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, and 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!

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.

Vegan Adaptable

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..

Get Your Free Vegetarian eBook!

Looking for healthy dinner ideas? I’ve got a free ebook with 10 delicious, easy Japanese vegetarian recipes! Sign up for our newsletter below to get it now!

Grab a copy of our free

Vegetarian Recipe eBook

More Noodle Recipes You Might Like

Leave a Rating!

I hope you enjoy this Kake Soba! If you try it, don’t forget to leave a rating to share your thoughts—I love hearing from you!

Kake Soba (Authentic Japanese Soba Noodle Soup)

4.88 from 8 votes

Print Pin Save

Prep: 10

Cook: 10

Total: 20

Servings: 2 servings

Author: Juri Austin

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!

Equipment

1 Medium saucepan 18cm (7 inches)
1 Strainer

Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare the toppings: Place the dried wakame in a small bowl and let it soak for about 5 minutes. Drain the seaweed completely. Finely chop the scallion.
Make the soba soup: Put mentsuyu and water in a mediium saucepan and warm it up.
Boil the soba noodles: While warming the soup, add the soba noodles to a separate pot of boiling water and cook according to the package instructions. Stir the noodles with chopsticks to separate them while cooking.
Drain the noodles: Drain using a strainer and quickly rinse under running cold water to remove the extra starch.
Serve: Serve the drained noodles in a bowl, pour the soup, and place the scallions and wakame on top.

Video

Notes

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.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 383kcal | Carbohydrates: 72.3g | Protein: 22.4g

Course: Noodles

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: kake soba, soba noodle soup

Did You Make this recipe?Please Leave a star rating!

4.88 from 8 votes (6 ratings without comment)

4 Comments

Laura says:

Feb 19, 2023 at 2:33 AM

Delicious flavored broth. Best basic Japanese Ramen recipe I have found.

1. JURI says:
  
  Feb 19, 2023 at 3:53 AM
  
  Thanks for your comment, Laura! I’m glad you love the recipe!
  
Wayne says:

Dec 9, 2021 at 6:00 AM

Thank you Chef Ja, my first visit to your website. I found your recipe very useful especially suggestions for condiments.

Yoroshiku, Wayne

1. JURI says:
  
  Dec 10, 2021 at 3:28 AM
  
  Thank you for visiting! Glad you like the recipe.

Kake Soba (Authentic Japanese Soba Noodle Soup)