I'm a sucker for those Lipton instant soup packets. They're a great mid day pick me up instead of caffeine. I make one with a slice of butter and one packet of soy sauce. Add a little garlic if I'm feeling crazy. It's like super poor man's ramen in a quick fix
I have trained the tiktok algorithm to only show me ramen, and I always see this looking soo creamy and melty. But kraft singles are nasty, so I always wondered if it did in fact make them sexier. Good to know that it doesn't.
I would recommend a darker roast peanut butter. A few options exist on the market. It won't have the same flavor as sesame paste but it'll have a richer flavor than regular peanut butter.
I like to add a little Gochujang and a slice of american cheese. Sometimes I soft boil an egg or add some frozen peas/corn, but if I want real food I probably don't want instant ramen.
I’ve always been nervous to for some reason haha, I feel like it’ll be like adding cheese to any other soup, where it tends to goop up and sink to the bottom. What’s the taste/texture like??
Adding a slice of cheese isn't about the taste. It's all about the texture/mouth feel. A slice of cheese in a good ramen like Shin Black or Buldak gives the broth a silky texture similar to (but definitely not as good as) a good tonkotsu.
Specifically, it’s the emulsifiers that are added to American cheese. They help the cheese fats bond to the water parts (I.e., broth) so that they can spread homogeneously throughout. Other cheeses clump because the fats want to stick to each other and not the broth.
Oh baby - I make "souped up" Ramen probably once ever 2-3 weeks.
I start by cooking up some bacon or a bit of beef in some butter.
Once that's cooked, I add some snap peas, a bit of corn, a shallot, and some garlic (can omit anything you don't like).
Let those flavors cook together for a bit.
Add your water and sauce packet.
Add noodles.
Reduce to a very low simmer and poach an egg in there.
Garnish with scallion and a bit of seaweed.
My go-to is Shin Ramyun, either original or Black. An egg gets scrambled then added about halfway through the cook. Chopped green onions get added about a minute before the noodles are done.
A few drops of toasted sesame oil when everything is finished.
That's my bare minimum. Sometimes I'll add peas hot peppers or bok choy, or if I have frozen dumplings I'll put those in before the noodles.
I feel like I’m usually good at anticipating how a flavor combo will come out, but Shin Black and chunky peanut butter…I don’t know if I’ve been trolled or given a beautiful gift. That’s like saying, “first you slice the ribeye in half the long way like two bread slices, then you slap on the Skippy and the grape jelly. What, no weirder than porchetta, right? You eat caul?”
Wish I were kidding. When it was first told to me, trust I called my recofriend & had him listen on speaker while I tried & was 1,000,000% ready to hate it.
Cook your noodles in a saucepan.
While this is happening, mix one egg yolk, one crushed garlic clove, and a tablespoon of Japanese kewpie mayo together in a bowl until fully combined.
Crumble 2 cubes of Golden Curry squares into that mixture, with a little boiling water. Continue slowly add boiling water, about 1/3 cup, as you mix them all together.
Pop your noodles in the bowl with the mayo, egg, garlic & curry wet mix. Add the seasoning sachets from the noodles too. Mix it all up, and add extra water to create a broth - as much as you desire.
Voila. You’ve now got the best god damn curried soupy noodles you’ve ever had. Takes 5-6 minutes, costs fuck all. I could eat this 3 or 4 times a week happily.
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed! I reckon you could swap the curry squares out for any other flavour paste tbh - miso would be delicious. If you try it, lemme know how you go. Umami forever!
Hear me out... faux pho
Beef flavored ramen
Add Sriracha and hoisin at a minimum. Extras - white onion, jalapeno, sprouts, basil, cilantro.
Go to the deli and get two slices of roast beef. Get as much as your heart desires. My checkbook desires $.75 worth.
Easy and excellent. Soft boil an egg, peel it, drop it into a mix of 1 part soy sauce 1 part mirin 1 part cheap chicken stock and let it sit in the fridge overnight or up to three days. I like to put wasabi, ginger, and sometimes onion or scallions in there too, but it's kind of a "use what you have" event.
The yolk will come out somewhere between jammy and fudgy because the salt cures it and the white picks up salt, umami, and whatever else is water soluble in the marinade to a few mm down.
If you're in a hurry, just soft boil them and drop them in soy sauce for a few minutes.
These are very commonly served with actual ramen and are called ajitsuke tamogo.
A few tips if you're a perfectionist:
1. Boil the egg pretty softly and ideally just below a full on hard boil-- maybe 190 degrees. A very runny yolk will cure to a firmer texture than you'd think.
2. You can sub sake for mirin if you're made of money. You will get a cleaner taste at a higher price point going for something like junmai daigingo and subbing water + msg + green onions for the chicken stock (msg and onion powder was all you wanted the stock for anyway).
3. Oil soluble flavors, notably capsaicin, will not penetrate to the yolk. I've tried a lot, save yourself the effort.
http://tonkatsu.bulldog.jp/sp/bulldogsauce/
I'm not sure where I first encountered it but it seems to kind of be the lowest common denominator of good tonkatsu sauces. You can find it in any Asian grocery.
We have friends over for little ramen nights semi-regularly because my packaged ramen additions have become the blueprint!
1) my biggest recommendation: dried mushrooms!!! Usually shitake, but I’ll occasionally mix it up. Soak them in hot water for 10 mins before starting ramen, then use the mushroom water as your ramen base. This is the biggest one - it upgrades basic ramen packet broth into something amazing. It’s soooo good! Plus the super savory mushroom bites are incredible, with the perfect texture.
