15-Minutes Garlic Prawn Udon Noodles Recipe -Flavor Quotient

This oh-so-delightful garlic prawn udon noodles takes only 15 minutes to put together! This quick and easy Japanese dish will usher you with the restaurant style experience at the comfort of your home!

Being a dedicated noodle lover, I used to always end up choosing a noodles place whenever we ate out! Since the time I have minimized our eating-out frequency, I have missed this one thing the most!

So finally after many months of control over my desire, I decided to try my hands on these Japanese udon noodles in the comfort of my own kitchen and satisfy my craving!

Before sharing this fail-proof 15 minutes garlic prawn udon noodles recipe with you all, I wanted to perfect mine as I was making these Japanese noodles for the very first time.

Thankfully, it just turned out fantastic even the very first time and I could not wait to share this super easy and super quick garlic prawn udon with y’all!

What is garlic prawn udon noodles?

First let’s talk about udon noodles, shall we?

Udon is a special type of noodles which is heavily used in Japanese cuisine; however wikipedia says it originated in China and then brought over to Japan.

Wherever the historical origin may be, Udon is a popular Japanese noodle and typically served as a noodle soup in a hot broth because of its soft yet chewy texture.

However, today’s recipe of garlic prawn udon is a stir fry recipe with classic Oriental sauces and it turned out simply mind-blowing!

Best part of this prawn udon noodles is that it is literally a 15-minute recipe from start to end; I was so pleasantly surprised after realizing that it was done!

The key characteristic of udon is its look as you might have noticed in the pictures already! You can easily identify the classic udon noodles from their super thick look with chewy texture!

Udon is significantly thicker than a regular noodle, but thanks to their soft texture, they cook way faster than the regular ones and due to their neutral taste they soak up whatever flavor you toss them up with!

Just cook them in boiling water at low heat for exactly 2 minutes and drain them out. Do not overcook them at any cost as then they will turn completely mushy and clump together.

Ingredients for garlic prawn udon noodles

Udon noodles: I had hit & miss while finding the right kind of Udon noodles. Few brands were labelled as Udon, but they were not as thick as a classic udon is supposed to be.

Finally I got the authentic Japanese style udon noodles from the brand Urban Platter which again proved to be a savior for us foodies!

These Urban Platter udon were the perfect one to make the restaurant style garlic prawn udon noodles that soaked the deep flavors of the sauces and created the most delicious garlic prawn udon noodles ever!

Prawn/shrimp: Prawns, which you may also call shrimps, are my choice of protein in today’s udon noodles simply because prawns and noodles are a match made in heaven!

On top of it, when you throw a good amount of garlic in it, it goes to another level of deliciousness!

This garlic shrimp udon not only looks gorgeous in pictures, but tastes incredibly & insanely yum! Try it!

You will need about 200-250 grams of peeled & deveined prawns for 3 servings of this udon noodles, but of course you can add more if you are a prawn-lover like me!

Garlic: This prawn udon noodles is dominated by the flavors of garlic; so you will need a generous amount of this aromatic and I am sure you will love it if you are fond of garlicky flavor.

I used about 8 to 10 medium cloves of garlic and chopped them finely. Feel free to adjust the amount based on your liking.

Chinese cabbage: After going through many udon noodle recipes, I realized that using sliced cabbage is a must for any good restaurant style noodles.

I used Chinese cabbage which is also known as napa cabbage and sliced them thinly. If you don’t want to spend extra on this special type of cabbage, you can substitute it with regular cabbage.

Flavorless oil: Since this is a stir fry udon noodle recipe, you will need a flavorless oil to fry things up.

Flavorless oil will not interfere with the overall flavor profile of the dish while crisping things up during stir frying.

My recommendation of oil is canola, sunflower or any vegetable oil of your choice which has a high smoking point.

Soy sauce: Use a regular soy sauce and not the dark soy in this prawn udon noodles recipe. You can opt for low sodium soy sauce if you like.

Pro tip: Since I have used a regular soy and not low-sodium version, I didn’t add any additional salt in this prawn udon noodles.

Oyster sauce: This sauce is the star ingredient of today’s recipe which turned my homely prawn udon noodles to a classic Japanese restaurant style garlic prawn udon noodles with all its glory!

Oyster sauce along with soy sauce had taken care of the seasoning which is why you won’t see any extra salt being added to this dish.

Just keep in mind that oyster sauce is sweeter than soy and thus balances the savoriness of soy sauce giving you that perfect balance of flavors!

Sugar: Both the sauces used in this recipe – soy sauce & oyster sauce – are quite salted. To balance their savoriness, a little amount of sugar is added which complemented the flavors beautifully!

The final taste of salty & sweet with a subtle tang turned out to be too tempting and that too in such a quick 15-minutes recipe!

How to make garlic prawn udon noodles?

Step 1: Boil salted water in a large pot. After the water comes to boil, reduce heat to minimum and drop the udon noodles cakes carefully into the water.

Step 2: Using a fork gently separate the noodles and as soon as they have come apart, transfer the noodles to a colander to allow all excess water to drip off.

Step 3: Drizzle a little bit of cooking oil on top to ensure that the noodles do not stick to each other. Set them aside until needed.

Step 4: Now warm up a wok until it is very hot. Then add the oil of your choice and let it smoke.

Step 5: Now reduce the heat to medium and add the sliced Chinese cabbage. Stir fry the cabbage until they start to get charred on the edges.

Step 6: At this stage add half of the sugar and half a tablespoon of soy sauce reserving the rest for later. These two will help in enhancing the smokiness of the cabbage.

Step 7: Stir fry the cabbage for another couple of minutes or until they are golden brown. Then add chopped garlic and stir fry them for half a minute.

Step 8: Now it’s time to add the prawns. Continue stir frying the prawns with cabbage & garlic until they are completely opaque and cooked through.

Step 9: Finally it’s time to add noodles and all the remaining ingredients – oyster sauce, remaining soy sauce and remaining sugar.

Step 10: Toss everything together using 2 stirring spatula if needed, being careful not to break the noodles.

Step 11: Stir fry the garlic prawn udon noodles for 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Step 12: Now sprinkle the spring onion greens and give a final toss! Your delicious garlic prawn udon noodles is ready to serve! Enjoy!

More delicious noodles recipes from Flavor Quotient

Recipe adapted from: Marion’s Kitchen