Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe (博多ラーメンの作り方)

This is a 3-part series showcasing the 3 Great Ramens of Japan : Kitakata Ramen, Sapporo Ramen and Hakata Ramen.

Great Ramens of Japan recipes

In this recipe, I will show you how to make Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen Recipe 博多ラーメン. Tonkotsu ramen (Pork Bone Ramen) originated from Hakata district of Fukuoka city in Kyushu which is why Hakata Ramen is one of the most famous in Japan. The tonkotsu (pork-bone) soup base is boiled over long hours for a rich, milky and layered taste, typically served with ultra-thin, straight, and firm noodles.

Some of the most famous ramen restaurants in Japan and all over the world are renowned for Hakata Ramen, like Ichiran, Ippudo, Ikkousha.

In my recipe, a lot of time and effort is put into boiling the Tonkotsu soup which is purely made from pork bone. The soup is boiled 3 rounds totally about 9 hours and in each round of boiling some soup is extracted and combined in order to create layered taste and strong umami. The noodles were handmade into thin and straight noodles, and kept firm when boiling. The sauce was made with a variety of ingredients to create a nice complement to the soup without overpowering it. I also made my own chilli paste to add a bit of spice to the soup as topping, other than the usual ramen toppings.

As always, I did not use any MSG because I try to use various alternative ingredients to bring out the umami in my own recipes.

Hope you enjoy the recipe, visit my youtube channel if you do! Please also subscribe if you wish to watch more ramen recipe videos and feel free to leave a comment for request of any ramen recipes. Thank you!

Want to taste real Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen at home, even without making broth from scratch?
You can also use Ichiran Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen (2 servings) or the 5-serving pack from KAONASHI STORE with worldwide shipping.

How to make Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen

Contents

Hakata tonkotsu ramen
RAMEN KAONASHI

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen

Authentic Hakata-style tonkotsu ramen from scratch.
Cook Time 10 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 10 hours 30 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients
  

NOODLES
  • 400 g FLOUR
  • 116 ml WATER
  • 5 g KANSUI
  • 5 g SALT
RAMEN SAUCE(タレ)
  • 30 g DRIDE SHIRIMP
  • 2 pc RISHIRI KOMBU
  • 3 pc DRIED SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS
  • 300 ml WATER
  • 80 ml light soy sauce
  • 20 ml Thai fish sauce
  • 80 ml HON MIRIN
  • 40 ml Cooking Sake
  • 10 ml Rice vinegar
  • 35 g Sea salt
  • 30 g Sliced garlic
  • 30 g Sesame seeds
  • 20 g Oyster Sauce
RAMEN SOUP BROTH (スープ)
  • 1 pc PRE-BOILED PORK HEAD BONE
  • 1 pc PRE-BOILED PORK BONE
  • 3 L WATER
  • 500 g PORK SHOULDER LOIN
CHASHU(チャーチュー)
  • 50 ml koikuchi soy sauce
  • 50 ml Cooking Sake
  • 1 tbsp Suger
TOPPING(トッピング)
  • 50 ml Hon mirin
  • 1 tbsp Suger
  • 1.5 tbsp Japaese chilli powder
  • 1 pc Spring onions
  • 1 pc Chashu
  • 1 pc Sliced black fungus
  • 1 pc Ajitama
HAKATA TONKOTSU RAMEN
  • 30 ml Ramen sauce
  • 300 ml Tonkotsu soup
  • 110 g Noodles
  • 1 set All toppings

