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    Recipes » Soup » Asian Soups

    Shoyu Ramen Broth

    Published: Oct 25, 2021 by Marissa Stevens · 13 Comments

    Quick Meals

    This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe
    ladling shoyu ramen broth into a Japanese bowl.

    Skip the ramen shop and make this weeknight easy Shoyu Ramen Broth at home instead. With this simplified method and the right components on hand, you'll be enjoying your ramen bar worthy bowl in about 30 minutes - including making the broth.

    ladling shoyu ramen broth into a Japanese bowl.

    Some ramen toppings like Soy Sauce Eggs and Chashu Pork or Crispy Pork Belly are easy to make, but need to be made a day or two in advance. But a little bit of forethought will be well worth the result! Follow the easy steps below to build your perfect bowl of ramen.

    Jump to:
    • Shoyu Ramen Broth Ingredients
    • How is ramen broth made?
    • A Quick and Easy Method
    • Essential Ramen Bowl Components
    • Shoyu Ramen Recipe, Step by Step
    • How to Make Shoyu Ramen Broth
    • Shoyu Ramen Broth
    • 💬 Comments

    Shoyu Ramen Broth Ingredients

    Shoyu Ramen Broth Ingredients on a white marble board.
    • Water: ideally filtered water
    • Dried Kombu: Look for this dried, eidble sea kelp / seaweed in an Asian market or in the Asian food section of many large supermarkets.
    • Katsobushi: also called bonito flakes (simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna)
    • Pork Broth: ideally homemade Pork Bone Broth
    • Chicken Broth: ideally homemade Chicken Broth
    • Soy Sauce: ideally good quality Japanese soy sauce ("shoyu" is a term that refers to Japanese style soy sauce) or use tamari for a gluten free version
    • Rice Vinegar: unseasoned
    • Mirin: or sake (higher alcohol content and lower sugar)

    How is ramen broth made?

    Ramen broth has two major components: stock and tare. The stock includes both animal broth made from bones (chicken, beef, pork or a combination) and dashi, which is fish stock. Steeping kombu (thick, dried sea kelp / seaweed) and katsuobushi (simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna that is shaved and dried into paper thin flakes - also called bonito flakes) in water is the most common dashi (dried shiitake mushrooms are another typical ingredient).

    While stock creates the complex but subtle foundation of broth, tare is the bold seasoning element made with a variety of ingredient combinations of: miso, mirin, soy sauce, salt and vinegar (among many others).

    A Quick and Easy Method

    Many shoyu ramen recipes have you steep a large quantity of dashi, which only lasts a few days in the refrigerator and no more than 3 months in the freezer. The more convenient way is to store dashi ingredients in your pantry. When stored in a cool dry place in a well sealed container, opened bonito flakes will last for 6 months to 1 year and dried seaweed / kelp will keep even longer. 

    And this quick and easy method incorporates all of the necessary elements at once: the meat broths, the dashi, and the tare ingredients. So you can make just enough Shoyu Ramen Broth (or Miso Ramen Broth) for one meal (or make more if you want leftovers), because you'll always have the ingredients on hand.

    Essential Ramen Bowl Components

    Broth: You'll need dashi (included in this recipe) and two varieties of meat broth, which you can buy or, ideally, make your own with these easy recipes: Homemade Chicken Broth and Pork Bone Broth (Beef Bone Broth would also be delicious!). 

    Homemade Chicken Broth
    Homemade Chicken Broth
    Homemade Pork Bone Broth in glass quart canning jars.
    Pork Bone Broth
    Beef Bone Broth
    Homemade Ramen Noodles

    Ramen Noodles: You'll want 4 to 5-ounces of fresh noodles or 2 ½ to 3-ounces of dried per serving. I recommend Homemade Ramen Noodles; they're so much better than store bought and freeze beautifully.

    Toppings: Your options are infinite when it comes to ramen toppings, from meats, vegetables, and eggs, to finishing touches like seasoned oils and sprinkled spice blends for extra flavor and crunch!  

    Chashu Pork served on a black plate with a serving fork
    Chashu Pork

    Chashu Pork is an unctuous ramen topping that's simple to make with just 10 minutes of prep and no rolling necessary. 

    Pork Belly

    Thinly sliced, pan fried Pork Belly is another mouthwatering option (it's what I make for my ultra-simple Pork Belly Ramen recipe). 

    soy sauce eggs sliced in half on a black plate.

    Soy Sauce Eggs, made with 4 simple ingredients and 5 minutes of prep. Be sure to make them several hours ahead of time (ideally a day ahead) to give them time to soak up the richly flavorful marinade.

    Vegetables: Blanched, steamed or stir-fried vegetables are a welcome addition to ramen bowls. Follow your cravings to let what you have on hand guide you: mushrooms, snap peas, spring onion or green onion, spinach, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, chard, bok choy, and more.

