Udon Carbonara

Udon Carbonara. A delicious, indulgent, creamy chewy udon noodles with an Asian-Italian twist. This easy noodle recipe only takes 15 minutes with just 5 ingredients!

What is Udon Carbonara?

Udon Carbonara is a scrumptious Japanese-Italian fusion noodle dish. This quick meal features thick udon noodles stir fried in a creamy rich sauce. These noodles are super easy, quick and simple made with minimal ingredients (5 to be exact if you don't count the garnish)! The thick sauce is simply made with egg, cheese and garlic. In traditional carbonara, they use spaghetti instead of thick noodles and guanciale. But this ingredient wasn't available to me so I'm using bacon or you can use pancetta.

This easy udon noodle dish is absolutely decadent and very filling but it truly hits the spot like no other! If you love udon noodles and creamy sauce, you need to try this Asian-fusion Italian dish! I love making this when I have frozen udon sitting in the freezer that I need to use up.

Ingredients

Please scroll down to below recipe card for exact measurements. 

Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.

• Frozen udon cakes: I highly recommend frozen ones over the "shelf stable" kind. These are much chewier and bouncier in texture. You can also use freshly made udon noodles.
• Eggs: to get that vibrant yellow color, use Omega-3 free run eggs.
• Bacon or pancetta: traditionally in Italian cuisine, guanciale is used but this may be hard to source but if you have it, use it! You can also use pork belly.
• Garlic
• Pecorino Romano Cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano: either will work. I like using the whole block and grating it myself instead of using the grated kind. You could also use parmesan cheese.
• Salt
• Seasoned seaweed flakes or roasted seaweed strips: or cut a small strip of nori into thin pieces. This is an optional garnish.

Note: Most Asian grocery stores will carry most of the Asian specific ingredients.

How to make Udon Carbonara

1. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, cheese, garlic. Set aside the egg mixture.
2. In a large pot with hot boiling water, blanch your frozen food on noodles until they have loosened for about 30 seconds. Do not boil. Reserve ¼ cup of the noodle water for later. Strain hot udon noodles immediately.
3. In a large pan, fry your bacon (or pancetta or guanciale) until crispy and the fat has been rendered off. Remove the crispy bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove and discard the excess bacon fat in the pan.
4. Into the same pan, add udon noodles with ¼ cup reserved noodle water to loosen them. Add meat back in. Cook until noodles begin to steam.
5. Remove the entire pan off the heat. Wait 1 minute for the noodles to cool down. Then pour in egg yolk mixture and quickly mix so the eggs do not cook. Season with salt to taste.
6. Serve and garnish with seasoned seaweed strips, optional.

Storage & Reheating

This dish will last up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. To reheat, microwave for 2-3 minutes or reheat on the stovetop in a pan on medium heat until hot.

Expert Tips

• Have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go! This will make it easier on your and also ensure that your noodles don't go soggy from cooking for too long
• Do not boil your udon noodles. Even if they're from frozen. Just blanch them in hot boiling water to loosen and that's it. Strain immediately. As they will still cook in the pan.
• Use a whisk to combine the grated cheese and garlic into your eggs to make the cheesy carbonara sauce.
• When adding the egg sauce into your udon noodles, remove the whole pan off the heating element and let the noodles cool down, before pouring the sauce and then mix quickly. This prevents cooked scrambled eggs in your noodles and creates that luscious smooth sauce.

Other Udon Recipes You May Like!

• Stir Fried Vegetable Tofu Udon
• Yaki Udon
• Creamy Mushroom Udon with Black Garlic
• Black Pepper Beef Udon
• Rose Bacon Udon
• Garlic Butter Shrimp Udon

📖 Recipe

15-min. Easy & Simple Udon Carbonara

Christie Lai

Udon Carbonara. A delicious, creamy dish with an Asian twist on a classic Italian dish. Filling and totally indulgent. This quick and simple dish only takes 15 minutes with just 5 ingredients!

5 from 13 votes

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4

Calories per serving 1772 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 2.20 lb frozen udon noodles
• 4 large eggs
• 1.5 cups bacon or pancetta or guanciale for authentic taste, chopped into ½-inch wide pieces
• 2 teaspoon garlic minced
• ½ cup pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano, grated
• ¼ cup water reserved from cooking noodles
• salt to taste
• seasoned seaweed flakes or sub with nori cut into thin strips

Instructions

 

• In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, cheese, garlic.
• In a large pot with hot boiling water, blanch your frozen food on noodles until they have loosened for about 30 seconds. Do not boil. Reserve ¼ cup of the noodle water for later. Strain noodles immediately.
• In a large pan, fry your bacon (or pancetta or guanciale) until crispy and the fat has been rendered off. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove and discard the excess oil in the pan.
• Into the same pan, add udon noodles with ¼ cup reserved noodle water to loosen them. Add meat back in. Cook until noodles begin to steam.
• Remove the entire pan off the heat. Wait 1 minute for the noodles to cool down. Then pour in cheese egg mixture and quickly mix so the eggs do not cook. Season with salt to taste.
• Serve and garnish with seasoned seaweed strips, optional.

Enjoyed my recipe?Please leave a 5 star review (be kind)! Tag me on social media @christieathome as I'd love to see your creations!

Suggested Equipment & Products

• Medium Size Pot 2.4 Qt
• Steel Colander
• Large Non-Stick Pan
• Measuring Set
• Box Grater

Nutrition

Calories: 1772kcal | Carbohydrates: 169g | Protein: 48g | Fat: 102g | Saturated Fat: 38g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 256mg | Sodium: 3396mg | Potassium: 78mg | Fiber: 14g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 335IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 175mg | Iron: 1mg