Method
 

STEP 1 : RAMEN NOODLES(麺)
  1. Add flour 400g to mixing bowl.
  2. Mix with water, kansui and salt.
  3. Stir the kansui mixture into the flour.
  4. Place into resealable bag and press flat.
  5. Leave dough aside for 40 min.
  6. Cut into thin noodles. Noodles are done.
STEP 2 : RAMEN SAUCE(タレ)
  1. Add dried shrimp, cut kombu, dried shiitake mushrooms and water to a container.
  2. Cover the dashi and leave in the fridge overnight.
  3. Add the dashi into pot and start to boil.
  4. Once the dashi boils, simmer 5min.
  5. Strain dashi.
  6. Add dashi, usukuchi shoyu, thai fish sauce, hon mirin, cooking sake, rice vinegar, sea salt, sliced garlic and sesame seeds into cooking pot.
  7. Start fire to boil. Stop fire after sauce boils.
  8. Add oyster sauce.
  9. Add sauce into blender after it has cooled down.
  10. Blend until sauce is smooth. Ramen sauce is done.
STEP 3 : RAMEN SOUP (BROTH)(スープ)
  1. Add pre-boiled pork head bone, pre-boiled pork bone and water to large pot.
  2. Start to boil at medium heat.
  3. Remove scum.
  4. Change to low heat and add pork shoulder loin, simmer for 3 hours.
  5. Remove pork shoulder loin which will be used for chashu.
  6. Change to high heat to boil for 1 hour.
  7. Stop fire.
  8. Strain to separate about 600ml of soup. Leave this aside.
  9. Refill water into the large pot to the same level as the start.
  10. Start to boil at high heat.
  11. Continue to boil at high heat for 2-3 hours. Stop fire.
  12. Strain soup to separate 600ml of soup into the same pot earlier. Leave aside to cool.
  13. Refill water (again) in the large pot.
  14. Start to boil at high heat for 2-3 hours.
  15. The soup has turned very milky after boiling for long hours at high heat. Stop fire.
  16. Strain the remaining 6-700ml of soup.
  17. Combining soup boiled at different timings creates stronger umami. Tonkotsu soup is done.
STEP 4 : CHASHU(チャーシュー)
  1. Add koikuchi shoyu, cooking sake and sugar into a sauce pan.
  2. Boil sauce until cooking sake fully evaporates, and leave aside to cool.
  3. Marinate pork shoulder loin with chashu sauce for 1 hour. Chashu is done.
STEP 5 : TOPPING(トッピング)
  1. Add hon mirin and sugar to a sauce pan.
  2. Boil until sugar cameralise.
  3. add Japanese chilli powder and stir to mix well. Chilli paste is done.
  4. Slice spring onions finely.
  5. Slice chashu.
  6. Sliced black fungus, spring onions, chilli paste, menma, ajitama and chashu. Toppings all done.
STEP 6 : HAKATA TONKOTSU RAMEN(博多豚骨ラーメン)
  1. Add ramen sauce and tonkotsu soup in a bowl.
  2. Boil noodles for 1 min.

Video

Tools I Use for This Recipe → https://ramenkaonashi.com/tools/

Don’t want to start from bones today?
As a shortcut, you can try Ichiran Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen – 2-Serving Trial Pack , or stock up with the 5-Serving Value Pack

STEP 1 : RAMEN NOODLES(麺)

Ingredients:

  • FLOUR 400g
  • WATER 116
  • KANSUI 5g
  • SALT 5g

Method:

1. Add flour 400g to mixing bowl.

2. Mix with water, kansui and salt.

3. Stir the kansui mixture into the flour.

4. Place into resealable bag and press flat.

5. Leave dough aside for 40 min.

6. Cut into thin noodles. Noodles are done.

STEP 2 : RAMEN SAUCE(タレ)

Ingredients:

  • DRIED SHRIMP 30g
  • RISHIRI KOMBU 2pc
  • DRIED SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS 3pc
  • WATER 300ml
  • USUKUCHI SHOYU 80ml
  • THAI FISH SAUCE 20ml
  • HON MIRIN 80ml
  • COOKING SAKE 40ml
  • RICE VINEGAR 10ml
  • SEA SALT 35g
  • SLICED GARLIC 30g
  • SESAME SEEDS 30g
  • OYSTER SAUCE 20g

Method:

1. Add dried shrimp, cut kombu, dried shiitake mushrooms and water to a container.

2. Cover the dashi and leave in the fridge overnight.

3. Add the dashi into pot and start to boil.

3. Once the dashi boils, simmer 5min.

4. Strain dashi.

6. Add dashi, usukuchi shoyu, thai fish sauce, hon mirin, cooking sake, rice vinegar, sea salt, sliced garlic and sesame seeds into cooking pot.