    Finishing Touches: chili oil, toasted sesame oil, nori, furikake or togarashi seasonings

    Shoyu Ramen Recipe, Step by Step

    1. Set bowls out in a warm place.
    2. Prepare your desired toppings (vegetables and meats) and garnishes so they're ready to add to the bowl (including peeling eggs and cutting in half if using).
    3. Heat a large pot of water to boil for the noodles.
    4. Set broth in another pan to simmer while the noodle water comes to boil.
    5. Add fresh ramen noodles to boiling water and cook for 2 minutes (dried ramen noodles for 4 minutes).
    6. Meanwhile, ladle hot broth into bowls (~12 ounces / 1 ½-cups per bowl).
    7. Drain noodles and divide among bowls.
    8. Arrange hot garnishes like Chashu Pork and cooked vegetables in the bowl along with egg halves.
    9. Drizzle broth with seasoned oil if using.
    10. Finish with sprinkled seasonings, finely sliced green onion and/or nori if desired. Serve right away.

    How to Make Shoyu Ramen Broth

    Bring cold water and kombu to simmer in a medium saucepan.

    dried kombu and water in saucepan.
    boiling dried kombu.

    Remove saucepan from heat and stir in bonito flakes; let stand 5 minutes. Strain out and discard solids.

    stirring bonito flakes into hot water with kombu.
    straining kombu and bonito flakes from liquid.

    Return liquid (dashi) to saucepan and add pork broth, chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar and mirin; bring to simmer. Serve. 

    Shoyu Ramen Broth in saucepan.
    ladling shoyu ramen broth into a Japanese bowl.
    ladling shoyu ramen broth into a Japanese bowl.

    Shoyu Ramen Broth

    Marissa Stevens
    A 20-minute recipe for making one of the most cherished and deeply flavorful ramen broths.
    5 from 4 votes
    Save Recipe Saved! Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 5 mins
    Cook Time 10 mins
    Steeping Time 5 mins
    Total Time 20 mins
    Course Soup
    Cuisine Asian
    Servings 4 people
    Calories 55 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 cups water
    • ¼ ounce dried kombu 7g (recipe note #1)
    • ¼ ounce dried bonito flakes 7g, or a lightly rounded, loosely filled ½ cup dry measure (also called shaved katsobushi - recipe note #1)
    • 2 cups pork broth low sodium, ideally homemade Pork Bone Broth
    • 2 cups chicken broth low sodium, ideally homemade Chicken Broth
    • 6 tablespoons soy sauce plus more to taste
    • 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
    • 1 tablespoon mirin

    Instructions
     

    • In a medium saucepan, combine water and kombu; bring to simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in bonito flakes; let stand 5 minutes. Using a fine mesh strainer, strain out and discard solids (or reserve for a second use). Return liquid (dashi) to saucepan and add remaining ingredients (pork broth, chicken broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar and mirin). Bring to simmer. Serve immediately (see post for assembling a shoyu ramen bowl) or cool and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

    Notes

    1. You can find bonito flakes (shaved katsuobushi: simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna) and dried kombu online and in the Asian food section of many large grocery stores.
    2. For spicy shoyu ramen broth add sichuan chili oil / chili crisp to taste.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 55kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 7gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 2021mgPotassium: 270mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 4IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 24mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword comfort food, cravings, gluten free
    Tried this recipe?I'd love to see it! Tag me on Instagram at @pinchandswirl or leave me a comment and rating below.

    More Asian Soups

    • Birria Ramen
    • Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup
    • Soy Sauce Eggs
    • Miso Ramen Broth

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Laurieb says

      October 29, 2022 at 8:32 am

      5 stars
      Really great base - did not have pork broth so used a really rich beef broth i had in the freezer ..... this is a keeper!

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        October 29, 2022 at 11:03 am

        I'm so glad to hear that, Laurieb! Thank you for coming back to let me know.

        Reply
    2. smisan says

      August 08, 2022 at 5:49 am

      5 stars
      this page is very useful to me and add my ramen knowledge as well..thx for your hard working.

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        August 09, 2022 at 10:40 am

        My pleasure, Smisan! I'm so glad you found it useful.

        Reply
    3. Matt says

      March 28, 2022 at 5:36 pm

      5 stars
      I've made this a couple of
      times. It's perfect! I usually sous vide some pork loin chops and use that as a protein. With a handful of veggies this is a great ramen recipe.

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        March 31, 2022 at 9:54 am

        I love to hear this, Matt! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know.

        Reply
      • Martin says

        June 26, 2022 at 5:20 am

        I may or may not have accidentally added sugar instead of salt but it still came out well. It has a hint of sweetness in it now tho (i only added 1 teaspoon)

        Reply
    4. Ben | Havocinthekitchen says

      October 28, 2021 at 12:24 pm

      How interesting - I never would have thought of making Ramen broth. I also love all your separate elements / recipes you've been posting lately. And I hope, they all will meet together in one final post soon! 😉

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        October 28, 2021 at 3:56 pm

        Thanks so much, Ben! The great thing is that you can mix and match the elements to make a ramen bowl that's perfect just for you.

        Reply
    5. David @ Spiced says

      October 26, 2021 at 4:52 am

      5 stars
      I've learned so much about homemade ramen broths from these posts, Marissa! And this looks fantastic...especially given that it's a cold and rainy morning here. I need some of this broth to warm my belly! 🙂

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        October 28, 2021 at 4:03 pm

        I'm so happy to hear it, David! I wish I could send you a bowl.

        Reply
    6. angiesrecipes says

      October 25, 2021 at 6:30 am

      The broth looks so good! I NEED some now 🙂

      Reply
      • Marissa Stevens says

        October 28, 2021 at 4:04 pm

        Thanks, Angie!

        Reply

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