8 Ramen and Tempura Recipes to Make at Home

There’s a moment in every home cook’s life when a bowl of restaurant ramen stops feeling impossible and starts feeling inevitable. You stare at a steaming bowl of shoyu broth, crispy tempura perched on top like it owns the place, springy noodles coiled underneath — and you think: I could make this. You absolutely can.

Ramen and tempura are two of Japan’s most iconic culinary achievements, and while both have reputations for complexity, the truth is that home versions are not only achievable but often more satisfying than what you’d order out. You control the broth depth, the spice level, the toppings, and the quality of every single ingredient. That’s a power no restaurant can give you.

What makes these dishes genuinely tricky isn’t the technique — it’s understanding why each step matters. Why does ice-cold water make tempura crispier? Why does the broth need time to develop before you add the noodles? Why do you score the underside of shrimp before frying? Once you understand those answers, the recipes click into place with a confidence that’s hard to shake.

The eight recipes below span the full range of what ramen and tempura can be — from quick weeknight bowls that come together in under 30 minutes to deeper weekend projects with homemade dashi and braised pork. Whether you’re chasing that perfect shrimp tempura crunch or a bowl of spicy miso broth that warms you from the inside out, there’s something here worth cooking tonight.

1. Classic Shrimp Tempura Ramen

Few bowls hit the intersection of comfort and showmanship quite like shrimp tempura ramen. The contrast is everything: blazing hot, deeply savory broth below; feather-light, shatteringly crispy tempura shrimp balanced on top. It’s a bowl that looks like it took hours and, with the right approach, takes closer to 35 minutes.

The key to pulling this off at home is treating the two components — broth and tempura — as completely separate projects that come together only at the very end. Cook the broth first and keep it at a low simmer. Fry the shrimp last, right before serving, so they land in the bowl at peak crispiness.

Building the Tempura Batter the Right Way

The batter is where most home cooks go wrong, and the fix is simple once you know it. Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, ½ cup cornstarch, and ½ teaspoon salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 egg, ½ cup ice-cold water, and ¾ cup cold club soda. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir barely — lumps are not just acceptable, they’re desirable. Gluten development is the enemy of crispiness, and overworking the batter creates it. The club soda’s carbonation creates tiny air bubbles that puff and crisp in the hot oil.

Before battering, score the underside of each peeled, deveined shrimp with 3-4 shallow cuts across the belly, then gently press the shrimp flat against your cutting board. This “nobashi” technique prevents the shrimp from curling in the oil and gives you that dramatic straight shape you see in Japanese restaurants.

Shrimp and Broth Timing

• Fry shrimp at 350°F (175°C) for 3-4 minutes per batch, holding the tail and dipping the body into the batter
• Use a spicy instant ramen packet (like Shin Ramyun Black) as your broth base — it’s a legitimate shortcut that delivers genuine depth
• Add bok choy, sliced green onions, and a fish cake to the boiling broth in the last 2 minutes of cooking
• Crack 2 eggs directly into the simmering broth and cook 3-4 minutes for soft, runny yolks
• Plate the noodles and broth first, then lay the shrimp tempura on top — never add it early or the coating absorbs moisture and goes limp

Worth knowing: A slice of American cheese melted into the hot broth sounds unconventional, but it adds a creamy richness that makes the whole bowl taste rounder. Try it once before you judge it.

2. Pork Shoyu Ramen with Braised Chashu and Shrimp Tempura

This is the weekend project recipe — the one you make when you want to genuinely impress someone or simply spend a Saturday doing something meditative and delicious. It combines two separate achievements: a proper shoyu ramen broth built from pork braising liquid and bonito-infused stock, and clean, crispy shrimp tempura that serves as the crowning topping.

The braised pork, called chashu, is easier than it sounds. A 300-gram piece of pork shoulder, seared hard on all sides in a hot pan, then simmered low and slow for 45 minutes in soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, ginger, and star anise. The result is pork that slices thin and melts against the tongue, and a deeply flavored braising liquid that becomes the backbone of your shoyu broth.

The Shoyu Broth Formula

Combine 6 cups of pork stock with 1 cup of the braising liquid you just made. Add ⅓ cup soy sauce, 2 packets of bonito flakes, and 1 tablespoon of dashinomoto (instant dashi). Bring to a simmer and hold it there for 10-15 minutes. The bonito flakes perfume the broth with a subtle smokiness that distinguishes a proper shoyu bowl from a one-dimensional one. Strain before serving.