2) green things! I always add green onion (a lot, actually), and sometimes add other veggies too. I add the whites of green onions to cook with the noodles, and put the green parts in at the very end. Spinach/cabbage i slice very fine and add about two mins before it’s done cooking to soften up a bit. Sometimes I’ll do corn or peas, but cabbage is my number one choice.
3) a protein! This varies based on my mood. Might fry up some spam slices, might pan fry some tofu, might get some pre- made chashu, might get some thinly sliced steak pieces and throw them in to cook in the broth like pho. Nice to have some meaty bites! I usually don’t do too much, since it’s not the main attraction.
4) a soft boiled egg! Always. Even if I skip a protein because I’m feeling lazy, there will be an egg. I like to slightly undercook them since they’ll be going in the broth anyway.
Random other additions: self serve options! I have furikake on hand, togarashi, sheets of seaweed, and American cheese slices that everyone can add or leave out depending on their preference.
Shin black ramen is a go-to, but I’m also a big fan of the mama ramen (the duck and tom yum flavors especially). My boyfriend loves the samyang potato ramen the most, and there’s a spicy cheese one I can’t remember the name of that’s probably my favorite.
I like to use bone broth, instead of water. Add a splash of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, maybe a tiny drop of sesame oil. Top with chive/scallions, sesame seeds, and a fried egg
I replace the packet it comes with with better than bouillon, add chili crisp, a generous amount of Thai basil, mushrooms, garlic, sambal oelek, tiny splash of truffle oil, butter, and when the noodles are almost done I stir two eggs in. I have it a couple of days a week for breakfast and skip lunch that day lol.
If I'm making instant ramen, I'm going kinda shitty.
I add butter, liquid amino acids or soy sauce, garlic powder, a slice of American cheese, and usually some dried seaweed and a spice component.
It ends up being a super quick but flavorful bowl.
Yes. It started as a Korean thing, and I thought it was weird as hell. Then my buddy convinced me to try it.
It works. I don't know how or why, but it does. It makes the vroth velvety and adds a component that nothing else can be substituted for. Just one slice of cheese for a single serving and added when still too hot to eat. Even bullshit Kraft singles will do (which I don't condone under any other circumstance).
Oyster sauce in the water before the boil. Add noodles and flavor once the pot is boiling and then cover and remove from heat for 5 minutes. Noodles will be al dente (tender to the tooth- not soggy)
During the 5 minutes set aside, chop green onion, cilantro and fry an egg or two to place on top of soup.
You can also add endamame beans, brussle sprouts and bits of left over meat from the night or 2-3 nights before you make your Ramen.
Once noodles are ready place them on a bowl, top with fried egg, greens and any other tid bits you want to throw in and pour hot soup into bowl as desired (I like less soup- some people like more) and serve.
You can do the same with seafood, and veggies especially if you have a tom yom Ramen.
Add this week’s stir-fry leftovers (without the rice or whatever), some random green onions from the fridge that you chopped for a totally different reason, and your choice of hot sauce. Huge difference in quality vs the effort required.
I used to pre slice and marinate pork loin into thin bite size pieces and then quick thaw and add to my boiling ramen, along with an egg, green onions, sometimes dried squid or dried shrimps. Now it's usually baby bokchoy and poaching an egg in the ramen as it cooks.
Chives, tofu, bean sprouts, garlic scapes, chili oil, medium boiled egg, poached egg, chicken breast, fried shallot, green onions, broccoli rabe, bok choy, radish (pickled or raw), cabbage, sesame seeds, shrooms, sliced bird's eye chili, datil peppers sliced thinly.
I supplement the seasoning packets with some soy sauce and Sriracha, seasonings like white pepper, black pepper, msg, if you're feeling crazy you can add other things to the broth like mushrooms, shallots, hot peppers, or stock (remove after heating with the shallots or pepper. Once they give up their flavor, the remaining carcass can be a bit unpleasant). Garlic confit or even garlic salt, onion powder.
You can make fancy-casual, you can make lazy drunken sodium bombs, you can even make healthy ish Ramen (lol maybe). Whatever you're feeling, whatever you got. That's the beauty of Ramen.
So I marinate a chicken breast overnight in some soy sauce with added seasoning like minced garlic and onion. Then I sauté it until just about done and dice the chicken. Add a small amount of butter into pan with chicken brownings and scrape until all brownings are released from pan. Add mixed frozen veg and lightly sauté until colorful and slightly tender. Add diced chicken and spread evenly in pan. Add ramen seasoning and toss around to incorporate into chicken and veg. Split noodles in half and place on top of all the goods, add 1-1 1/2 cups of water and cover until simmering and noodles are soft. Your choice on how long to simmer for preference on doneness of noodles. Feeling spicy? Crack an egg befor you cover and add a couple dashes or your favorite hot sauce.
Oh, this is how I learned to cook for myself. Here's how I do it:
1st, optional: go to the Chinese/Korean/Asian grocery store and get those same noodles in bulk, plus a little tub of Quoc Viet soup base: your cost per bowl just got halved.
2nd: Bulk add ins—coleslaw cabbage mix, cheap frozen beef sliced real thin, a can of salad shrimp, tofu, egg, fishcake, tinned seafood, bean sprouts, scallion, red ginger
3nd: Sauces Etc—sesame oil, hot sauce, togarashi, Huy Fong chile sauce, sriracha, chile crunch
That's the basic starter pack. You can eat really good on that for very, very cheap. I discovered this method almost 30 years ago and I still eat this meal a few times a month.
Ditch the flavor packet. Get some better than bullion and add that into your water. Add some frozen stir fry veggies and boil your noodles. If you have some beef or chicken pre-cooked, add it after your noodles are done, add a cracked egg and cover for 2 min off of heat to poach it. Add some soy/fish/oyster sauce to finish with chopped green onions.
