Udon Noodles

Refrigerated or frozen udon noodles are increasingly easy to find, but the delightfully chewy texture of homemade udon noodles is simply unbeatable. Namiko Hirasawa Chen, creator of the website Just One Cookbook, a boundless resource for Japanese home cooking, loves making udon noodles from scratch, and she’s here to show us how it’s done.

Chen leans on the traditional technique of stepping on the firm udon dough (yes, with her foot) to quickly and efficiently work the gluten and knead the wheat flour dough into submission. Bare or socked feet are best so you can feel every delightful squish. (Don’t shudder, the dough ball is protected by a plastic bag.) Like Chen, we highly recommend a digital scale for mixing the dough.

If you’ve been trained not to rinse noodles or pasta after cooking, take note: Rinsing these Japanese noodles under cold water does two things. (1) It washes off the excess starch, and (2) it shocks the cooked noodles after their hot water bath, snapping them into bouncy, chewy glory. Use your fresh udon noodles in Japanese recipes like kake udon (a simple, dashi-based udon noodle soup) or yaki udon (a stir-fried udon dish with ground pork and a mirin-soy sauce). Don’t be afraid to put your own spin on it, like in this bouncy, meatless twist on Italian carbonara. 

This recipe is part of Make Your Own Noodles. Check out all of the recipes—plus expert tips, handy guides, and more.