Dried udon noodles are usually easier to find, and they have a much longer shelf life, so consider using them if it’s your first time making an udon dish. Cooking dried udon is pretty similar to making other pasta, but there are a few extra steps to follow. Drop your noodles into a pot of boiling water and allow them to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are just tender. Once they’re cooked, drain them and rinse them under cold water to remove the starch and halt the cooking process. If you’re making a hot udon dish, reserve the cooking water in the pot so you can reheat the noodles later. 

Once you’ve learned how to cook your noodles, you can make any udon dish! Some of the most popular udon dishes in Japan include yaki udon and nabeyaki udon. Yaki udon is a type of Japanese stir-fry that features udon noodles, meat, vegetables, and a delicious soy-sauce based sauce. Nabeyaki udon is a hot soup that’s traditionally served in a clay pot, but whatever you have at home is just fine! It features udon and chicken, fish cakes, and vegetables.