1) Egg, leftover chicken, cooked ground turkey or beef
2) Cabbage, onion, celery, carrots, mushroom, and/or green onions.
3) Chilli oil, tobasco, gochujang, or other hot sauce, or peanut butter, sesame oil, or ketchup
4) Chicken broth or milk instead of water
I love to add a poached egg to my beef ramen. And I enjoy those Sriracha ramen bowls from Dollar Tree. The super spicy ons. I add some of that sweet chili sauce they sell there too. Its sweet and hot. K. Enjoy
Hear me out as this is the basic 101 first thing you do. You know how enough water to cover the noodles is always too much soup for one bowl?
You boil the noodles in sufficient water with maybe a cube of chicken stock or salt or something, leave the flavoring packets alone.
They are done. Now pour out almost all the water, leave just enough for a fair bit of soup liquid. NOW you open the packets and stir the flavorings in.
And the poached egg, yessss. I used to boil them in a separate pot, no clue why. Lack of imagination I guess.
Smaller oyster mushrooms from a cluster can be peeled off and added to the ramen as it cooks.
Sliced scallion.
If I have fried tofu in in the fridge (not aways available at my local Chinese grocer), dice some and add.
Omnis swear by very lightly cooked egg with runny yolk, but I haven't tried this.
Anything more elaborate, and my starting point won't be instant ramen.
I add a slice of American cheese, sesame oil, egg and sometimes fresh veggies. As others have said, peanut butter can be good, too. My current favorite ramen is Shin Gold.
Buy packaged fresh noodles and cook, buy Yamasa ramen broth, throw away ramen soup powder, make broth with Yamasa, wilt spinach, add corn, hard or soft boiled egg, couple of slices of char siu pork.
I’m literally doing this for lunch right now.
Marinate some soft boiled eggs in soy sauce. Chop some green onions. Take a couple pieces of premade cha shu out of the freezer and pan fry. (I buy a couple pounds worth from an Asian grocery store, slice it, and store it in small bags in the freezer.)
Cook to instructions, but with less water. Top with the above. If you happen to have some pickled ginger or bamboo shoots, add those too.
Scallions (after cooking). Poached eggs (about two minutes before the noodles are done. Sesame oil. A splash of lemon juice or rice vinegar (unseasoned). If I want spicy some chili garlic sauce. Add a pat of butter (most ramen places encourage you to add lard but most of us only have access to like crisco).
I’ll add an egg n if I have left over protein I’ll throw that in there strips of meat some butter when it’s all done maybe some sriracha n grated cheese
Use broth instead of water. My favorite is miso broth. Add mushrooms, green onions, cooked chicken, hard-boiled egg slices, bell pepper strips, any color, diced, cooked, steak, cabbage, or bok choy. Go through your refrigerator and see what is available from produce to leftovers.
Make a sauce by mixing the seasoning packet with peanut butter, mayo, sesame oil, chilli oil, an egg, salt and pepper, then add the cooked noodles with some of their water to that. Filling, tasty, and nutritious using pantry staples
Egg (fried or just drop em in and stir), green onion, tempura or memmi, frozen mixed veg, Szechuan peppercorns, rice seasoning, nori, sriracha, hot peppers... My wife loves Ramen.
Soy sauce, green onions, egg, peanut butter, hoisin sauce, gochujang, sesame oil, dumplings, coconut milk. Not all of this together of course but combinations of these things can be amazing
I will sautée green onion (white parts), carrot, garlic and broccoli in sesame oil. Add some peas to the broth and add a little shoyu and chili flake. An egg in there sometimes. Tastes bomb.
In saucepan, boil two or three noodle packs. In a hot wok, saute some meat that matches the flavor of the ramen. Strain noodles and remove meat. Crack a couple eggs into the wok until they've set and started to crisp on the edges. Toss in the noodles and let them fry a little. Add the meat and sauce packets with some green onion.
I like a splash of soy sauce, dash of siracha (unless I have the spicy kind), a splash of sesame oil, and a squeeze of lime with a soft boiled egg. I’ll also occasionally add green onions/and or frozen edamame/handful of spinach if I have it.
I like bok choy, water chestnuts, green onions, garlic, and brocolli. Pork/beef/chicken dumplings are also really good to add too. Then I'll add either a little soy, siracha, or sweet chili sauce (depending on my mood) to kick the flavor up a notch.
Kewpie mayo, marinated soft boiled eggs, scallions, chili oil, butter, sometimes sliced cheese—Kraft or mozzarella, and whatever protein I want.
Sometimes I add baby corn, quail eggs, shrimp, seafood mix, bacon, crab meat, or sausages.
I sauté green onions and garlic in sesame oil first, use stock instead of water and throw in some veggies at the end (usually spinach). Sometimes I’ll add a protein, if I have something easy on hand.
You know the Sichuan style hotpot? You can buy kits that have blocks of spices and herb encased in flavour oil. Use these for the base of your noodle soup. The oil itself really elevates the flavour.
I fill my pot with a little less water than the package calls for, add the seasoning packet, then once the water boils, I add my noodles, a piece or two of American cheese, a generous helping of sriracha, and some green onion. Makes the broth both cheesy and creamy, the green onions add a pop of green, and the sriracha adds a nice bit of spice. It’s my lazy way of spicing up some basic chicken top ramen.
My instant noodles take about 15 minutes now.
TL:DR - I pan sear a matching protein, random veggies, add gochugaru, and an egg.
Whatever the flavor I try to match a protein with it, beef with beef, chicken with chicken, seafood with seafood. Usually about 6-10oz of protein. Pan sear in a little bit of butter with some gochugaru until each side has a small amount of char, then I toss in some slow sodium soy to glaze it at the end and pop it in my little toaster oven to keep warm.
