Spicy Japanese-style Curry, How to Hack Instant Curry Blocks

Spicy Japanese Curry rice is exactly what you need when you're in the mood for something warm and comforting. And while that box of instant curry mix from the store makes it fast and easy to cook curry at home, convenience comes at the cost of flavor, which can be somewhat flat, and ingredients that leave something to be desired in the health department. But that doesn't mean you can't hack a box mix into something more exciting and a little more health-forward! Shall we?

_{updated October 2025, originally published 2005 ~ 20 years of cooking curry!}

Explore More

• What is Japanese Curry, as Opposed to Indian or Thai Curry?
• Is Japanese Curry Healthy or Not?
• How to Make Japanese Instant Curry Mix Healthier
• What Ingredients You Need for Spicy Japanese Curry with Instant Curry Roux Blocks
• What is the Best Curry Mix to Use for Curry?
• How to Hack Instant Japanese Curry Blocks Into Something Better
• Spicy Instant Japanese Curry Recipe

What is Japanese Curry, as Opposed to Indian or Thai Curry?

Japanese curry, and consequently Korean curry, is one of my go-to foods to make at home when I can't think of anything else to eat but still want something comforting and delicious. It is a thick, mildly spiced, subtly sweet stew served over rice and sometimes noodles. The curry can be chock full of protein and vegetables, or just the curry base ladled like gravy over breaded chicken cutlets.

The foundation of Japanese curry lies in the curry roux, which is a mixture of oil, flour, and curry powder cooked together until dark and fragrant. The oil+flour provides the thick, gravy-like texture and the curry powder provides the signature flavor. Obviously, Japanese cooks originally made it from scratch (and we can make it from scratch too, when we have the time!), but at some point, "instant" curry roux blocks became available and were so much easier. You simply dissolve the curry blocks into water to make the curry base, then add whatever meat/protein and vegetables you want, most commonly carrots and potatoes.

Indian Curry and Thai Curry

Though they all have dishes we call "curry" in English, Japanese curry, Indian curry, and Thai curry are all quite different from one another. Apologies in advance for the oversimplification for the sake of explanation! Indian curries are a huge category of food. But in general, though they have similar spices to Japanese curry, Indian curries have more heat and are thickened with dairy or coconut milk. Thai curries generally have a totally different flavor profile that comes from herbs, citrus, and umami from seafood, are also spicier with what I call a "high-toned" heat, and are thickened with coconut milk.

Is Japanese Curry Healthy or Not?

I get this question a LOT, especially because it would seem like something so rich and delicious couldn't possibly be, right? And like so many "Is ___ healthy? and adjacent health-related questions, the answer always starts with "it depends." So here's the thing, in and of itself, Japanese Curry, the dish, can be healthy, depending on 1) your specific health needs and dietary considerations, and 2) the ingredients in the exact bowl of curry in front of you. The spices like cinnamon and turmeric are usually associated with antioxidant and other health benefits, and if you make the curry yourself, you can load it with your choice of lean protein and vegetables. So, yes, Japanese Curry can be healthy!

The health factor comes into question when you use the instant curry blocks, which have a lot of ingredients that might be problematic for some people's heath needs. There's plain flour, refined sugar, refined oil, flavor enhancing additives that contribute to a very high sodium content, added color, and preservatives. And the instructions on the box usually suggest making the curry with just carrots and potatoes. None of these ingredients is bad. It's just that there are ingredients that could be better, if we were making it ourselves from scratch.

But since we can't change what's in the box, we're going to treat Japanese Curry as an opportunity to add a lot of great things to amp the health factor, if even just a little bit, and to be honest, the healthy additions actually make it taste better too!

How to Make Japanese Instant Curry Mix Healthier

Here's how we're going to amp the health factor and flavor:

• Use avocado oil or olive oil to sauté vegetables
• Add fresh garlic and ginger, and green onion for garnish
• Use bone broth instead of water
• Swap out suggested regular white potatoes, which are healthy for some people, for sweet potatoes, which have more vitamin A and fiber and are lower on the glycemic index
• Add in a ton of broccoli
• Use lean chicken breast or turkey as the protein
• Serve over brown rice instead of white rice
• Make it spicy with gochugaru and kimchi on the side

Japanese Curry Recipe Health and Diet Considerations

Because the instant mixes use wheat flour and refined sugar, they are neither gluten-free nor refined sugar-free. Some brands also contain dairy, sesame, soy, and peanuts.

What Ingredients You Need for Spicy Japanese Curry with Instant Curry Roux Blocks

Fresh/refrigerator ingredients:

• Onion, 1 large, thinly sliced lengthwise
• Garlic, 2 cloves finely minced or grated
• Ginger, 1 teaspoon grated fresh or use ¼ teaspoon dried
• Carrots, 2 large sliced, about 2 cups
• Sweet potato, ½ large diced, about 1 cup (or sub regular white potato)
• Broccoli, 2 cups florets
• Chicken Bone Broth, unsalted, 3 cups or other rich broth or stock
• Cooked chicken breast, 2 cups shredded or chopped

Other vegetables you can add or replace: mushrooms, spinach, kale, cauliflower, green peas

Dry/pantry ingredients:

• Avocado oil, 2 tablespoons
• Japanese curry blocks, 4 blocks
• Gochugaru or other hot chile pepper powder, 1-3 teaspoons optional

For serving and garnish:

• Brown rice, 4 cups cooked
• Green onions, thinly sliced for garnish
• Kimchi, or other pickled vegetables like Japanese fukujinzuke

Your traditional grocery store more than likely carries only one brand, S&B Golden Curry, which is fairly well known and seems to be the most widely available. I like getting the mildest level of heat and adjusting the spiciness myself at home. It has the shortest ingredient list compared to other brands.

