This Tonkatsu Pork Ramen Broth Recipe is going to satisfy all of your ramen cravings, right from home. This is the real deal, made from scratch, simmered for a very long time on the stovetop until the bones have broken down. This is the kind of broth that turns into jello when you chill it, and that’s how you know you’ve done it right. That and the milky smooth texture this broth takes on, and with the perfect mouthfeel too.

Use this delicious broth to make a steaming bowl of Spicy Tonkotsu Miso Ramen!

Tonkotsu Pork Ramen Broth Recipe

Homemade Ramen Broth is not quick, but it is easy, and also economical too. Use pork neck bones and chicken carcasses to get the perfect gelatinous bowl of sticky porky ramen broth that you can use as the base for one of the best bowls of ramen you might ever eat.

More Soup For You!

My favorite spicy chicken ramen at Uncle Ramen in Denver, Colorado.

Why Ramen? (or rather, why MAKE ramen at home?)

Ever since I had my first bowl of Uncle ramen, I’ve been totally obsessed. Cannot properly describe how good this was. Make up a reason to go to Denver just so you can eat here. Worth it.

I can’t help it. I’ve gone back to Denver twice since that first bowl JUST so I could eat at that restaurant.

Okay – also because Denver is beautiful, centrally located in the country, and has been a great place to meet and train my new team members and have some in-person planning time with some of my crew.

Turns out that Denver, while relatively close to where I’m at here in the Pacific Northwest, is still too far away to go every time I am craving their spicy chicken ramen.

So far my pleas for them to open up a shop in my town have gone ignored, so for now I’m forced to either explore my surrounding areas for something that approximates what they are doing (as far as I know it cannot be found in the South Sound region), or to make my own.

Get all of our PORK RECIPES here!

Is Tonkotsu broth hard to make?

Since Ramen was a really new dish for me, the whole process was something I was pretty unfamiliar with. I mean, I knew it was intense, but I didn’t really realize it was like DAYS OF YOUR LIFE intense.

It is.

The good news is that most of this is hands-off work, but you are still going to be babysitting a pot for the better part of an entire day, and your thoughts will be on ALL THE RAMEN for about a half a week if you are smart like I am and tackle this process in chunks.

I am pretty experienced making homemade stock, so once I figured out that the secret to a good ramen is in the rich pork stock that firms up like a giant porky jello jiggler, I was in my element. That’s my go-to way to do stock for my soups as well.

The ramen broth is the first piece of this puzzle.

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What are the different types of ramen broth?

You may know this, but in case you didn’t – there are a $*(#-ton of different kinds of ramen broth. Here are the most common:

Shio Ramen is a salt-based broth that is usually light-colored or clear.
Miso Ramen is flavored using fermented soy paste. It is very heavily SOY, and is amazing.
Shoyu Ramen is a soy-based broth that is one of the most common.
Tonkotsu Ramen is what we are making here, and is pork bone-based, has a creamy, silky texture, and is rich and full of meat flavor.

Check out our Blackstone Yakisoba recipe too!

Will another type of pork bones work?

Sure!

I was having a hard time finding trotters, which is what most people use to make tonkotsu it seems, and my local grocery store had neck bones on sale for a ridiculously cheap price so I went for it.

I do not regret it.

Not even a little bit.

Start this amazingly easy homemade tonkotsu ramen broth today, and stay tuned later on this week for the rest of the instructions for making yourself a fantastic bowl of Spicy Tonkotsu Miso Ramen.

Tonkotsu Ramen Broth Shopping List

Spoiler alert – if you want to start ordering up ingredients now so they are ready for you to use later on in the week, order these things:

Remember, you might curse me a little now (or on hour 6 of boiling this broth) – but you are going to thank me later.

Featured Reader Reviews

“10/10 fully recommend this. It was a huge hit!”
– Casey from Pinterest

“After moving to rural Texas from London, we were craving authentic Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen and had nowhere to go to get it…So to the internet and kitchen we went! Armed with this incredible recipe, you cannot fail to produce a DELICIOUS and authentic giant steaming bowl of ramen. Took us right back to our favorite ramen haunts! Thank you Nicole!”
-Kathryn

Yield: 10 servings

Tonkotsu Ramen Broth Recipe

This homemade pork ramen is not difficult to make, but it is a bit time-consuming! Fair warning! The end result is WELL worth it. I'm already planning my next bowl.