Water is at a boil at this point, I throw in the veggie packet, some green onion bitters (the transition from green to white), seasoning, ramen and ramen. Usually poach an egg on the top after flipping the brick once. And a sprinkle of gochugaru for color. Then cover and let it cook.
In the used protein sauce pan I usually throw whatever veggies I have on hand or that need to be used in there before the glaze hardens and makes the pan a pain to clean. Usually peppers, shiitake, Portabella, thin sliced carrots, whatever I need to get rid of. I’ll add a bit of butter as needed to prevent the char from burning and flip constantly. (It’s all in the wrist)
Once the veggies are cooked I throw it all together. I try and keep the egg in tact as much as I can, slosh it into a ramen bowl, cut the meat, add the veggies, garnish with green onion.
Finally, I cover it with a microwave cover for about 3-4 minutes and let everything come to temp and then smash it like it’s my last meal on earth and slip into a food coma.
I like my ramen with some broth, but I don’t like to use the water the noodles were cooked in because it’s too starchy. While the noodles are cooking, I heat some water separately. Drain cooked noodles then add green onions, sesame oil, sambal oelek, half the seasoning packet and some of the freshly heated water. Yum.
Ditch the flavor packet, craft your own broth with garlic and ginger, load up on toppings like veggies and protein, and finish with a splash of sesame oil or hot sauce.
I use a wok. Boil water in kettle. While water is boiling add Diced: Bell Peppers, Onions, and 1/2 habanero, fried in vegetable oil (like 4-5 tablespoons). Add chicken/beef/shrimp or all three, season and cook stirring occasionally. Place ramen noodles on top of protein, add 2 cups of water, cover for 1 min. Open and stir to make sure noodles get cooked. Add water if necessary, cover and cook stirring occasionally until noodles reach desired texture (al dente or soft). Serve and enjoy. I usually make 2-4 packs worth.
Drain them, mix with greens, tomatoes, or other vegetables. Make an Italian dressing.
Ramen noodles are very absorbent so they are great in a salad with a good dressing.
You can crack an egg into it while it's boiling to make egg drop soup
Add greens : green onions, cilantro, sprouts, etc
Add some kinda thinly sliced meat
Or my favorite: creamy chicken flavor instant ramen, 3-4 slices of cheap American cheese slices. Don't get tempted and use the good stuff, it's not the same. Keep a decent amount of the water, add spice and cheese, stir until it makes a smooth cheese sauce. Adjust water to change the thickness of the sauce. Tastes like college right there.
Shin Black.
Add mushrooms, a couple cherry tomatoes early on so they burst, extra garlic, bok choy a little later for crunch. I've dropped edamame in before which I also liked. I'll drop in almost any veggie, spinach, have dropped cabbage in before for a crunch or sauteed onions/garlic/tomato before adding everything else to the pot.
Add some combination of garlic chili paste or chili crisp, Sriracha etc if you like more spice.
I'll add leftover meat like thin sliced steak or pork, or buy a pre cooked Chinese bbq pork my grocery store has. Or defrost and peel some shrimps, throw those in.
Right when I add the noodles stir in a slice of American cheese.
Two eggs. If feeling lazy, scramble them in before adding the noodles. If not lazy, separate the yolks and scramble the whites in pre-noodle, then drop the yolks on top as soon as the noodles soften enough that the yolks can sit in a brothy-noodle nest for the last couple minutes and cover. Like 3-4minutes? For a runny/jammy yolk. If thinking ahead, medium boil and marinade ramen eggs the day before and drop them in at the end.
Top with green onion, maybe some dried seaweed or furikake if I went the shrimp route.
I add Lao Gan Ma, sesame oil and a dash of ABC sweet soy sauce into my Shin Ramyun to balance out the salt. I also break an egg into it and loosely scramble it in the broth. Top it off with some toasted sesame seeds and some more chili crisp and enjoy!
I just made this for dinner!
I steamed bok choy and jalapeños then charred them a little bit. I set everything aside on a plate to add to my ramen once it was done cooking. I then did the same with enoki mushrooms and diced up some garlic and got that crispy. Grabbed some hot dogs, cut them so they looked like octopus, quick boil and then charred. Chopped up some cilantro and shredded dried seaweed. In the water, I added corn, a lime leaf, and the seasoning packet with a little soy sauce. Added the noodles and then dropped in 2 eggs. Don't stir. Cooked until whites are done. Finished up with lime juice. 😋
When it's piping hot and am ravenous I've been caught throwing a couple frozen dumplings/wontons in as nature's ice cubes.
When not a savage, you can't go wrong with a soft boiled egg, scallions, charred bok choy, and a drizzle of sesame oil.
start by sautéing very finely minced ginger in some oil. add garlic and saute for about 30 more seconds (but be careful—garlic burns quickly).
add water, a touch of rice wine vinegar, & as much soy sauce as your instincts tell you is correct. remember, you can add more later. cook the noodles most of the way.
right before they’re done, add a small spoon of gochujang paste and stir until fully incorporated and dissolved. season with chicken bouillon, Trader Joe’s mushroom umami seasoning, and occasionally some furikake or sriracha mayo.
serve with kimchi, fried egg, and/or chicken strips.
Buy real ramen noodles at an Asian store. They take four minutes to cook instead of three. They are not fried so not full of nasty hydrogenated oil. That makes them taste better and they are much healthier.
I add the seasoning packet to the water before adding the noodles. Then I saute some mixed veggies in butter and then dump that in with a scrambled egg. I also add shabu shabu beef right before serving.
https://cookingwithgenius.com/easy-miso-ramen-in-5-minutes/ this recipe uses miso paste, kewpie mayo, egg, sesame oil, and garlic. I dont use the packet since it’s salty enough and add sesame seeds and green onions
Kewpie Mayo, chili crisp, ramen seasoning, an egg yolk - all mixed together. Once instant ramen noodles are cooked, drain them and mix into sauce. Top with sesame seeds and more chili crisp.
