The Perfect Shoyu Ramen Stock to Elevate Your Bowl

Japanese Ramen is one of the best noodle dishes of all time, but it can be a hassle to put together. Fortunately, with this recipe, you can easily elevate your ramen game by creating a refined and super-savory Shoyu Ramen Stock. Prepare to have the perfect base for bouncy noodles, flavorful seasonings, juicy proteins, and many toppings ready at a moment’s notice! 

How to use Shoyu Ramen Stock 

Ramen is a soul-warming Japanese noodle soup that uses Chinese-style wheat noodles and a Japanese-style broth. There is a large variety of Ramen toppings from chashu pork belly to corn. Although the original version was probably invented in China, Japan popularized ramen and invented several variants. One of these variants is Shoyu Ramen. Usually a lighter version of ramen with a soy sauce seasoned broth, it’s one of my favorites. This style focuses on umami-rich ingredients combined with a salty-sweet shoyu tare to create a perfectly balanced, piping-hot bowl of soul-satisfying ramen.

A roasted chicken and mushroom broth and a sea-essence dashi compose this broth. They are cooked separately and then combined in perfect union, sure to satisfy all who taste! It begins by roasting a whole chicken until browned, resulting in a world-class flavor that is infused into the broth. Combining this with several aromatic vegetables and delicious dashi creates the ultimate complexly flavored broth. 

I have an Easy AND Delicious recipe for Shoyu Ramen that is the main purpose of this stock. To construct each bowl of Ramen, place tare and aromatic oil in the bottom of a preheated bowl, add noodles, ladle over steaming hot broth, and top with your desired toppings. While this broth is designed to be used in tandem with a tare for Shoyu Ramen, it is very versatile and insanely delicious. Feel free to use this recipe for miso or shio ramen. Or, to unleash a delicious flavor boost in any recipe that uses some kind of stock or broth! 

Why is there no Shoyu in this recipe?

If you know some basic Japanese words, then you’re probably wondering why there is no Shoyu (Japanese Soy Sauce) in this recipe! I am aware that there is no shoyu in this recipe, so technically it’s not a shoyu broth. But, this recipe is a base stock that can be used to craft quite a few bowls of Easy AND delicious Shoyu Ramen.

Ingredients for Shoyu Ramen Stock

Chicken – A whole roasted chicken is the base and main source of flavor in this broth.

Mushrooms – Mushrooms are a prized ingredient for their umami-rich qualities, I use the stocks of baby Bella and use the heads as a topping, but sub in whatever mushroom you want.

Carrot Ends – Infusing their earthy sweetness into the broth is an easy way to use carrot scraps.

Onion – Onion is a very delicious ingredient when cooked for a long time to mellow out its sharper notes. I prefer to use white onions, but sweet/yellow onions work as well.

Garlic – The strong flavor of garlic lends itself nicely to the broth when added near the end to preserve more of the fresher notes.

Ginger – Provides a cleansing contrast to the rest of the deeply savory ingredients.

Green Onion – A classic ingredient for many Asian broths, I recommend adding it near the end along with the garlic.

Dashi Packets – These are different from Dvashi granules, so don’t substitute that. These packets use ground ingredients such as kombu, and katsuo (bonito) for a conveniently delicious and light dashi. I use this brand, which can be purchased on Amazon.

How to Make Shoyu Ramen Stock

Step 1 – Salt Chicken

Salting the chicken ahead of time will remove excess moisture and assist in the Maillard reaction. Remember, more Maillard reactions equals more flavor. Salting one hour in advance will suffice, but I recommend salting overnight.

Step 2 – Cut vegetables

Since you won’t be eating the actual vegetable in the end, very minimal prep is fine! The only cutting and prepping I do is quartering the onion, slicing the ginger, and peeling and smashing the garlic. Be sure to wash all the vegetables before using them, as always; no dirt in the broth! 

Step 3 – Roast Chicken

Roasting the chicken is what will create delicious Maillard reactions, that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Maillard reactions are the reason many foods such as steak, coffee, gravy, and so much more taste good. I roast the chicken for about an hour at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. This will result in a beautiful, rich golden brown chicken.

Step 4 – Simmer Chicken

While the chicken is roasting, there will be plenty of time to bring a large pot of water to a gentle simmer. A long, slow simmer will produce a clear, pure, and flavorful stock.

Once the chicken has finished roasting carefully transfer it along with the vegetables into the water, and bring the pot back to a simmer. The water should just cover the chicken at all times, and it is important to add water intermittently throughout the day to achieve this.

Skimming the stock occasionally may be necessary. It can be a little annoying, but no one wants a cloudy broth, so please skim your stock!

