Tiktok Creamy Udon Noodles

You need to try this viral creamy tiktok udon: silken tofu blended into a creamy, thick sauce poured straight over hot udon noodles and saucy, spicy ground pork.

I love udon. It truly is the best Japanese noodle: thick, chewy, and just begging to be covered in sauce and slurped up. I feel like udon is having a moment and I am so happy for it! Forget ramen or soba, udon is the most elite of all the noodles because it is so thick. You can use udon in almost any recipe but lately I’ve been seeing creamy mapo tofu udon making its way across the internet universe and of course I had to try it.

What is creamy TikTok udon?

Creamy TikTok udon is essentially deconstructed mapo tofu with udon noodles. The sauce is simply silken tofu blended into a creamy, thick sauce that’s poured straight over hot udon noodles and saucy, spicy ground pork. Everything gets mixed up and it’s creamy, saucy, spicy, super addictive and protein forward. If you’ve ever had Sichuan food, specifically mapo tofu, then you can probably imagine what these noodles taste like.

Who created creamy TikTok udon?

As far as I can tell, the original idea for creamy mapo tofu udon was first posted by @audreyishome. Blending up silken tofu is a pretty common thing in Asian recipes and combining silky tofu sauce with mapo seasoned meat over udon noodles is a truly genius idea.

Creamy TikTok udon ingredients

If you regularly cook Chinese food at home, you’ll probably have all of these ingredients in your panty. If you don’t, you’ll need to make a stop at your friendly local Asian grocery store to pick stuff up. Trust me, it’s worth it!

• aromatics – starting off with some standards, we’ll need minced garlic and some thinly sliced green onions.
• doubanjiang – doubanjiang is a spicy fermented mix of soy and broad beans. It’s been called the soul of Sichuan cooking and it’s what will give your spicy pork a glorious red hue. When shopping, look for the Pixian (an area in China) variety if you can. It’s kind of like how, if you can, you want to buy champagne from the Champagne region in France. But, like champagne, if you can only find sparkling wine, don’t sweat it, the more commonly found Lee Kum Kee also sells a Cantonese style doubanjiang that they call chili bean sauce/toban djan. Read more about here.
• ground pork – ground pork because ground pork is what’s typically used for mapo tofu. Super simple to find and it cooks up quickly.
• silken tofu – silken tofu is the key to this recipe. It’s what gives the udon the creaminess and coats each noodle with goodness. Look in the fridge aisle for soft or silken tofu. It should be very soft and jiggly and will blend perfectly into a creamy sauce.
• udon – the best udon to use are those frozen bricks of sanuki udon that you’ll find in the freezer aisles at Asian grocery stores. They taste WAY better than those sad vacuum sealed packages of udon you usually see. Typically they’re shipped straight from Japan or Korea and are really easy to prepare because they’re fully cooked. All you need to do before eating is reheat them fully.

How to make creamy TikTok udon

1. Fry – Heat up a bit of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and sauté the minced garlic and sliced green onions. Add the doubanjiang and cook, stirring. Add the ground pork and cook, breaking up into small pieces. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the pork is cooked through. Deglaze the pan with a splash of water, then remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
2. Blend – Blend the silken tofu with a pinch of salt, until completely smooth and creamy.
3. Boil – Boil the frozen udon noodles until heated through, then drain well.
   
4. Assemble – Add the drained udon noodles to a bowl and top with the spicy pork and creamy tofu sauce.
   
5. Enjoy – finish off your bowl of noodles with any desired toppings (sliced green onions, crushed Sichuan peppercorns), mix well, and enjoy while hot!

Pro version

In the version that Audrey makes, she uses also adds in Shaoxing wine, black vinegar, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and extra chili powder to season the pork mix. If you have these ingredients or pick them up, you should definitely use them, but sometimes even one extra ingredient to buy tips you over to the “do not make” category and I don’t want these noodles to be hard to make, so I’ve left them out of this version of the recipe.

If you want to add Shaoxing wine and black vinegar, add 2 tsp of each to the pork while you’re frying it up. Taste the pork, then sprinkle on a bit of chili powder and Sichuan peppercorn powder to taste before continuing with the rest of the recipe.

And if you want some more udon inspiration, try these recipes:

• udon carbonara (pictured below)
• Japanese yakiudon
• Everything bagel udon
• Thai curry udon
• cacio e pepe udon
• spicy kimchi udon

That’s it! Happy noodling friends!

Creamy Mapo Tofu Udon

Silky tofu sauce with mapo seasoned meat over udon noodles is a truly genius idea.

Serves 2

5 from 1 vote

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 tsp neutral oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 green onion thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp doubanjiang spicy bean paste
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 2 tsp Shaoxing wine optional
• 2 tsp black vinegar optional
• 1/4 tsp sichuan peppercorns ground, optional
• 14 oz silken tofu (1 package)
• 2 bricks frozen udon sanuki preferred

Instructions

• Take the tofu out of the fridge and set aside. Fill a large pot of water and bring it to a boil.
• In a frying pan, heat up 2 tsp of oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and sliced green onions and fry slightly, while stirring, until soft, about 1 minute.
  
• Add the doubanjiang and continue to fry, stirring, until the doubanjiang oils start to render.
  
• Add the pork to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook the pork, breaking it up and cooking it throughly. Add the Shaoxing wine and black vinegar, if using. If not, add a splash of (1 tbsp) water to the pan to deglaze. Remove the pork from the heat and set aside.
  
• Add the tofu to a blender with a pinch of salt and blend until completely smooth then set aside.
  
• Add the frozen bricks of udon to the boiling water and heat through, according to the package directions. When hot, drain well, and divide into two bowls, then evenly divide the spicy pork between the two bowls.
  
• Top with the creamy tofu sauce. Finish with sliced green onions if desired, mix well and enjoy hot!
  

Estimated Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Creamy Mapo Tofu Udon

Amount Per Serving

Calories 747 Calories from Fat 264

% Daily Value*

Fat 29.3g45%

Saturated Fat 7.3g46%

Cholesterol 74mg25%

Sodium 588mg26%

Potassium 819mg23%

Carbohydrates 74.7g25%

Fiber 3.7g15%

Sugar 7.7g9%

Protein 45.9g92%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.