Assembly and Toppings

• Halved soft-boiled eggs (cook 6-7 minutes, shock in ice water, peel carefully)
• Thinly sliced braised chashu, fanned across the bowl
• Shrimp tempura using the same ice-cold batter technique from recipe 1
• Finely sliced leeks and thin strips of nori for color and bite
• A final ladle of hot shoyu broth poured over the assembled bowl tableside

The broth carries real weight here — salty, sweet, smoky, rich — and it needs both the delicate tempura and the fatty pork to feel complete. Don’t skip the nori. It softens at the edge of the broth and adds a faint oceanic note that ties the whole bowl together.

Pro tip: Make the braised pork and broth the day before. Both improve overnight as the flavors meld and the pork fat solidifies on the surface of the broth, making it easy to skim clean before reheating.

3. Spicy Miso Tempura Ramen

Miso ramen originated in Hokkaido and carries a richness that feels almost architectural — layer upon layer of fermented depth, usually cut with a little heat and sometimes enriched with butter or sesame. Adding tempura to a miso ramen bowl turns it into something extraordinary: the crispy coating absorbs the edge of the spicy broth while maintaining its crunch in the center, creating a bite that’s simultaneously soft, crunchy, and deeply savory.

White miso (shiro miso) gives a milder, sweeter base; red miso (aka miso) brings more intensity. A 50/50 blend of the two hits a middle ground that most palates find irresistible. Whisk 3 tablespoons of blended miso paste with 2 tablespoons of chili bean paste (doubanjiang) and 1 teaspoon of sesame paste into your hot chicken or pork broth. Don’t boil the broth after adding miso — boiling destroys the complex fermented flavor compounds you’re trying to preserve.

Vegetable Tempura as the Star

Rather than shrimp, this bowl pairs brilliantly with kakiage-style vegetable tempura — a fritter made from julienned sweet potato, sliced onion, and shredded shiso leaf all bound together with tempura batter and fried as a single disk. It’s dramatically different from individual shrimp tempura: thicker, more substantial, with a shaggier exterior that traps even more crunch.

Building the Spicy Miso Bowl

• Sweat minced garlic and grated ginger in sesame oil for 60 seconds before adding stock
• Add miso-chili mixture off heat, whisking to incorporate fully without lumps
• Top the finished bowl with a small knob of unsalted butter dropped in at the center — it melts into the broth and rounds the heat beautifully
• Corn kernels, bean sprouts, and green onions are classic miso ramen toppings that hold up against the bold broth
• Dust finished bowl with togarashi for additional heat and color

This bowl rewards patience. Let the broth simmer for at least 20 minutes before tasting and adjusting — miso ramen broth tastes flat when rushed and complex when given time.

4. Tentsuyu Broth Tempura Ramen

Tentsuyu is the dipping sauce traditionally served alongside tempura — a mixture of dashi, soy sauce, and mirin that’s sweet, umami-packed, and lightly smoky from bonito. The clever idea behind this bowl is using tentsuyu as the ramen broth itself, seasoning it more assertively so it functions as a soup base rather than just a dipping accompaniment.

Build the broth by simmering 2 cups of chicken stock with 2 cups of water, a handful of bonito flakes, 5-6 dried anchovies, a 6-inch strip of kombu seaweed, 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, sliced ginger, and smashed garlic for a full hour. Strain everything, return the liquid to the pot, and add ½ cup each of sake, soy sauce, and mirin. The result is a broth with the sweet-savory profile of restaurant tempura dipping sauce — but built to eat by the bowl.

Why This Combination Works

The key insight here is that tempura was always meant to be eaten with tentsuyu. Serving both in the same bowl isn’t a fusion experiment — it’s a logical progression of an existing Japanese pairing. The broth echoes the flavor of the coating, reinforcing rather than competing with it.

Tempura and Broth Balance Tips

• Use rice flour instead of all-purpose flour for the tempura batter — combined with cold seltzer, it produces an exceptionally light, almost translucent coating
• Fry an assortment: kabocha squash, sweet potato, whole green beans, maitake mushrooms, and 2-3 large shrimp per bowl
• Keep finished tempura warm in a 200°F (93°C) oven on a wire rack while frying subsequent batches — this maintains crispness without further browning
• Cook ramen noodles separately in plain boiling water, drain well, then add to bowl before ladling broth
• Top with finely grated daikon and sliced scallions — the cold daikon provides a palate-cleansing contrast to the rich broth

Finish with a dusting of togarashi chile powder if you want heat. This bowl works without it, but the mild spice adds a welcome sharpness against all that umami.

