Homemade Shio Ramen takes two days to make (most of the time is hands-off) and is a labor of love but it’s 100% worth it! It all starts with a trip to your local Asian market. If you haven’t been to an Asian market before, be sure to set aside some extra time to look around – it’s pretty cool in there.

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There are three, some say four different types of Ramen; Shio, Shoyu, Miso and Tonkatsu. Each of these broth flavors are building blocks to develop more flavors. After learning about, and tasting different types of Ramen, I decided that Shio Ramen is what I wanted to share with you. Shio Ramen is made with a clear broth made from dashi and chicken stock, and then flavored with a tare, and topped with an aroma oil made with chicken skins (chi-yu), noodles, chicken chashu, ramen eggs, and some vegetables. Like I mentioned, making Homemade Shio Ramen takes two days, so plan accordingly.

How To Prepare components For Shio Ramen

Recipe adapted from Just One Cookbook

Gather Tools & Equipment

• Large stock pot
• Fine mesh strainer
• Bowls with lids
• Small pot
• Chefs knife
• Cutting board
• Butane torch (for chashu)
• Liquid measuring cups
• Ziplock bag
• Vacuum sealer and bags (for pork chashu)
• Kitchen scale
• Ramen bowls with chopsticks and spoons (optional, but nice to have)

Gather Ingredients

• Bone-in chicken breast or pork belly (choose between chicken or pork chashu)
• Bone-in chicken legs, thighs or carcass (for stock)
• Kombu (dried kelp)
• Dried shiiatke mushrooms
• Niboshi (dried baby anchovies)
• Bonito flakes
• Sake
• Mirin
• Fish sauce
• Sesame oil
• White pepper
• Ramen noodles
• Togarashi seasoning
• Vegetable oil
• Bean sprouts
• Green onions (lots)
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Sugar

Day Before: Prepare Ajitsuke Tamago or Ramen Eggs

Ramen Eggs Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup mirin
• ¼ cup sake
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp white pepper

How To Make Ramen Eggs

Making Ajitsuke Tamago is mostly hands off. Be sure to let your eggs marinate at least 8 hours and up to two days before adding to Ramen for the best flavor.

Start by soft boiling eggs. Add 4 eggs to a small pot and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a rapid boil, and then reduce heat slightly to a rolling boil. Let eggs cook for 7 minutes.

Immediately transfer eggs to a large bowl with ice water and let them sit 15 minutes.

While eggs are cooking, prepare marinade. Add soy sauce, sake, mirin, white pepper and sugar to a small pot. Bring to a boil and stir to melt sugar. Lower heat and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool.

Peel eggs and add to a gallon size ziplock bag. Pour marinate over eggs, and use a rubber band to seal the bag right above the eggs. Place bag in the fridge and let eggs marinate overnight.

Day Before: Prepare Pork Chashu

Pork Chashu Ingredients

• 2 lb pork belly
• 3 green onions, roughly chopped
• 1″ ginger
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ½ tbsp sesame oil
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups water
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup sake
• ¼ cup mirin
• 2 tsp white pepper

How To Make Pork Chashu

If pork belly comes with a rind, start by removing the rind.

Roll up pork belly into a long along the long side of pork belly, with the bacon looking side on the outside.

Using butchers twine, on the far end of the log to secure it. Tie a double knot, leaving a 3″ tail. Next, tightly wrap the twine around the spot you just tied another 2 or 3 times to secure the starting point of the roll. Then, pull the twine to the opposite end of the pork belly roll. Tightly wrap the twine around that end 2 to 3 times to secure it. Next, start wrapping the twine around the roll back toward the starting point. Space each wrap ⅓ inch (1 cm) apart. Make sure you wrap the roll as tightly as possible. Once you reach the starting point, run the twine under some of the end wraps; this hooks the twine in place so you can reverse direction. Next, run the twine under 4 or 5 wraps going away from the starting point. Then, double back toward the starting point, running your twine under the wraps until you reach the original double knot. Find the 3-inch tail of twine that you left when you started. Tie a double knot with the tail and the long end of the twine, and cut the excess.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, large enough to fit pork belly, add veggies, soy sauce, water, sugar, sake, mirin and white pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oils and heat until shimmering. Add the pork belly to the skillet.

Cook on each side until golden brown. Remove from heat and transfer to sauce. Place a drop lid over pork, and let simmer for 2 hours, turning every 30 minutes.

To make a drop lid, measure a piece of foil big enough to cover pot, and fold it into a circle. Make 6 little holes in the center with a chopstick, and place directly on top of meat.

After two hours, remove pork and 1/2 cup sauce from sauce and let rest 15 minutes.

Transfer cooled pork and ½ cup sauce to a vacuum seal bag and seal. Be careful to have enough room in your bag to allow the sauce to distribute or you’ll have a big mess.

Place pork in the fridge to rest overnight.

Remaining chashu sauce can be strained and placed in a tupperware container to use in different recipes later.

Day Before: Prepare Dashi

Dashi is a Japanese soup stock that is a building block of many recipes. This Dashi is cold-brewed and steeps for 4 hours.

