Miso Carbonara Udon

Miso carbonara udon is an umami packed dish that combines flavors from the best of both worlds – Italian and Japanese. This recipe is nothing close to the traditional way of making either, but combining the two makes this dish special. This post is all about how to make the best miso carbonara udon with a few key ingredients and a few minutes.

Miso carbonara udon ingredients

• Bacon – generally carbonara is made from guanciale (or pancetta), however, since those are harder to get at stores I am using bacon for this recipe. The flavor and saltiness of the bacon go really well with this dish. If you don’t have bacon or don’t want to use it, you can skip this ingredient.
• Egg yolks – since the egg yolks are not fully cooked when making carbonara, make sure to use fresh quality egg yolks. I like using organic pasture-raised eggs and the yolks are a deep golden color. You can tell the difference between quality egg yolks because they will be much richer in flavor and color. 
• Shredded pecorino romano cheese – if you don’t have pecorino, you can substitute with Parmesan cheese, however, the pecorino ramano cheese has a deeper richer flavor that I prefer with this recipe.
• Sugar – I am using regular white sugar.
• White miso paste – I like using white miso paste because the flavor isn’t too overpowering and does not change the color of the dish. If you use red miso paste, the miso paste has a much stronger flavor, however, this is all preference.
• Hot water – use hot water to make sure the sauce fully blends together
• Udon – I like using frozen udon. However, feel free to use your choice of udon and cook according to package instructions.

Optional Toppings

• Extra pecorino romano cheese
• Green onion
• Black pepper
• Extra egg yolk
• Togarashi

Tips to making the best miso carbonara udon

• Make sure to use hot water when making the sauce so all the ingredients combine well. This will ensure the sauce comes out creamy when you mix in the udon so you don’t have to worry about eating clumps of cheese or miso paste.
• Turn off the heat before mixing the sauce with udon. This will ensure you won’t end up with scrambled eggs. I like to pour my udon into my sauce bowl instead of pouring the sauce into the pan. If you pour the sauce back into the pan, just make sure the heat is off so the eggs don’t fully cook and get clumpy.
• Use white miso paste. I like using white miso paste because the taste is more mild and does not overpower the dish.