If you can make it to an Asian grocery store or buy online, there will be several instant curry brands: Java Curry, Kokumaro, and Vermont Curry are the ones I see the most often, but there are a lot more in Japan! They all have the same basic curry ingredients, but do taste slightly different from a whole range of other ingredients from peanut butter to bananas. Java Curry is spicier and Vermont Curry is much sweeter.

Additional Ingredients Notes and Resources

Bone Broth. I will always recommend that you make your own bone broth or stock, but like the Barefoot Contessa says, store-bought is fine. Read the ingredients list and get one with chicken as the first ingredient, and without added sugar. You can also substitute with turkey bone broth, a rich vegetable or mushroom stock, and to be honest because there are so many rich aromatics in the curry, you can get away with using just water.

Gochugaru. Gochugaru is a bright red Korean chili pepper powder made from a specific variety of Korean chili pepper. Its heat level ranges, but gochugaru is generally considered a medium spicy chili powder. Look for gochugaru that is made from Korean peppers that are sun-dried, and for this recipe specifically, a coarse grind, or flakes, not a fine powder. You can find gochugaru in Korean grocery stores like H-Mart and other Asian grocery stores. I have also seen some independent, new-ish spice companies like this and this at Whole Foods. This organic brand and the one in the photo above, purchased at HMart, are currently what I have in my pantry.

Use whatever hot chile pepper powder you have for heat.

Kimchi. Traditionally, Japanese curry is served with a Japanese pickled radish called fukujinzuke. I like the spice and fermented funk of Korean kimchi, and always have a jar of this Easy Homemade Kimchi in the fridge. Most Asian grocery stores, not just Korean, carry some form of kimchi.

How to Hack Instant Japanese Curry Blocks Into Something Better

Best Japanese Curry Recipes

Hack your instant Japanese curry mix, then come back and try making it from scratch with these recipes:

Food for Afterthoughts

The Original Hurry Curry

It’s been a while since I’ve visited Hurry Curry of Tokyo, first on Sawtelle in West LA, then in Santa Monica. Mainly because I overdosed on the Japanese-style curry in my post-college days, and it pains me to pay quite close to $12 for a single dinner of curry. With $12, I can make homemade curry for my entire family almost every week. Now I get to see if mine is as good as theirs. Or rather, whether theirs is as good as mine.

There are only a few things in their kitchen’s repertoire, but Hurry Curry does a good job of dressing them up in different ways to make the menu seem larger than it is. Rice or spaghetti noodles. Chicken, beef, or tofu. Curry sauces that vary only in heat. Keeping it simple is always a great business model.

Testing Curry Flurry

Though they are usually made from leftover mashed potatoes in most households, I love the croquettes. There’s nothing made of potatoes here, so no worrying about a prior existence. The croquettes are delicious as an appetizer, but create quite a carb overload as part of a curry dish. Steamed rice and mashed potatoes crusted with breadcrumbs, smothered in flour and/or cornstarch thickened curry? Dr. Atkins would have a heart attack. Never mind.

Fried Chicken is also a good appetizer, and the menu says it’s served with their famous chicken dressing. I’ve always wondered what the exact recipe for this “dressing” is, but it basically tastes like a sweetened mayonnaise with some spices. It’s the same dressing they use on the Chicken Pasta, but here, they call it their white sauce. The Chicken Pasta is always good, but very very guilty.

I wouldn’t come to Hurry Curry to order a salad, though the Tofu Salad is under five dollars, and has a fairly good soy sauce and vinegar dressing. The thing that makes me laugh about the salads in any Japanese restaurant is the iceberg lettuce. I’m not sure why, because, yes, I’ll admit that I love iceberg lettuce, but for some reason, I think it’s extremely funny that just iceberg lettuce is considered a salad. It does have dressing on it, I guess.

theirs: tender dark meat chicken, not that spicy vs...

ours: screamin' hot best of the breast curry fit for popeye

Hurry vs Homemade

So Sarah versus Hurry Curry began. I made spicy curry with spinach, mushrooms, and chicken. Hurry Curry’s was the Chicken Curry, with my special request for extra spicy. And though they were similar, there were a few differences. The perfect half sphere of rice looked like it had been molded in the morning and left under a heat lamp of sorts all day. Glossy, yes it was, but the outermost layer, one rice-grain thick, was dry, hard, and sticky in the bad way. I scooped screaming, steaming hot rice directly from the rice cooker. It wasn’t a beautiful dome, but it was soft and sticky the way it’s supposed to be sticky.

Hurry Curry’s just wasn’t spicy. At all. But the unfortunate thing in many Japanese restaurants is that they don’t have hot sauce, only a chili powder, nanami togarashi, which is typically used to season udon and ramen broths, not right, imho, for curry over rice. My homemade curry iss spicy. And since we eat homemade at home, we can add sriracha, or even better, gochujang.

One thing I will give Hurry Curry is the tenderness of the chicken, because it’s mostly dark meat. I used chicken breast and shredded it. But they also must have simmered chicken thighs and legs all day until the meat practically dissolved off the bone. That’s how tender their chicken is.

Do I have to worry that my curry doesn’t live up to the years and years I went to Hurry Curry? Does Hurry Curry have to worry that a little food blogger might open up Sarah’s Curry and steal away their customers?! No, neither to worry. In the end, it’s a tie. Hurry Curry gets points for the chicken itself. I get points for fresh rice, hot spice, and everything nice.