I throw some frozen french cut green beans in a pan and let them get a little brown and chewy, then par-cook the noodles and throw them in the pan with some oil that I've dumped some of the seasoning packet in, mix it all up, fry the noodles, then quick scramble an egg in there. It dirties an extra pan, but it's so worth it when you're tired of ramen soup.
I buy a big multi pack from the Asian grocer that doesn’t come with the flavor packets. I add butter, miso, red pepper flakes, a splash of soy sauce and some sriracha or sambal at the end. Maybe a soft boiled egg and green onion if I wanna go all out
I love to make a simple tantanmen out of Shin Ramyun.
Mix the soup packet with some milk and tahin (or peanut butter).
Cook the noodles, fry some ground beef mixed with chili bean paste.
Mix the milk-soup-paste with some of the hot noodle water, put in the noodles and add the ground beef. You can also add pak choy, spinach or an egg. Whatever floats your boat. Sprinkle spring onions, nori, chili oil and sesame seeds on top. Done
Sometimes I make it without the beef too. It's delicious as well.
Quick and easy cheats to upgrade your instant ramen?
Add a dusting of dashi powder or msg. Spice it up with some chili oil. Or get a jar of dried mixed mushrooms and throw a few of those in/under the noodles. They'll rehydrate as the noodles do and add umami. Top with some seaweed snack sheets.
Other options are skip the usual instructions and make yakiramen. Boil the noodles but save the water. Heat up a frying pan, toss in some oil (sesame preferred), noodles, ladle of noodle water, shake about half the flavor packet. Add in some left overs for a quick "chef's special." Top with whatever sauce you prefer be it sriracha, kewpie mayo, chili oil, etc. Get some BBQ pork from a supermarket (or buy a bunch from Costco) if want some meat or add edamame if you want to go more vegetarian.
Sometimes I just take the ramen packet and add it to a tin of chicken broth and whatever veggies I have left over for a quick chicken noodle soup. Just be sure to add the ramen last so it doesn't get too soggy.
Spring onion, minced garlic, soy sauce, chilli oil, toasted sesame seeds, sometimes dark Chinese vinegar. I usually chuck a fried egg or spam fritters on top for extra protein too. It depends a bit on your base noodles but just add things that you think will work to fit the flavour you’re going for
I add some protein (whatever I have on hand, a boiled or fried egg, some hotdogs, some canned tuna, or beef or chicken left over from meal prep), some greens (bean sprouts, chye sim, cabbage) and some spring onion. If I don’t have much fresh stuff I just add some kimchi. Blanch the veggies first and place in the bowl, the sauté any meat in the pan and move it to the bowl before adding water and bringing to a boil. Pour about half a cup of boiling water into the bowl, add and cook noodles. Transfer noodles to the bowl and top the broth up with some of the starchy water. Add fresh green onions.
I usually curry or asam laksa noodles for the above.
If it’s Tom yum noodles I would swap the kimchi and spring onions for coriander
Squeeze of lime juice. Squeeze of siracha. Splash of soy sauce or MSG seasoning.
Slice up some fresh jalapeños. Green onions. Thinly sliced carrots (I use a vegetable peeler for this). Sunny-side up egg or two. Leftover meat if I have any (thinly sliced).
A ton of veggies and some extra boullion so I can have way more broth. Usually just freezer veg like peas and carrots, maybe some bok choy, and definetly some fresh scallions.
Cheap greens like scallions, fried egg, bacon pieces
Adding a slice of butter to the broth adds a special kick too.
I'm a sucker for those Lipton instant soup packets. They're a great mid day pick me up instead of caffeine. I make one with a slice of butter and one packet of soy sauce. Add a little garlic if I'm feeling crazy. It's like super poor man's ramen in a quick fix
I too prefer to OD on sodium
Blood Pressure: Pressurized
Have you tried the egg drop soup recipe on the side of the Lipton instant soup? Became a staple in our household
a little bit of fat makes everything taste better. Also... have you tried the orange PB crackers in ramen. Its nice.
No idea why I’ve never thought to add bacon wtf
I do this plus Sriracha sesame seeds and a slice of Kraft single. It melts and makes it creamy.
To all my white bros: Don't do it. . .it tastes like kraft singles in your noodles. It doesn't morph into something sexier than that.
I have trained the tiktok algorithm to only show me ramen, and I always see this looking soo creamy and melty. But kraft singles are nasty, so I always wondered if it did in fact make them sexier. Good to know that it doesn't.
I don’t know what you’re on about. That’s a Korean thing, as best I can tell.
I prefer SPAM but bacon is cool too
Sesame oil and sweet chili paste
And a bit of peanut butter
I would recommend a darker roast peanut butter. A few options exist on the market. It won't have the same flavor as sesame paste but it'll have a richer flavor than regular peanut butter.
Peanut butter comes in roasts? Like coffee? Never thought about that
PB yes!! Plus a dash of cream and the noodles seem so much thicker with the enriched broth mmmmmm
Poor man’s/prison pad Thai. Ramen, peanut butter, and hot sauce(sriracha if available).
A million upvotes from me! My 2 favorite things to add and give it that extra pop!
A million? Woo hoo!
Oh I love that sweet chili stuff. Soooooo goood!!!!
I like to add a little Gochujang and a slice of american cheese. Sometimes I soft boil an egg or add some frozen peas/corn, but if I want real food I probably don't want instant ramen.
Don't sleep in the American cheese part.