Pro Tip: Deglazing the roasting pan with about a cup of water from the pot will pick up all the delicious browned bits and transfer them into the broth! 

Step 5 – Remove Chicken Meat

After about 4 hours of gentle simmering, remove the chicken from the stock and transfer it to a cutting board. Removing the meat from the breast, thighs, and legs is not very difficult and it can then be used in other recipes.

After the meat has been removed, continuing to simmer the bones with whatever meat is attached will take your ramen to the next level. 

Step 6 – Add Garlic, Ginger, and Green Onion

The garlic, ginger, and green onion are best applied by simmering in the last hour of cooking. Altogether these three aromatics form the “Asian Trinity,” equivalent to the French mirepoix, Italian sofrito, and the Cajun Holy Trinity. At this point, the broth should be smelling delicious, and your hours upon hours of “work” are almost over!

Step 8 – Strain Broth

After 8 hours of simmering your ramen stock, it is ready to be run through a fine mesh strainer and cooled to room temperature. The leftover bones and vegetables can be discarded or composted.

Step 9 – Make Dashi

This step is extremely easy with the help of dashi packets! Simply cook according to package instructions, in my case boiling for 2-3 minutes and then you’re done! Combine this with chicken stock, let cool to room temperature, and your stock is ready to be used to unlock restaurant-quality ramen! You can use it immediately, but I make it ahead of time so I can whip up steaming bowls of comfort on a moment’s notice! 

The Perfect Shoyu Ramen Recipe to Elevate Your Bowl

Time:

10 hours

Yield:

25 cups

Cuisine:

Japanese

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 whole chicken, 4-5 lbs.
• A generous sprinkle of salt
• 1-2 tbsp. neutral high-heat oil (peanut, canola, vegetable)
• 15 c. of water

Aromatics

• The stocks of 1 lb. of mushrooms
• The ends of 1 lb of carrots
• 1 onion, quartered
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 2-inch knob of ginger
• 1 bunch of green onions

Dashi

• 4 dashi packets
• 10 c. of water

Directions

Before cooking

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place a wire rack on top of it.
2. To dry the outside of the chicken, generously rub the chicken all over with salt and place the chicken on the wire rack.
3. If you will only be salting the chicken for an hour, you can leave the chicken on the counter. However, if you will be salting the chicken for longer, place it in the fridge while salting to prevent bacterial growth.

Roasting the Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Next, spread oil all over the salted chicken. Coating the chicken with oil will increase Maillard reactions because fat is a very efficient heat transmitter.
3. Once the oven is up to temperature transfer the chicken on the wire rack into the oven and roast for 1 hour.

Making the Stock

1. While the chicken is roasting (developing phenomenal flavor), bring 15 cups of water to a simmer.
2. After the chicken has roasted for 1 hour, it should be a beautiful golden brown and smell wondrous! Take a moment to bask in this smell and appreciate the power of salt, fat, and heat. Okay, carefully transfer the chicken into the simmering water once you have completed that vital step.
3. Add the mushroom, carrot, and onion, and bring the stock back to a gentle simmer. Cook on medium-low for 4 hours.
4. As your stock simmers, skim any foam that appears and add water intermittently to ensure the chicken is always submerged.

Removing the Chicken Meat

1. After 4 hours of simmering, carefully transfer the chicken to a large cutting board. Do your best to keep the entire chicken in one piece, but if a wing falls off or something it’s not a big problem.
2. I find that a combination of a small (6-inch, slender blade) and your hands are the best tools for the job. To remove the chicken breasts, run your knife along the bone separating the breasts, cut through the joint connecting it to the body, and then remove each one with your hands.
3. For the thighs and drumsticks, begin by separating them from the body and each other. The chicken should be tender enough to do this with your hands quite easily, but if not, simply bend the thigh at the joint and cut it off with your knife. Remove the meat with your hands after the thighs and drumsticks are separated.
4. Replace the chicken carcass (wings included) in the pot and continue simmering for 4 final hours.

Making the Dashi

1. Simply bring 10 cups of water to a boil and add the dashi packets for 3 minutes. So easy! Now you have a smoky-umami element to add to your broth.

Final Steps

1. When your stock is 1 hour away from finishing add the Asian Trinity to the pot: garlic, ginger, and green onion. You’re almost finished!
2. After 8 hours of simmering, strain your stock through a fine-mesh strainer, combine with the prepared dashi, and transfer to a (large!) Tupperware or similar containers.
3. The final step in creating restaurant-quality stock for shoyu ramen is allowing the stock to cool overnight and removing the layer of fat that forms on top.
4. Unleash the power of this delectable stock in your everyday cooking or use it to craft several bowls of Easy AND Delicious Shoyu Ramen!