This hearty and delicious bone broth udon soup is an excellent way to use some freshly made homemade bone broth. With ginger, garlic, onion, and fennel, it’s a tasty and warming dish for any night of the week.
Udon noodles are thick Japanese wheat flour noodles, usually served in a dashi broth. This recipe serves them in a rich, warm bone broth.
How to Make Bone Broth Udon Soup
To make bone broth udon soup, you will need the following ingredients: chicken backbones or carcasses, ginger, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, scallions, fennel, onion, jalapeño (optional), and frozen udon noodles.
Ahead of time, you will need to make bone broth. For more in-depth info on bone broth, visit my post A Complete Bone Broth Guide.
To begin, add all your chicken bones, carcass, and vegetable ingredients to a stockpot, slow cooker, or Instant Pot.
Cover all the ingredients with water. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce until it’s lightly simmering. Cover with the lid of the stockpot and leave for 24-48 hours.
Now, using the broth that you made in advance, you can make the tasty udon noodle soup.
Cook your udon noodles in boiling water until tender (bear in mind the cooking time will be different depending on whether the udon noodles are dried, frozen, etc)
If you’re short on time and want to cook your noodles from frozen, there’s no need to defrost them first! Place the frozen noodles into boiling water and cook until tender, about 1 minute.
Once the noodles are ready, warm your bone broth, and pour 3 ladles of the broth into a bowl with your udon noodles. Top with the thinly sliced scallion & ginger, and any other ingredients you choose.
What Can I Add To Udon Soup?
In theory, you can add whatever you like to udon soup. If you want to stick to traditional add-in ingredients, or are looking for inspiration, try any one of these:
- Roasted or sliced veggies like parsnips, sweet potato, or turnips
- Seaweed
- Furikake seasoning
- Soy sauce
- Chili oil
- Shichimi Togarashi
- A soft-boiled egg
- Woody herbs like rosemary and thyme
- Meat additions like chicken or beef
More Great Soups to Try
If you love this soup, you’ll love my other soup recipes, too.
Bone Broth Udon Soup Recipe
Print Recipe SaveIngredients
Bone Broth
- 4-6 chicken backbones chunks of beef bones, or leftover chicken/turkey whole cooked chicken bones
- 1 bulb fennel quartered
- 1 onion quartered
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 3 inches fresh ginger sliced
- 1 head garlic cut in half
- 1 jalapeño
- water
Soup
- ~6 oz. frozen udon noodles per person
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 scallion thinly sliced
- salt & pepper
Instructions
Bone Broth (make in advance)
- Add all your ingredients to a stock pot. Cover with water.
- Bring to boil. Reduce to a light simmer. Cover. Cook 24-48 hours on lowest setting.
- Season with soy sauce to taste before serving!
Udon
- Heat your bone broth.
- Cook your udon noodles per the directions on the package.
- Pour 3 ladles of bone broth into a bowl with your udon noodles. Top with the scallion & ginger.
Excellent broth, so tasty and clean! I added one teaspoon of fish sauce and one teaspoon of sugar, and used fresh rice noodles. My daughter had the broth with udon noodles, and loved it. Thank you for this wonderful easy recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it, Kay! I’ll have to add the fish sauce/sugar addition… yum!
I think the fennel and bayleaf gave a different taste than the authentic Japanese udon. Because of those spices the udon tasted like some Indian recipe (which would’ve been good). I had to make it all over again without those spices for my udon noodles. Sigh…
Hi Alexandria,
I’m so sorry to hear you had to make it all over again! This is definitely NOT traditional Japanese udon, but instead, it’s a bone broth soup with udon noodles. Glad you thought it was still good, just not what you were looking for.
<3, Candice
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Greetings! Glad to hear you are enjoying it. Let me know if you give a recipe a try!
This broth is incredible!! I love udon noodles but I had never cooked with them – now I’m inspired!!
Oh yay! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Aline 🙂
What a delicious soup! I am so ready to dive right into this soup anytime. It is perfect to sip on with a blanket and a book by the fireplace!
I’m so happy to hear it, Jess!
This broth is amazing and I have never tried Udon noodles but this makes me want to find some. This soup sound so comforting , I have this on my to do list.
Glad to hear you love the broth, Debbie! And it does work with any noodles. But if you can find those udon noodles, they are other level delicious!
I love soups like this- simple but so delicious and soul comforting. This is a perfect soup to keep on hand throughout the season especially if you’re not feeling too great.
I’m glad to hear you enjoy the recipe, Tammy. And you sure are right….it’s perfect for those not-so-great sick days 🙂
I am an absolute sucker for an amazing bone broth. There really is nothing more comforting. I love the udon soup – feels so good for me to make from scratch too!
Oh yay, Kita… happy to hear you enjoyed making it from scratch! 🙂
I’m so in love with this soup! It’s so flavorful with that bone broth, and it couldn’t be easier to make. Thanks so much for sharing!
You just made my day, Amanda… glad to hear it!
This bone broth udon soup is the perfect afternoon lunch or great for when you have a cold and need something delicious and comforting.
So happy to hear it, Sharon… I feel the same way!
A friend was asking me about bone broth the other day and so I must pass this on to her! I hate wasting the bones from the chicken too, so I look forward to trying it.
I’m the same way… can’t wait to hear what you two think!
When I look at this soup, it makes me feel so warm inside 🙂 Really looking forward to making it ASAP – it is perfect for the season and will be great for the colder evenings.
Can’t wait to hear what you think, Elaine!
This broth sounds fantastic and would be a dish I would eat during cold and flu season. Can I freeze the broth in containers to eat later?
Hi Analida… yes, the broth freezes VERY well. I always freeze it in containers which is perfect for when I’m sick and need a boost or a busy weeknight!