5. Chashu Pork and Shrimp Tempura Shoyu Ramen Bowl

This bowl takes the Wagamama-influenced approach to tempura ramen — assembling a visually stunning, restaurant-caliber bowl by treating each component as its own craft project before bringing everything together in a single dramatic presentation. Shoyu broth, tender chashu, crispy shrimp tempura, a perfectly jammy egg, naruto fish cake, pickled red ginger, and bamboo shoots (menma) — all in one bowl.

The shoyu broth here runs lighter and cleaner than the braised-pork version in recipe 2. Use a quality premixed shoyu ramen soup base dissolved in 300ml of hot water, or build from scratch by combining dashi with soy sauce, mirin, and a small amount of sake. The goal is clarity — a broth you can almost see through, golden and bright, that doesn’t overwhelm the toppings.

The Art of Tempura on Shoyu Broth

A lighter broth demands a lighter hand with the toppings. The shrimp tempura here should be as thin and ethereal as possible — use cold seltzer water in the batter, whisk only 8-10 times regardless of remaining lumps, and fry at exactly 350°F for no more than 90 seconds per side. The goal is a pale golden, nearly translucent coating, not deep brown. Pale tempura on a clear shoyu broth looks elegant; dark tempura looks heavy.

Toppings and Plating

• Slice chashu into ¼-inch rounds and sear briefly in a pan for caramelized edges
• Halve ramen eggs (marinated soft-boiled eggs soaked in soy, mirin, and sake overnight)
• Fan naruto fish cake slices along one side of the bowl
• Place menma (seasoned bamboo shoots) and a small mound of pickled red ginger (beni shoga) in separate zones
• Rest shrimp tempura across the top, tails pointed skyward, like a crown
• Scatter sliced green onions across the entire surface at the very end

This bowl photographs as well as it eats. If you’re making ramen for guests, this is the version to serve.

6. Quick Weeknight Shrimp Tempura Ramen Bowl

Not every ramen night needs to be a multi-hour project. This version strips the concept down to its essentials — panko-coated shrimp instead of traditional batter tempura, a quality instant ramen cup as the broth base, and a handful of fresh vegetables — and delivers a genuinely satisfying bowl in under 25 minutes.

The distinction between this and a standard “cheated” ramen shortcut is the attention to detail in the shrimp. Panko bread crumbs create a different kind of crispiness than traditional tempura batter — denser, with more structural integrity — which holds up longer in hot broth without turning soggy. Dredge 3-4 jumbo shrimp in egg wash, then pack them in panko, pressing firmly to adhere. Fry in olive oil over medium-high heat, about 2 minutes per side, until deeply golden.

Weeknight Toppings That Elevate the Bowl

• Steamed baby bok choy: Split one small head and steam for 3 minutes until bright green and just tender
• Soft-boiled egg: Drop 1 egg into boiling water, exactly 7 minutes, then ice bath — the yolk should be golden and jammy at the center
• Red chili pepper: Thinly sliced, 3-4 rings per bowl, for low-level heat that builds over the meal
• Togarashi as a final garnish — just a pinch shaken from the jar

Making the Instant Broth Work Harder

Instant ramen broth is a starting point, not a finished product. Add 1 teaspoon of soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil, and half a teaspoon of white miso paste dissolved in a splash of hot water. These additions cost almost nothing and transform a flat, one-note instant broth into something with actual dimension.

Worth knowing: Shin Ramyun Black is widely considered among the best spicy instant ramen packets for this application — its broth has genuine beef depth and controlled heat that doesn’t overwhelm the shrimp. It’s worth seeking out over generic supermarket options.

7. Vegetable Tempura Udon with Dashi Broth

Udon is thicker, chewier, and more substantive than ramen — a wheat noodle made from flour, water, and salt that eats like something genuinely hearty. Paired with a clean dashi-based broth and a parade of crispy vegetable tempura, it’s one of the most satisfying and surprisingly light meals you can make at home.

The dashi broth here is the foundation, and it’s worth making properly. Combine 4 cups of dashi stock (from kombu and bonito flakes, or instant dashi granules if time is short) with 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and mirin. Bring to a boil, then pull off the heat immediately. The broth should taste subtly sweet, distinctly savory, and clean — not salty or sharp.