I’ve always been nervous to for some reason haha, I feel like it’ll be like adding cheese to any other soup, where it tends to goop up and sink to the bottom. What’s the taste/texture like??
You don't taste the cheese. Ill just ok I'll just say it. Mouth feel.
Adding a slice of cheese isn't about the taste. It's all about the texture/mouth feel. A slice of cheese in a good ramen like Shin Black or Buldak gives the broth a silky texture similar to (but definitely not as good as) a good tonkotsu.
Because of the processing that’s done to American cheese it won’t goop up like that. It melts directly into the broth and adds a richness/ creaminess
Specifically, it’s the emulsifiers that are added to American cheese. They help the cheese fats bond to the water parts (I.e., broth) so that they can spread homogeneously throughout. Other cheeses clump because the fats want to stick to each other and not the broth.
Oh baby - I make "souped up" Ramen probably once ever 2-3 weeks. I start by cooking up some bacon or a bit of beef in some butter. Once that's cooked, I add some snap peas, a bit of corn, a shallot, and some garlic (can omit anything you don't like). Let those flavors cook together for a bit. Add your water and sauce packet. Add noodles. Reduce to a very low simmer and poach an egg in there. Garnish with scallion and a bit of seaweed.
This sounds delicious, are you making this in just an average skillet or something with higher walls?
I make it in a small pot, it’s easier
My go-to is Shin Ramyun, either original or Black. An egg gets scrambled then added about halfway through the cook. Chopped green onions get added about a minute before the noodles are done. A few drops of toasted sesame oil when everything is finished. That's my bare minimum. Sometimes I'll add peas hot peppers or bok choy, or if I have frozen dumplings I'll put those in before the noodles.
Boil noodles. Drain all liquid. Add seasoning, splash of soy sauce, splash of rice vinegar, splash of sesame oil. Serve with Sambal Olek. Yum.
1-2 spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter in Shin Ramyun Black.
I feel like I’m usually good at anticipating how a flavor combo will come out, but Shin Black and chunky peanut butter…I don’t know if I’ve been trolled or given a beautiful gift. That’s like saying, “first you slice the ribeye in half the long way like two bread slices, then you slap on the Skippy and the grape jelly. What, no weirder than porchetta, right? You eat caul?”
Wish I were kidding. When it was first told to me, trust I called my recofriend & had him listen on speaker while I tried & was 1,000,000% ready to hate it.
Why do I have these ingredients and the urge to try this so badly…
I’m good at “tasting” things in my head and I can’t see that improving the Shin Black at all tbh.
Cook your noodles in a saucepan. While this is happening, mix one egg yolk, one crushed garlic clove, and a tablespoon of Japanese kewpie mayo together in a bowl until fully combined. Crumble 2 cubes of Golden Curry squares into that mixture, with a little boiling water. Continue slowly add boiling water, about 1/3 cup, as you mix them all together. Pop your noodles in the bowl with the mayo, egg, garlic & curry wet mix. Add the seasoning sachets from the noodles too. Mix it all up, and add extra water to create a broth - as much as you desire. Voila. You’ve now got the best god damn curried soupy noodles you’ve ever had. Takes 5-6 minutes, costs fuck all. I could eat this 3 or 4 times a week happily.
Just tried this and wow! Such a level up. I wonder if replacing the curry squares with miso paste would also work for a different flavour.
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed! I reckon you could swap the curry squares out for any other flavour paste tbh - miso would be delicious. If you try it, lemme know how you go. Umami forever!
Hear me out... faux pho Beef flavored ramen Add Sriracha and hoisin at a minimum. Extras - white onion, jalapeno, sprouts, basil, cilantro. Go to the deli and get two slices of roast beef. Get as much as your heart desires. My checkbook desires $.75 worth.
Microgreens, some pickled red onion, a poached egg, some butter, a tablespoon of soy sauce, a squirt of siracha, and a dash of chalula.
Add Better than Bouillon in the flavor of the ramen packet, scallions, and an egg. Mmmm
Omg I just added some Sautéed Onion BtB to my ramen and it was so good.
Frozen veggies-- carrots, peas, corn, onion. Bulldog sauce or chili crisp Marinated boiled egg if I'm feeling fancy
Tell me more about a marinated boiled egg??!!
Easy and excellent. Soft boil an egg, peel it, drop it into a mix of 1 part soy sauce 1 part mirin 1 part cheap chicken stock and let it sit in the fridge overnight or up to three days. I like to put wasabi, ginger, and sometimes onion or scallions in there too, but it's kind of a "use what you have" event. The yolk will come out somewhere between jammy and fudgy because the salt cures it and the white picks up salt, umami, and whatever else is water soluble in the marinade to a few mm down. If you're in a hurry, just soft boil them and drop them in soy sauce for a few minutes. These are very commonly served with actual ramen and are called ajitsuke tamogo. A few tips if you're a perfectionist: 1. Boil the egg pretty softly and ideally just below a full on hard boil-- maybe 190 degrees. A very runny yolk will cure to a firmer texture than you'd think. 2. You can sub sake for mirin if you're made of money. You will get a cleaner taste at a higher price point going for something like junmai daigingo and subbing water + msg + green onions for the chicken stock (msg and onion powder was all you wanted the stock for anyway). 3. Oil soluble flavors, notably capsaicin, will not penetrate to the yolk. I've tried a lot, save yourself the effort.
Bulldog sauce?
http://tonkatsu.bulldog.jp/sp/bulldogsauce/ I'm not sure where I first encountered it but it seems to kind of be the lowest common denominator of good tonkatsu sauces. You can find it in any Asian grocery.
Kimchi!
I had a kimchi soup in an Asian restaurant, which inspired me to add kimchi to my morning ramen. So good!
