are in my Japanese pantry guide and my cooking tools guide.
Can’t find certain Japanese ingredients? See my substitution guide here.
Instructions
- Heat a large frying pan (it will need to fit the soup later) on medium low and add ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil. Once hot, add 30 g Japanese leek (naganegi), 1 chili pepper, 1 tbsp ginger root and 1 clove garlic and fry until fragrant.
- Once fragrant, turn up the heat to medium and add 50 g ground pork. Fry until browned.
- Next, add 1 tbsp chili bean sauce (toban djan), 1 tbsp yellow miso paste (awase), 1 pinch ground black pepper and 1 tbsp ground sesame seeds. Mix well and stir fry for 1 minute.
- Add 300 ml water and 1 tsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder, then bring it to a boil.
- Once the liquid is boiling, turn down heat to simmer and add 1 tsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu) and 1 tsp sugar.
- In a small separate bowl, mix 1 tsp potato starch (katakuriko) and 1 tbsp water to make a slurry. Pour the slurry into the soup and cook until slightly thickened, stirring continuously.
- Once thickened, remove from the heat and place a lid on top of the pan to keep it hot until serving.
- Cook 2 portions ramen noodles according to the instructions on the packaging. Once the noodles are cooked, pour them into a colander to drain the water and rinse with warm running water to remove excess starch.
- Transfer the noodles to mixing bowl and drizzle with 1 tsp toasted sesame oil. Mix until evenly coated and then divide onto serving plates. Top each portion with 1 tbsp finely chopped green onions, kizami nori (shredded nori) and your choice of toppings.Pour the soup into individual dipping bowls and top with 30 g garlic chive(s), 1 chili pepper, 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds and 1 dash chili oil (rayu).
- Dip the noodles in the broth, and enjoy!
Absolutely blown away! This recipe is a weeknight lifesaver!!
Thank you, Valeriy! 🙂
I keep coming back to this, time and time again, and often freeze it in batches for easy dinners. It also works as a great Udon dipping soup. I have found that using (plain) UK-style pork sausage meat, removed from the skin, gives even more depth.
Hi Francis,
This honestly made my day! I agree this dipping soup works with pretty much any noodle, udon is such a great call. The pork sausage swap sounds interesting! Definitely going to try that myself next time! 🙂
Yuto