Choosing and Prepping the Vegetables

The best vegetables for this style of tempura are those with moderate moisture content and flavors that intensify when fried:

• Shiitake mushrooms (stems removed, fried whole)
• Eggplant (cut into wedges, soaked in cold water 5-10 minutes to prevent oil absorption, then dried completely)
• Sweet potato (¼-inch rounds — they take 3-4 minutes and come out creamy inside, crispy outside)
• Asparagus (cut into thirds, dried well before battering)
• Perilla leaves (shiso) — batter one side only, fry 30 seconds, stunning and fragrant

Dry every vegetable completely before battering. Any surface moisture creates steam pockets in the hot oil that blow the batter off the vegetable. Coat each piece lightly in plain flour first, then dip in batter — this “flour first” step is the professional trick that keeps batter attached through the entire frying process.

Serving the Tempura Udon Bowl

• Cook udon according to package instructions, rinse with fresh boiling water after draining (this removes excess starch and brightens the noodles)
• Add kamaboko fish cake slices and chopped green onions to the assembled bowl
• Serve tempura on the side rather than submerged in broth if you want maximum crunch preserved throughout the meal
• Shichimi togarashi (seven-spice Japanese chili powder) is the finishing touch that makes every udon bowl taste complete — don’t skip it

8. Vegan Tsuyu Ramen with Julienned Vegetable Tempura Fritters

This recipe is proof that you don’t need shrimp, pork, or chicken stock to make a deeply satisfying ramen bowl. The vegan tsuyu broth — built from sake, mirin, soy sauce, dried kelp (kombu), charred green onions, charred dried shiitake mushrooms, and mushroom seasoning powder — develops a savory complexity that rivals any meat-based broth once you give it 15 minutes to steep and reduce.

Char the green onions and dried shiitake directly over an open gas flame until lightly blackened at the edges. This step is non-negotiable — the char adds a roasty, almost meaty depth that compensates for the absence of animal protein. Bring ½ cup sake to a boil, add everything else (mirin, soy sauce, kombu, charred aromatics, mushroom powder), return to a boil, remove the kombu, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Strain or leave the solids in — the longer they steep, the deeper the sauce becomes.

Yachae Twigim: Korean-Style Vegetable Tempura Fritters

This version of vegetable tempura takes a Korean approach called yachae twigim — julienned sweet potato, sliced onion, and shredded basil or perilla leaf tossed together with tempura flour (or Korean frying mix for extra crispiness), then bound with water to form a thick batter and fried as cohesive palm-sized fritters.

The ratio matters: 2 cups of tempura flour to 1½ cups cold water, mixed with the vegetables directly. Each fritter should hold together when placed in the oil but spread slightly, creating craggy, irregular edges that shatter at the first bite.

Vegan Bowl Assembly

• Bring 4 cups water with 6 tablespoons of your tsuyu to a boil; taste and adjust saltiness before adding noodles
• Add rehydrated wakame (dried seaweed) directly to the broth for color and texture
• Use frozen udon noodles (cook directly in broth) or fresh ramen noodles (cooked separately and added to bowls)
• Lay 2 vegetable fritters across the top of each bowl, overlapping slightly
• Finish with chopped green onion and a drizzle of chili oil if heat is welcome

The tsuyu keeps up to 30 days refrigerated and improves with time — make a double batch and you’ll have a phenomenal base for soups, stir-fries, and noodle bowls throughout the month.

Final Thoughts

The through-line connecting all eight of these recipes is the tempura batter — and ice-cold liquid is the single most important variable across every version. Whether you’re using club soda, plain seltzer, cold beer, or chilled flat water, the temperature drop when the batter hits hot oil is what drives the rapid steam release that creates those characteristic craggy, crispy bubbles. Warm batter produces a dense, greasy coating. Cold batter produces something light and glass-like.

Equally, don’t underestimate what a well-made broth does for a ramen bowl. Even quick weeknight versions benefit from a small investment — a tablespoon of miso whisked in, a few drops of sesame oil, a splash of soy — things that take 30 seconds but add real dimension. The noodles and toppings get all the attention, but the broth is the soul of every bowl.

Start with whichever recipe matches your available time and ambition. The quick weeknight panko shrimp bowl (Recipe 6) is the lowest barrier to entry and still genuinely impressive. The braised chashu shoyu bowl (Recipes 2 and 5) is the one to save for a weekend when you want to cook with intention. Every one of these bowls, once you’ve made it a single time, becomes something you’ll know by feel — adjusting the seasoning, the spice level, the toppings to exactly the bowl you’re craving that evening.