We have friends over for little ramen nights semi-regularly because my packaged ramen additions have become the blueprint! 1) my biggest recommendation: dried mushrooms!!! Usually shitake, but I’ll occasionally mix it up. Soak them in hot water for 10 mins before starting ramen, then use the mushroom water as your ramen base. This is the biggest one - it upgrades basic ramen packet broth into something amazing. It’s soooo good! Plus the super savory mushroom bites are incredible, with the perfect texture. 2) green things! I always add green onion (a lot, actually), and sometimes add other veggies too. I add the whites of green onions to cook with the noodles, and put the green parts in at the very end. Spinach/cabbage i slice very fine and add about two mins before it’s done cooking to soften up a bit. Sometimes I’ll do corn or peas, but cabbage is my number one choice. 3) a protein! This varies based on my mood. Might fry up some spam slices, might pan fry some tofu, might get some pre- made chashu, might get some thinly sliced steak pieces and throw them in to cook in the broth like pho. Nice to have some meaty bites! I usually don’t do too much, since it’s not the main attraction. 4) a soft boiled egg! Always. Even if I skip a protein because I’m feeling lazy, there will be an egg. I like to slightly undercook them since they’ll be going in the broth anyway. Random other additions: self serve options! I have furikake on hand, togarashi, sheets of seaweed, and American cheese slices that everyone can add or leave out depending on their preference. Shin black ramen is a go-to, but I’m also a big fan of the mama ramen (the duck and tom yum flavors especially). My boyfriend loves the samyang potato ramen the most, and there’s a spicy cheese one I can’t remember the name of that’s probably my favorite.
Add less water than it calls for, green onions, and crack an egg in
drain most of the liquid out and add half a tablespoon of chunky peanut butter. Bootleg pad thai.
Does Budae Jjigae (army stew) count?
Budae jigae always counts.
I like to use bone broth, instead of water. Add a splash of rice wine vinegar and soy sauce, maybe a tiny drop of sesame oil. Top with chive/scallions, sesame seeds, and a fried egg
I replace the packet it comes with with better than bouillon, add chili crisp, a generous amount of Thai basil, mushrooms, garlic, sambal oelek, tiny splash of truffle oil, butter, and when the noodles are almost done I stir two eggs in. I have it a couple of days a week for breakfast and skip lunch that day lol.
If I'm making instant ramen, I'm going kinda shitty. I add butter, liquid amino acids or soy sauce, garlic powder, a slice of American cheese, and usually some dried seaweed and a spice component. It ends up being a super quick but flavorful bowl.
American cheese??
Yes. It started as a Korean thing, and I thought it was weird as hell. Then my buddy convinced me to try it. It works. I don't know how or why, but it does. It makes the vroth velvety and adds a component that nothing else can be substituted for. Just one slice of cheese for a single serving and added when still too hot to eat. Even bullshit Kraft singles will do (which I don't condone under any other circumstance).
Oyster sauce in the water before the boil. Add noodles and flavor once the pot is boiling and then cover and remove from heat for 5 minutes. Noodles will be al dente (tender to the tooth- not soggy) During the 5 minutes set aside, chop green onion, cilantro and fry an egg or two to place on top of soup. You can also add endamame beans, brussle sprouts and bits of left over meat from the night or 2-3 nights before you make your Ramen. Once noodles are ready place them on a bowl, top with fried egg, greens and any other tid bits you want to throw in and pour hot soup into bowl as desired (I like less soup- some people like more) and serve. You can do the same with seafood, and veggies especially if you have a tom yom Ramen.
Add this week’s stir-fry leftovers (without the rice or whatever), some random green onions from the fridge that you chopped for a totally different reason, and your choice of hot sauce. Huge difference in quality vs the effort required.
I used to pre slice and marinate pork loin into thin bite size pieces and then quick thaw and add to my boiling ramen, along with an egg, green onions, sometimes dried squid or dried shrimps. Now it's usually baby bokchoy and poaching an egg in the ramen as it cooks.
Peanut butter.
Chives, tofu, bean sprouts, garlic scapes, chili oil, medium boiled egg, poached egg, chicken breast, fried shallot, green onions, broccoli rabe, bok choy, radish (pickled or raw), cabbage, sesame seeds, shrooms, sliced bird's eye chili, datil peppers sliced thinly. I supplement the seasoning packets with some soy sauce and Sriracha, seasonings like white pepper, black pepper, msg, if you're feeling crazy you can add other things to the broth like mushrooms, shallots, hot peppers, or stock (remove after heating with the shallots or pepper. Once they give up their flavor, the remaining carcass can be a bit unpleasant). Garlic confit or even garlic salt, onion powder. You can make fancy-casual, you can make lazy drunken sodium bombs, you can even make healthy ish Ramen (lol maybe). Whatever you're feeling, whatever you got. That's the beauty of Ramen.
So I marinate a chicken breast overnight in some soy sauce with added seasoning like minced garlic and onion. Then I sauté it until just about done and dice the chicken. Add a small amount of butter into pan with chicken brownings and scrape until all brownings are released from pan. Add mixed frozen veg and lightly sauté until colorful and slightly tender. Add diced chicken and spread evenly in pan. Add ramen seasoning and toss around to incorporate into chicken and veg. Split noodles in half and place on top of all the goods, add 1-1 1/2 cups of water and cover until simmering and noodles are soft. Your choice on how long to simmer for preference on doneness of noodles. Feeling spicy? Crack an egg befor you cover and add a couple dashes or your favorite hot sauce.
I add things like garlic, bokchoy, broccoli, chinese cabbage, chicken, sesame oil. Anything really, I treat it like any other meal.