Dashi Ingredients

• 12 ½ cups water
• ⅔ oz kombu (dried kelp)
• ⅔ oz dried shiiatke mushrooms
• ⅔ oz niboshi (dried baby anchovies)

How To Make Dashi

Add all ingredients to a large pot or container with lid, stir and let it steep 4 hours to overnight.

Strain Dashi, and separate into 12 cups for stock and ½ cup for Tare.

Prepare Ramen Broth

Ramen Broth can be made a couple days ahead of time and just reheated when ready to serve. Ramen brother can be prepared ahead of time, frozen, and thawed when ready to serve, too.

Ramen Broth Ingredients

• 12 cups Dashi
• 3 lbs chicken pieces (combination of breast, thighs, legs or carcass)
• 2″ piece ginger, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• ⅔ oz bonito flakes
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white pepper

How To Make Ramen Broth

Add all ingredients to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for 6 to 8 hours.

While broth is simmering, prepare Tare, Aroma Oil, Chashu (chicken or pork) and other toppings.

Strain broth. If using right away, transfer back to the same pot you cooked the stock in and bring boil and then simmer while cooking noodles.

Prepare Chicken Chashu

Chicken Chashu is prepared similar to the Pork Chashu, but doesn’t need to be wrapped in twine or marinated overnight (although, I think I might try that next time). When preparing chicken breast for Chashu, be sure to save the chicken skin for the Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil).

Chicken Chashu Ingredients

• 2 bone-in chicken breasts
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 cups water
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1/2 cup sake
• ¼ cup mirin
• 2 tsp white pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 3 green onions, roughly chopped
• 1″ ginger, chopped

How To Make Chicken Chashu

Carefully remove skin from chicken breast with a knife and your hands – it should come off pretty easily. Roughly chop skin and set aside to use in Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil).

Flip breast over, and remove tender and bones. Bones can be added to simmering chicken stock. Save the tender to use in other recipes.

Add chicken and the remaining ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Place a drop lid over the top. To make a drop lid, measure a piece of foil big enough to cover pot, and fold it into a circle. Make 6 little holes in the center with a chopstick, and place directly on top of meat.

Reduce heat to low, and cook chicken 12-15 minutes (depending on thickness of breast), flipping every 5 minutes, or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

Turn off heat, and let chicken sit in sauce to cool completely.

Slice cooled Chicken Chashu into ¼” thick pieces and place in a tupperware container until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, use a kitchen torch and sear slices to enhance the flavors.

Prepare Tare

Every bowl of Ramen is seasoned with a Tare (or sauce).

Tare Ingredients

• ½ cup dashi
• 1 cup sake
• ¼ cup mirin
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp salt
• ⅓ oz bonito flakes

How To Make Tare

Add all ingredients for Tare to a small pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Strain Tare into a small bowl with a fine mesh strainer. Set aside.

Prepare Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil)

Aroma Oil plays an big role when eating Ramen. It is the first appetizing smell when a bowl of ramen is served and is the aroma that passes through your nose when you drink the broth and slurp up the noodles!

Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil) Ingredients

• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 chicken skins, diced
• 1 green onion, roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic

How To Make Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil)

All all ingredients to a small pan. Cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, extracting all of the flavor from chicken skins.

Strain into a small bowl with a fine mesh strainer. Set aside.

Prepare Toppings

Topping Ramen is completely up to you. In this recipe, I topped mine with Chicken Chashu, Togarashi, ramen eggs, bean sprouts and green onions, and the boys topped theirs with Pork Chashu, ramen eggs, bean sprouts and green onions.

Here is a list of some popular Ramen Toppings. Choose your favorites to top your Ramen.

• Chashu (chicken or pork)
• Ajitsuke Tamago (Ramen Eggs)
• Bean Sprouts
• Green Onions
• Narutomaki
• Bok Choy
• Nori
• Black Fungus
• Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms
• Menma (Bamboo Shoots)
• Corn
• Pickled Ginger
• Togarashi Seasoning
• La-Yu (Chili Oil)
• Chi-Yu (Chicken Skin Aroma Oil)

How To Prepare Pork Chashu – Next Day

Open vacuum-sealed bag, and remove pork to a cutting board. Use kitchen scissors to cut twine off completely.

Slice Chashu into ¼” slices.

When ready to serve, use a kitchen torch and sear slices to enhance the flavors.

How To Assemble Shio Ramen

Gather all ingredients and set up assembly line style.

To prepare Chashu, use a kitchen torch and sear slices to enhance the flavors.

Slice Ramen Eggs in half to serve.

Bring broth to a boil. Reduce heat to a rolling boil.

Cook ramen noodles according to package directions.

Add 3 tbsp Tare to each bowl.

Add 1 tbsp Chi-Yu (Aroma Oil) to each bowl.

Add about 1 ½ cups of broth to each bowl.

Drain noodles, and add to bowls filled with broth.

Quickly, top bowls with favorite toppings and serve immediately.