How I Recreated This Recipe
Sugakiya (スガキヤ) is a ramen chain that started in Nagoya. To be honest, unless you’re from the area, you might not be familiar with it, even if you’re Japanese. But for people who live in the area, it’s an incredibly well-known chain, practically a household name.
To give you an idea of how well-known it is, you can find Sugakiya’s branded products, like their signature chashu, menma, and their distinctive pepper, in local supermarkets.
Having been born and raised in Aichi Prefecture, I’ve eaten countless bowls of their ramen throughout my life. It’s truly a taste of nostalgia for me. The number of times I visited as a child and teenager is beyond counting, and their unbeatable price point was always part of the appeal.
I’ve been to their place a bunch, so I know the flavors. But I went back recently to analyze the flavors for creating a copycat recipe.
Here are my key observations:
- Despite being marketed as “Wafu Tonkotsu” (Japanese-style pork bone broth), the tonkotsu element is extremely subtle. The base is predominantly dashi-driven, with a characteristic simplicity that could likely be recreated using dashi granules.
- The chashu is notably thin and lean – it’s like marinated ham. According to the official website, Sugakiya’s chashu is made by steaming. I purchased their supermarket version.
- Their egg ramen (卵ラーメン) features onsen tamago as standard.
- The broth, though classified as tonkotsu, is remarkably thin. For replication purposes, I suspect the real tonkotsu component isn’t essential – a combination of lard and milk should be good enough. Incidentally, their allergen information says, “Contains dairy products.”
- Their signature pepper is very finely ground, resembling white pepper in texture. Regular white pepper powder should work well as a substitute. (Side note: During my teenage years, I used to add an almost ridiculous amount of this pepper to my ramen.)
- The broth’s color is notably light – I initially made the mistake of using dark soy sauce, which resulted in an overly brown color. Light soy sauce proved to be the key to achieving the authentic hue.
- The ramen noodles are definitely on the thin side.
Overall, this seems to be one of the more approachable ramen styles to recreate at home!
Key Ingredients & Substitution Ideas
- Fresh Ramen Noodles: For this recipe, I definitely recommend thin-style noodles! If you’re into making your own ramen noodles, you can find my recipe on the blog to make them from scratch.
- Dashi Stock: Our broth is based on dashi. I recommend making it from scratch or using tea bag-style dashi packets.
- Milk: Whole milk is strongly recommended for its rich, creamy texture.
- Base Seasonings: Our flavor base combines Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder, dashi granules (different from the stock above – these add a bit of kick and junkiness), lard to mimic tonkotsu element, and Japanese light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu).
- Optional Toppings: Finish your bowl with ground white pepper, freshly chopped green onions, menma, pork chashu, and onsen tamago.
Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to recreate sugakiya ramen at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the cooking steps and techniques with visuals. It also includes more in-depth tips and tricks and explains why I do what I do.
Put the dashi stock in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring it to a rolling boil.
While you wait for that, mix together 50 ml of milk, 1/2 tablespoon of chicken bouillon powder, 1 teaspoon of dashi granules, 1/2 tablespoon of lard, and 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce in “EACH” bowl.
This step helps prevent the milk from curdling later when I add the hot dashi.
Turn off the heat when the dashi reaches a rolling boil. Then, divide the hot dashi equally between the prepared bowls.
Give each bowl a gentle stir with a spoon until everything’s mixed in.
We boil the dashi separately and then add it to the rest of the ingredients to avoid the milk curdling. If you heat the milk in the same pot as the dashi, there’s a good chance it’ll curdle and the texture will be pretty bad.
Add your cooked and drained noodles to each bowl of soup.
The noodles should be cooked separately according to the package instructions or your preferred recipe. Add your garnishes right away while the soup is still hot.
Serve right away to enjoy the best temperature and texture.
Jump to Full Recipe MeasurementsI hope you enjoy this recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers. Thank you!
More Copycat Recipes
- Bikkuri Donkey’s Hamburger Steak
- Lawson’s Devil’s Onigiri
- Saizeriya Milano Doria
- Torikizoku’s Grilled Grated Yam
Hungry for more? Explore my copycat recipe collection to find your next favorite dishes!
Nagoya’s Sugakiya Ramen Copycat
Ingredients
- 500 ml dashi stock
- 100 ml whole milk
- 1 tbsp Chinese-style chicken bouillon powder
- 2 tsp dashi granules
- 1 tbsp lard
- 2 tsp light soy sauce (usukuchi shoyu)
- 2 ptn ramen noodles preferably thin type
- finely chopped green onions topping
- pork chashu topping
- seasoned bamboo shoots (menma) topping
- hot spring egg (onsen tamago) topping
- ground white pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pour 500 ml dashi stock into a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil over a medium-high heat. Boil a separate pot of water for your noodles.
- In each serving bowl, add 50ml milk, ½ tbsp chicken bouillon powder, 1 tsp dashi granules, ½ tbsp lard and 1 tsp of light soy sauce. Mix well.
- Boil 2 ptn ramen noodles according to the instructions on the packaging.
- Divide the dashi between the bowls and mix until all of the ingredients have dissolved into the broth.
- Drain the ramen noodles and rinse with hot water to remove any excess starch, then place them in the soup.
- Add your choice of toppings. This dish is typically served with finely chopped green onions, pork chashu, seasoned bamboo shoots (menma), hot spring egg (onsen tamago) and ground white pepper. Enjoy!
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Thank you!