Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe
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4.6
173 reviews
Excellent
Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe
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Tonkotsu Ramen is a rich pork-bone broth ramen featuring a deep, creamy stock made by simmering pork trotters, chicken backs, and pork belly with aromatics for hours. It includes seasoned tare for flavor layering and chashu pork for a tender, savory topping. The recipe assembles these elements with noodles and optional garnishes like soft boiled egg and nori.
Description
This Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe involves preparing multiple components: a kombu dashi as base stock, a tare seasoning mixture reduced from soy sauce, mirin, sake, and aromatics, and a complex pork broth made by boiling pig trotters, chicken backs and feet, pork belly, and a blend of vegetables and aromatics for many hours. The pork broth is carefully cleaned after the initial boil to ensure a light and clear stock, then simmered until deeply flavorful and creamy.
The tare provides a salty-sweet layer with umami from soy sauce, mirin, and fish sauce, complemented by ginger, garlic, and scallions. Chashu pork is slow-simmered in a mixture of soy sauce, mirin, fish sauce, sugar, aromatics, and water, producing tender slices to top the ramen.
The dish is assembled with fresh ramen noodles, broth, chashu pork, and a variety of traditional toppings such as soft-boiled egg, nori, enoki mushrooms, and scallions. The finished ramen offers a rich, silky broth with layered savory and umami flavors balanced by fresh toppings and chewy noodles.
The recipe notes that the tonkotsu broth can be frozen for 4–6 months in a freezer-safe container for convenient future use.
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Ingredients
Dashi
- 5 Kombu Kelp 7 inch pieces
- 8 cups water
Tare
- ½ cup chicken broth low-sodium
- ¼ cup mirin
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 inch ginger peeled and sliced, piece
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 scallion chopped
Tonkotsu Ramen Broth
- 4 lb pig trotters ask the butcher to cut into horizontal slices
- 2 lb chicken backs cut into small pieces
- 1 lb chicken feet
- 1 lb pork belly chopped up, scraps
- 1 onion peeled and slit around, large
- 1 garlic sliced in half horizontally, whole head
- 2 inches ginger sliced
- 1 leek cleaned and roughly chopped
- 15 green onions white parts only, cut them in half across
- 1 cup mushrooms
- 1/4 lb pork fatback
Chashu Pork
- 1 cup water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 inch ginger peeled and sliced
- 2 green onions roughly chopped
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup mirin
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- ½ cup white sugar plain
- 1 pork belly slab
Serving (all toppings optional)
- ramen noodles fresh
- egg one per serving, soft boiled
- nori sushi seaweed
- enoki mushrooms
- naruto slices
- scallions thinly sliced
- Chili oil
- sesame oil toasted
Instructions
- Dashi
- In a large pot, soak kombu in the water for at least 30 minutes, up to 3 hours. Then bring to a lively simmer over medium low heat. This will take about 20-30 minutes.
- Before the dashi begins boiling, take the kombu out (boiled kombu will cause your dashi to become bitter and slimy) and strain dashi into a large bowl lined with cheesecloth.
- Tare
- Bring all the ingredients to simmer in a saucepan.
- Simmer the tare until it reduces to ½ cup, about 25 minutes.
- Strain the solids and let the tare cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- Tonkotsu Ramen Broth
- Place the chicken backs and pork bones in a heavy bottomed stock pot. Add enough water to fully cover them. Cover with a lid. Over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Once boiled, drain the bones and wash any dark marrow or coagulated blood off from the pork with cold water and a chopstick or fork. The bones should have no dark color left in them to obtain a light, milky color.
- Rinse the pot, put the bones back in along with the rest of the ingredients for the broth except the fatback. Add water to just cover the ingredients. Over high heat, bring the water to a rolling boil, then turn down temperature to a low boil/very lively simmer. Let boil for 12-18 hours, adding water to keep the ingredients submerged.
- The last 30 minutes to 1 hour before it’s done, place the fatback on a sieve or strainer, shallowly put it into the broth, cover the pot and let the fat cook. Remove and finely mince the fat. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Pour the broth through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl (or multiple containers) to remove solids. Let chill in the fridge until solid, then spoon the fat off the top.
- Chashu Pork Belly
- Lay pork belly on cutting board and roll up lengthwise, with skin facing out.
- Using butcher’s twine, tightly secure pork belly at 3/4-inch intervals.
- Preheat oven to 275°F. Heat water, garlic, ginger, sliced green onions, soy sauce, mirin, fish sauce, white sugar in a medium saucepan, big enough to hold the pork belly, over high heat until boiling. Add pork belly, it won't be submerged. Cover with a lid left slightly ajar. Transfer to oven and cook, turning pork occasionally, until pork is fully tender and a cake tester or thin knife inserted into its center meets little resistance, 3 to 4 hours. Transfer contents to a sealed container and refrigerate until completely cool.
- Reheat pork belly slices in soup broth with noodles and other garnishes.
- Serve
- In a large pot, bring the tonkotsu broth to a simmer. Add 5-6 cups of dashi. Finely chop the fatback and add the fatback to the broth, simmering until it’s barely visible in the broth. Ladle the broth into deep, wide bowls, adding about 2-3 tablespoons of tare, leaving room for the noodles and toppings. (Freeze any leftover broth to use later.) Cook the noodles according to the package instructions and divide among bowls. Top each with 2 slices of pork belly, one soft boiled egg sliced in half, 3 slices of naruto, 1 sheet of nori, the enoki mushrooms, oils, and scallions.
- Serve immediately.
Equipments used:
Notes
- Tonkotsu broth can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 4-6 months for make-ahead convenience.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Serving
1g
Calories
966kcal
(48%)
Carbohydrates
19g
(6%)
Protein
83g
(166%)
Fat
59g
(91%)
Saturated Fat
17g
(85%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
35g
(206%)
Cholesterol
359mg
(120%)
Sodium
402mg
(17%)
Fiber
2g
(8%)
Sugar
13g
(26%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 8-10 bowls
Amount Per Serving
Calories 966 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1g | |
| Calories | 966kcal | 48% |
| Carbohydrates | 19g | 6% |
| Protein | 83g | 166% |
| Fat | 59g | 91% |
| Saturated Fat | 17g | 85% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 35g | 206% |
| Cholesterol | 359mg | 120% |
| Sodium | 402mg | 17% |
| Fiber | 2g | 8% |
| Sugar | 13g | 26% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.6
173 reviews
Excellent
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