7. Start fire to boil. Stop fire after sauce boils.

8. Add oyster sauce.

9. Add sauce into blender after it has cooled down.

10. Blend until sauce is smooth. Ramen sauce is done.

STEP 3 : RAMEN SOUP (BROTH)(スープ)

Ingredients:

  • PRE-BOILED PORK HEAD BONE 1pc
  • PRE-BOILED PORK BONE 1pc
  • WATER 3L
  • PORK SHOULDER LOIN 500g

Method:

1. Add pre-boiled pork head bone, pre-boiled pork bone and water to large pot.

2. Start to boil at medium heat.

3. Remove scum.

4. Change to low heat and add pork shoulder loin, simmer for 3 hours.

5. Remove pork shoulder loin which will be used for chashu.

6. Change to high heat to boil for 1 hour.

7. Stop fire.

8. Strain to separate about 600ml of soup. Leave this aside.

9. Refill water into the large pot to the same level as the start.

10. Start to boil at high heat.

11. Continue to boil at high heat for 2-3 hours. Stop fire.

12. Strain soup to separate 600ml of soup into the same pot earlier. Leave aside to cool.

13. Refill water (again) in the large pot.

14. Start to boil at high heat for 2-3 hours.

15. The soup has turned very milky after boiling for long hours at high heat. Stop fire.

16. Strain the remaining 6-700ml of soup.

17. Combining soup boiled at different timings creates stronger umami. Tonkotsu soup is done.

STEP 4 : CHASHU(チャーシュー)

Ingredients:

  • KOIKUCHI SHOYU 50ml
  • COOKING SAKE 50ml
  • SUGAR 1tbsp

Method:

1. Add koikuchi shoyu, cooking sake and sugar into a sauce pan.

2. Boil sauce until cooking sake fully evaporates, and leave aside to cool.

3. Marinate pork shoulder loin with chashu sauce for 1 hour. Chashu is done.

STEP 5 : TOPPING(トッピング)

Ingredients:

  • HON MIRIN 50ml
  • SUGAR 1tbsp
  • JAPANESE CHILLI POWDER 1.5tbsp
  • SPRING ONIONS
  • CHASHU
  • SLICED BLACK FUNGUS
  • AJITAMA

Method:

1. Add hon mirin and sugar to a sauce pan.

2. Boil until sugar cameralise.

3. add Japanese chilli powder and stir to mix well. Chilli paste is done.

4. Slice spring onions finely.

5. Slice chashu.

6. Sliced black fungus, spring onions, chilli paste, menma, ajitama and chashu. Toppings all done.

STEP 6 : HAKATA TONKOTSU RAMEN(博多豚骨ラーメン)

Ingredients:

  • RAMEN SAUCE 30ml
  • TONKOTSU SOUP 300ml
  • NOODLES 110g
  • ALL TOPPINGS

Method:

1.Add ramen sauce and tonkotsu soup in a bowl.

2. Boil noodles for 1 min.

3. Hakata tonkotsu ramen is done.

4. Tonkotsu soup is milky rich and aromatic, with a tinge of spiciness.

5. Chashu is thick and tender.

6. Noodles are thin and straight with some firmness to complement the soup.

Make your own ramen

If you’d like to make authentic ramen like this recipe, you can make your own with all the ingredients and cooking utensils!

Tools I Use for This Recipe → https://ramenkaonashi.com/tools/

Turn This Recipe into Your Weekly Ramen Ritual

If you enjoyed this tonkotsu ramen recipe, keep the momentum going by stocking your pantry with authentic Japanese ramen kits.

👉 For first-time Ichiran fans : Ichiran Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen – 2 servings

👉 For ramen lovers and families : Ichiran Hakata Tonkotsu Ramen – 5-serving pack

Both are shipped directly from Japan via KAONASHI STORE with worldwide EMS shipping.