How to make an easy and quick noodle dish, Kimchi Udon Stir Fry.

When I say you guys really love the Udon recipes, I mean you guys REALLY LOVE the Udon recipes! No judgment here, I love my noodles in all forms and shapes! That chewy, bouncy thick noodle gets satisfyingly addictive. This Kimchi Udon recipe is going to be your new favourite noodle recipe. It’s done and dusted in just 15 minutes, and is so delicious.

How to Make Kimchi Udon Stir Fry?

Making this could not be simpler!

1. Prepare the Udon Noodles

Prepare the udon noodles according to packet instructions. I’m using fresh pre-cooked udon noodles. To prepare it, I simply blanch it in boiling water just to loosen out the block. Immediately drain once the noodles loosen into strands, and rinse with water to stop the cooking process. Done!

2. Combine the seasoning sauce

Usually I like to slapdash my seasoning sauces straight in the pan, but this time round I like to premix it. Gochujang is a thick paste, and it can be a struggle to mix it with the noodles in the pan. Premixing the sauce allows me to thin it out with the other ingredients and a splash of water, making it an effortless task to combine it with the udon noodles later!

The sauces are simple, but they are mostly Korean ingredients:

Gochujang: Korean red pepper paste that is spicy, salty and full of umami.
Gochugaru: Korean red pepper powder add colour and heat to the dish. You can easily replace this with any other chilli flakes – or not at all, if you want a non-spicy dish! Gochujang has some spice to it already.
Light Soy Sauce: This adds a nice, salty umami to the sauce. Do not add too much since Gochujang is salty already.
Honey: Instead of sugar, use honey! While I usually am not a fan of honey as a sweetener in most dishes, I love honey for Korean dishes. The flavour is so good with the Korean ingredients. If you have no honey, you can replace it with regular sugar.
Sesame Oil: I added this in the sauce at the beginning, but if you want a stronger flavour, add at the end. I don’t mind the slight loss in flavour for the sake of convenience.

3. Pan Fry the Shrimps

I added shrimps for protein, and you can most certainly replace with your protein of choice – or with none at all! If I’m too lazy, I love this even without any proteins added.

With the shrimps, I like to pan fry them separately first. This is to ensure fully-cooked – but not overcooked – shrimps. I simply season them with salt and pepper.

4. Fry the Kimchi

In the pan, fry the kimchi first with some onions and garlic. Something about frying kimchi makes it so much tastier! I like to fry it until the liquid evaporates and gets charry. If you don’t usually like the taste of kimchi, try it after it’s fried!

5. Toss in noodles and sauce

Stir fry the udon noodles with the sauce and the kimchi until incorporated and done!

What Kimchi to use for Kimchi Udon?

The best kimchi to use would be fully ripe kimchi – this would give the best kimchi flavour. However, I have made this with fresh kimchi and I still enjoyed it. It’s a lighter kimchi flavour, and the gochujang is the dominant flavour, but it’s still good!

Want to make your own kimchi? I have a recipe for fresh Kimchi here. I used my Kimchi here, that’s been in the fridge for more than a week, so it’s fully ripe and fermented.

More Recipes Like This

I have so many Udon noodle recipes here! Try these next: