No roux? No worries! Make your own homemade Japanese curry roux with only 6 everyday ingredients. Throw them in a beef curry, make curry udon, or store them as cubes to save time on future meals!
Why We Love This
Japanese curry roux makes it easy to have deliciously thick and glossy curry whenever you want it!
It’s easy to make homemade roux with a few basic staples, and you can customise the heat, sweetness and flavour by adding more or less of each ingredient to suit your taste.
It doesn’t take long to make it yourself, and this way you’ll always know exactly what’s in it.
Use this amazing homemade roux in Japanese curry udon or Vietnamese chicken curry for extra thick curry sauce!
Related: Homemade Curry Powder / Basic White Sauce
What is Japanese Curry Roux?
Curry roux (カレールー) is made from flour and butter cooked down until golden brown and nutty – it almost looks like peanut butter! We then add ground spices along with a couple of other ingredients to add extra depths of savoury and sweet flavour.
Butter adds a rich flavour, while the flour in curry roux helps to thicken beef curry or katsu curry, soups etc. Usually you have an equal amount of flour to butter for roux, but we’ve added extra butter to absorb the curry powder, otherwise you’d end up with a very crumbly roux and not a solid block.
Popular brands and types of curry roux in Japan include S&B’s Golden Curry (our favourite store-bought variety), Vermont Curry, Kokumaro and Java Curry to name a few. They’re becoming more widely available outside Japan too, with many available in major Australian and American supermarkets as well as Asian groceries.
Once opened, the store bought roux blocks look a bit like big chocolate blocks, making it easy to break into smaller portions to suit your particular dish. It’s a good idea to set your homemade version the same way!
What You’ll Need
- Butter – You can use salted or unsalted butter depending on your preference. You can also sub with vegetable oil or margarine if needed.
- Flour – Just regular plain / all purpose flour is all you need. Avoid self raising flour as this will affect the texture.
- Curry Powder – S&B curry powder is the best version for this recipe, however it’s a little harder to get where we live. We usually use Clive of India curry powder which has a similar flavour profile once mixed with the other ingredients. Feel free to use what ever curry powder you have on hand, or make your own homemade curry powder with mostly basic pantry spices.
- Tomato Paste – We use this to add richness and flavour.
- Honey – A little goes a long way to add a hint of sweetness in this recipe.
- Garlic Salt – Sub with regular salt if you prefer. This is to replace the MSG – so while it’s not exactly the same, it’s close enough!
How to make Curry Roux:
- Melt butter on medium-low for around 30 secs.
- Add flour and stir through the butter.
- Cook on low for 5-15 minutes until light brown with a colour similar to peanut butter. Stir continuously to stop sticking. Turn off the heat once it’s brown and nutty.
- Add curry powder, tomato paste and honey and stir through.
- Place into a small container, pressing firmly until flat. Score with a knife to break it apart easily once you’re ready to use it.
- This recipe yields around 90-100g / 3.5oz of curry roux, on par with store bought small size S&B Golden Curry (92g / 3.2oz). Adding 750ml / 25 floz / 3 cups of liquid (dashi or chicken stock) will give you a nice thick curry. If you want a runnier soup style curry, you can add more stock to suit your personal preference.
Wandercook’s Tips
- Smooth Consistency – The flour and butter mixture may become very thick, pasty or lumpy at first. Don’t worry, keep stirring on low heat until it becomes soft and smooth.
- Avoid Burning – Heat should be low. If the flour and butter starts to burn or smoke as it becomes darker, turn off the heat immediately and continue with the rest of the recipe.
- Cooking Time – Note that curry roux will take longer to cook in small saucepans than in wider frying pans, so you may need to adjust your cooking time to suit.
- Storage – Score the roux into smaller blocks for easier portions. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 months, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
FAQs
Homemade curry roux won’t taste exactly the same as store bought brands, but it will come fairly close. Things that can affect the flavour include how long you cook the flour and butter for (longer generally means richer nuttier flavour), the brand of curry powder you use (the ratio of its spices) and the flavour of your other ingredients. Homemade also doesn’t include MSG, so you may have to up the garlic salt, add a soy sauce or extra stock in the curry to get it close to how you like it.
We most often use it for beef or chicken curries, with some onions, carrot and potatoes. It’s also great for curry udon! Use it to flavour soups and stews, like curried sausages.
Taste and season with salt and/or pepper to suit your own taste. You can also add more of any ingredient to get the right flavour profile for you.
By cooking the butter and flour into a roux over a longer period of time, it cooks away the flavour of the flour so it acts as a thickener only. It also darkens the roux over time to give it a nuttier aroma AND that classic curry flavour.
Variations
- Extra Flavour – Got time on your side? Try slow cooking onions in the pan on low for around 20-30 minutes until ultra soft, then add the butter and flour and continue with the recipe. This will add a whole extra depth of flavour to your final roux.
- Add Heat – Add ½ – 1 tsp cayenne, chilli powder, rayu chilli oil or shichimi togarashi.
- Switch Things Up – Try using this as the base for Australian Curried Sausages!
Try these popular dishes next:
★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and a star rating below!
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp curry powder 10g / 0.35oz
- 40 g butter 1.41oz
- 30 g plain flour / all purpose flour 1.05oz / 3 tbsp
- 1 tbsp tomato paste sub 1 ½ tbsp ketchup / tomato sauce
- 1 tsp honey sub sugar
- 1 tsp garlic salt
Instructions
- Melt butter on medium-low for around 30 secs in a small saucepan or frying pan.
- Add flour and stir through the butter.
- Cook on low for 5-15 minutes until light brown with a colour similar to peanut butter. Stir continuously to stop sticking and for even cooking. Turn off the heat once it’s brown and nutty.
- Add curry powder, tomato paste, garlic salt and honey and stir through.
- Place into a small container, pressing firmly until flat. Score with a knife to break it apart easily once cooled, and you’re ready to use it.
- This recipe yields around 90-100g / 3.5oz of curry roux, on par with store bought small size S&B Golden Curry (92g / 3.2oz). Adding 750ml / 25 floz / 3 cups of liquid (dashi or chicken stock) will give you a nice thick curry. If you want a runnier soup style curry, you can add more stock to suit your personal preference.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Storage – Score the roux into smaller blocks for easier portions. Keep in the fridge for up to 2 months, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
- Butter – Sub with vegetable oil or margarine if needed.
- Flour – Just regular plain / all purpose flour is all you need. Avoid self raising flour as this will affect the texture.
- Curry Powder – S&B curry powder is the best. Sub with Clive of India curry powder or whatever curry powder you have on hand.
- Garlic Salt – Sub with regular salt if you prefer. This is to replace the MSG – so while it’s not exactly the same, it’s close enough!
- Add Heat – Add ½ – 1 tsp cayenne, chilli powder, rayu chilli oil or shichimi togarashi.
- Smooth Consistency – The flour and butter mixture may become very thick, pasty or lumpy at first. Don’t worry, keep stirring on low heat and it will become soft and smooth.
- Avoid Burning – Heat should be low. If the flour and butter starts to burn or smoke as it becomes darker, turn off the heat immediately and continue with the rest of the recipe.
- Cooking Time – Note that curry roux will take longer to cook in small saucepans than in wider frying pans, so you may need to adjust your cooking time to suit.
Nutrition
8 Comments
Pepo
06/07/2023 at 6:53 amFound this quite good, actually.
I did the handmade powder first and went for the recipe, using marine salt and a bit of msg instead the garlic one, and came out just fine… now to cook the katsu kare !
Thanks
Wandercooks
06/07/2023 at 8:34 amGood work Pepo! Can’t wait to hear what you think of the katsu kare! 😀
Gina
21/09/2022 at 2:18 amThis was excellent! I live in a place that has zero Asian grocery stores 🙁 So, this is very helpful. THANK YOU SO MUCH.
As a tip, whenever I make any kind of roux with dried spices, in something like enchilada sauce or coconut milk curries , for instance, I find it imperative to dry toast or add the dry spices to the roux at least partway during the cooking, otherwise the spices taste flat and uncooked in the final dish. So, i mixed the curry powder into the roux towards the end and it toasts the oils in the spices, so that they are fully developed. Again, thank you so much for this recipe.
Wandercooks
22/09/2022 at 12:21 pmThat’s so awesome you were able to make this when you don’t have Asian grocers available. Thanks for the tip with the spices too. 🙂
Mark
17/06/2021 at 4:45 pmBeautifully explained, easy to follow and produces an excellent homemade curry roux. Thank you for a wonderfully detailed and clear recipe; I especially like the recipe notes at the end.
Wandercooks
18/06/2021 at 10:09 amAwesome Mark, so glad you liked it!
Kurt K
12/03/2022 at 2:18 amSilly rookie question, do I used the whole roux with 3 cups of stock or start with 1/4 cube and add to taste?
Thanks I love Japanese curry but MSG is a no no in our house so look forward to giving this a try
Wandercooks
15/03/2022 at 11:21 amNot a silly question at all! I always say start with less as you can always add more and learn what your personal preference is. We use all of them, but maybe start with 2 cubes (half the roux), give it a stir and let it thicken for a minute or two, then taste. If you want it thicker or need more curry flavour, then add in the remaining two! 🙂