4.88 from 8 votes

Craving a homemade Kake Soba recipe? Making this Japanese favorite is a breeze with my simple steps. Treat yourself to a delightful bowl of noodle soup right in your home!

Looking for simple noodle dishes? Try my Kake Udon, Zaru Soba, or Zaru Udon!

a bowl of soba noodle soup with chopsticks.

I’ll walk you through the ingredients and step-by-step instructions. I hope you enjoy it!

Why You Will Love This Recipe

Kake Soba is the simplest noodle dish and is perfect for a quick lunch.
This is an authentic Japanese soba noodle soup recipe.
You will get various topping ideas.

Soba Noodles

Soba noodles are traditional Japanese noodles made by kneading buckwheat flour with water, rolling it thinly, and cutting it into slender strips. They can be enjoyed either cold with dipping sauce or served in a hot soup.

Recipe Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this Hot Soba Recipe:

Soba noodles: Dried, fresh, or frozen soba noodles are available at grocery stores. I use fresh soba noodles in this recipe.
Mentusyu is an authentic noodle soup made from scratch with katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), kombu (kelp), mirin, and soy sauce. See this homemade mentsuyu recipe. If you’re looking to save time, you can pick up store-bought mentsuyu at your local Japanese grocery store.
The toppings are scallion and dried wakame seaweed. To explore the variations, check out the topping section, where you can find more options!

For Vegans:

Mentsuyu contains fish (katsuobushi), but it can be easily substituted with kombu dashi. Check out how to make the vegan version in this Vegan Soba Noodle Soup..

How To Make Kake Soba: STEP BY STEP

Here are some quick visual instructions! For the video and all the detailed ingredients and instructions, go to the printable recipe card below.

Step 1

Prepare toppings.

Step 2

Put mentsuyu and water in a medium saucepan and warm it up.

Step 3

Cook soba noodles according to the package instructions and drain.

Step 4

Assemble soba noodles, mentsuyu, and toppings.

Kake Soba (Japanese Simple Soba Noodle Soup)

Here you go! Once it’s served, please eat immediately. Otherwise, the soba noodles soak up the soup and become soggy. If you like a little spice, sprinkle with shichimi togarashi (Japanese spice blend) and enjoy!

Recipe Tips

Adjusting Soup Seasoning: If your noodle soup is too salty, you can balance it by diluting it with water. Conversely, if it’s too mild, add more mentsuyu to enhance the flavor.
Soba noodles typically take a couple of minutes to cook frozen noodles and around 10 minutes or more for dried or fresh noodles. The cooking time can vary depending on the type and brand of soba noodles, so please follow the package directions.

Topping Variations

Toppings for Kake Soba (Japanese Simple Soba Noodle Soup)

This is the fun part! Various ingredients go well with Kake soba. I have listed the classic and popular toppings that are easy to prepare.

Green onions or Scallion
Wakame Seaweed
Kamaboko fish cake – A type of fish cake.
Onsen Tamago – A half-boiled egg. Place eggs in boiled water and leave for 15-20 minutes to cook slowly.
Agedama (tenkasu) – Pieces of tempura batter.
Spinach – Boil for 1 minute.
Tororo Kombu – Flakes of kombu seaweed.
Aburaage – Thin deep-fried tofu. Bake on both sides with a toaster to make it crispy.

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