Curry udon is one of the most popular — and delicious — ways to use up leftover Japanese curry sauce. It’s certainly my favorite. In fact, I look forward to making curry udon every time I cook curry and rice.
It’s a little like the joy of eating a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving here in America — some things just taste even better the next day!
You might find it interesting that we use dashi (Japanese fish broth) to thin out the leftover curry sauce, which is usually thick and hearty, almost like gravy with chunks of meat and vegetables. The rich, stew-like curry is blended with delicate dashi broth.
Really? Yes — and trust me, it works beautifully.
You can make the dashi from scratch, but instant dashi granules work just fine if you want to keep things simple.
Because the sauce is thinned with dashi, we usually add a bit of starch (cornstarch works perfectly) to thicken it again to a silky consistency. A splash of soy sauce can also be added to enhance the flavor and bring everything together.
The next time you make Japanese curry and rice, save a cup of the curry sauce for curry udon. You might even discover you like it better than curry and rice!
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup Japanese Curry (leftover)
- 1 cup Dashi (fish broth)
- 1 serving Udon noodle (fresh or frozen, or cooked dried noodle)
- 1 tbsp corn starch (or poato starch)
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- Green onions (sliced thinly)
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, mix curry sauce and dashi broth and bring it to a boil. Add udon and simmer for a few minutes.
- Mix corn starch and water in a small dish and add it to the sauce/udon. Continue to cook for another minute. Add soy sauce to taste.
- Serve it in a bowl and top with sliced green onions.
This recipe was originally published in May 2013. The post was updated on February 16, 2026 with more useful content, new photos and a short video.
9 Comments
This was a great way to use my leftover chicken curry. I enjoyed it just as much as the first night. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I’ll definitely make it again.
Stephanie,
thanks for the comment, and glad you liked the recipe.
i love Japanese food eversince i stay in japan for 4months i always like there food, i even cook more Japanese food than my own traditional filipino food
lovek,
thanks for the comment. It would be interesting to make Japanese inspired Filipino dish…experiment it!
I used chicken stock instead of dashi, and it turned out really good as well!
rosie,
glad you liked our Curry Udon Recipe!
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Thanks!
Noriko-san and Yuko-san, thank you for this recipe! I am eating curry rice right now and this recipe will be perfect for my next meal.