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 12 hours

Total Time 13 hours

Ingredients

3 pounds pork neck bones
1 chicken carcass
1 large onion
2 inches ginger, peeled
2 whole shallots
8 whole cloves garlic
3 whole leeks, washed thoroughly and diced
2 bunches green onions, white part only (save the greens for the soup!)
6 dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed and diced

Instructions

Place the pork bones into a large stock pot, and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Skim all of the gunk off of the top of the water. Dump the whole pot out, saving the bones, and fill with fresh water. This is cleaning the bones and will make a better stock.
Place the rest of the ingredients into the post, cover, and let simmer for 8-10 hours, replacing the lost water as necessary to keep the ingredients covered with water. By the end of the cook time many of the chicken bones should be totally broken down, and the pork neck bones should be easily pierced with a knife.
Let cool for a while, and then remove all of the solids you can with tongs and a slotted spoon. Next, strain the broth with cheesecloth or a large clean kitchen towel. I have found the easiest way to do this is to place the cheesecloth in several layers over a large bowl that will fit all of the broth, pour the broth in, and then gather the edges of the cloth together to pull all of the solids out of the broth. You can do this however is easiest for you though!
This will make enough broth for many bowls of ramen. Freeze the extra to make it easier next time!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 327Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 118mgSodium: 164mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 2gSugar: 2gProtein: 40g

Nicole Johnson

Website

Nicole Johnson, a self-taught expert in grilling and outdoor cooking, launched Or Whatever You Do in 2010. Her blog, renowned for its comprehensive and creative outdoor cooking recipes, has garnered a vast audience of millions. Nicole's hands-on experience and passion for grilling shine through her work. Her husband, Jeremiah Johnson, also plays a pivotal role in recipe development, adding his culinary flair to the mix. Together, they form a dynamic duo, offering a rich and varied outdoor cooking experience to their followers.

Bex_mylife

Saturday 24th of September 2022

Simmered for 16 hours and never turned milky. Did I have too much meat on my bones? What do you think I did wrong? ?

@Nicole Johnson, it was pork neck bones and the bones did crumble. And the chicken back bone did have a lot of skin and meat on it. Maybe that is it? The broth is very brothy, like a chicken broth. Not jelly at all.

I don't think too much meat should be a problem. Did you use pork neck bones? Were they fully crumbly at the end of the cook? Like, you could break them apart with your fingers? I've made this broth a bunch of times and have never had it not turn out, so I'm not super sure what could've been the issue here. It'll still taste great, I'm pretty certain. When you chill it, does it turn into a jello-like texture?

Jan Elizalde

Friday 20th of May 2022

What did use for your ramen base?..i mean you made the stock / broth, but what is your ramen base for its flavoring?..?

I didn't use any ramen base, this is scratch made, so all the flavor comes from the pork bones, vegetables, and salt. It all comes together in this Spicy Miso Tonkotsu Ramen recipe though. There are a lot of different elements that flavor the final bowl: https://www.orwhateveryoudo.com/2018/12/spicy-tonkotsu-miso-ramen.html

Ari

Monday 16th of May 2022

I made this in my pressure cooker. I only did 4 hours and the broth was very velvety, but not silky white instead an almost molassesy brown. So much depth! I’ll have to go the full 8 next time. But even after 4 hours the neck bones crumbled between my fingers.

I couldn’t find any chicken backs, so I went with split breasts. I think next time I’ll use wings or feet as it’s not as gelatinous as I’d prefer.

Question. How concentrated is it? One batch gave me about 3 qts of liquid. How much water can I add back in and not lose a significant amount of its depth?

Tuesday 17th of May 2022

Sounds great! The pressure cooker definitely changes the color a bit, but the flavor is awesome. I don't find it super concentrated, however. Especially in the pressure cooker since there's relatively little evaporation happening under pressure. You could probably get away with adding some water to extend it, but I'd start with little bits at a time.

Monday 24th of January 2022

How much water? That looks like an 8qt dutch oven?

I've never measured. Enough to cover the bones completely though. You're seeing a 6qt Dutch oven pictured here. You could use the same basic recipe with a bigger pot + more bones + more water too.

Stephanie

Friday 7th of January 2022

I'm confused! You give us a tonkotsu shopping list includes miso and chili paste but they are not in the recipe!?

Hey Stephanie - this recipe is part of a larger recipe for Spicy Miso Ramen, so the shopping list is inclusive of that. I could definitely make that clearer in the post, though, so I’ll add that to my to-do list for tomorrrow!