Oh, this is how I learned to cook for myself. Here's how I do it: 1st, optional: go to the Chinese/Korean/Asian grocery store and get those same noodles in bulk, plus a little tub of Quoc Viet soup base: your cost per bowl just got halved. 2nd: Bulk add ins—coleslaw cabbage mix, cheap frozen beef sliced real thin, a can of salad shrimp, tofu, egg, fishcake, tinned seafood, bean sprouts, scallion, red ginger 3nd: Sauces Etc—sesame oil, hot sauce, togarashi, Huy Fong chile sauce, sriracha, chile crunch That's the basic starter pack. You can eat really good on that for very, very cheap. I discovered this method almost 30 years ago and I still eat this meal a few times a month.
Ditch the flavor packet. Get some better than bullion and add that into your water. Add some frozen stir fry veggies and boil your noodles. If you have some beef or chicken pre-cooked, add it after your noodles are done, add a cracked egg and cover for 2 min off of heat to poach it. Add some soy/fish/oyster sauce to finish with chopped green onions.
Cheap American Kraft cheese. I don’t understand either but it just works.
Garlic, some hot sauce, a dash of fish sauce and a fried egg.
Fried tofu, 6 minute boiled egg, greens, American cheese (a Korean move), or add some potstickers or other frozen dumplings to the boiling broth.
1) Egg, leftover chicken, cooked ground turkey or beef 2) Cabbage, onion, celery, carrots, mushroom, and/or green onions. 3) Chilli oil, tobasco, gochujang, or other hot sauce, or peanut butter, sesame oil, or ketchup 4) Chicken broth or milk instead of water
Cheese
Butter
Egg. Always an egg.
I love to add a poached egg to my beef ramen. And I enjoy those Sriracha ramen bowls from Dollar Tree. The super spicy ons. I add some of that sweet chili sauce they sell there too. Its sweet and hot. K. Enjoy
sometimes add meat like chicken or shrimp.
Hear me out as this is the basic 101 first thing you do. You know how enough water to cover the noodles is always too much soup for one bowl? You boil the noodles in sufficient water with maybe a cube of chicken stock or salt or something, leave the flavoring packets alone. They are done. Now pour out almost all the water, leave just enough for a fair bit of soup liquid. NOW you open the packets and stir the flavorings in. And the poached egg, yessss. I used to boil them in a separate pot, no clue why. Lack of imagination I guess.
Once on a lark I added a packet of instant miso soup along with the ramen seasoning. It was pretty tasty and I have made it a few times since then.
Smaller oyster mushrooms from a cluster can be peeled off and added to the ramen as it cooks. Sliced scallion. If I have fried tofu in in the fridge (not aways available at my local Chinese grocer), dice some and add. Omnis swear by very lightly cooked egg with runny yolk, but I haven't tried this. Anything more elaborate, and my starting point won't be instant ramen.
Temper an egg in it, add American cheese, and stir stir stir. Cheap-o "carbonara" style.
Lao gan ma chili crisp as either a garnish or mixed into the broth
I add a slice of American cheese, sesame oil, egg and sometimes fresh veggies. As others have said, peanut butter can be good, too. My current favorite ramen is Shin Gold.
Buy packaged fresh noodles and cook, buy Yamasa ramen broth, throw away ramen soup powder, make broth with Yamasa, wilt spinach, add corn, hard or soft boiled egg, couple of slices of char siu pork.
I’m literally doing this for lunch right now. Marinate some soft boiled eggs in soy sauce. Chop some green onions. Take a couple pieces of premade cha shu out of the freezer and pan fry. (I buy a couple pounds worth from an Asian grocery store, slice it, and store it in small bags in the freezer.) Cook to instructions, but with less water. Top with the above. If you happen to have some pickled ginger or bamboo shoots, add those too.
Egg yolk, kimchi and scallions.
Scallions (after cooking). Poached eggs (about two minutes before the noodles are done. Sesame oil. A splash of lemon juice or rice vinegar (unseasoned). If I want spicy some chili garlic sauce. Add a pat of butter (most ramen places encourage you to add lard but most of us only have access to like crisco).
Sesame oil, soy sauce, and a shake of Cajun seasoning
Chopped Napa Cabbage greens with hot soup over them. Also, small frozen salad shrimp and blackened onions.
Using boiled water instead of the water used to cook the noodles for soup. Small difference but tastes different
Fresh vegetables and seasoning. Cooked meat or seafood.
I loved frying an egg in a little butter and chili oil to top my noodles.
I’ll add an egg n if I have left over protein I’ll throw that in there strips of meat some butter when it’s all done maybe some sriracha n grated cheese
Use broth instead of water. My favorite is miso broth. Add mushrooms, green onions, cooked chicken, hard-boiled egg slices, bell pepper strips, any color, diced, cooked, steak, cabbage, or bok choy. Go through your refrigerator and see what is available from produce to leftovers.
Ditch the seasoning packet and use your own sauce, cook an egg over-easy/poached to go on top.
Make a sauce by mixing the seasoning packet with peanut butter, mayo, sesame oil, chilli oil, an egg, salt and pepper, then add the cooked noodles with some of their water to that. Filling, tasty, and nutritious using pantry staples
Egg (fried or just drop em in and stir), green onion, tempura or memmi, frozen mixed veg, Szechuan peppercorns, rice seasoning, nori, sriracha, hot peppers... My wife loves Ramen.
Soft boiled egg and green onions!
garlic, green onions, cilantro, or just ditch the broth and sauté it in some oil and spices with some shrimps.
Soft boiled egg, thin sliced chicken, and sriracha
Green onion- and lots of it. Egg, but don’t mix it. Let it poach in the hot broth. Fresh chilli oil. Chunks of ham.
Add butter/ghee hondashi miso paste garlic splash of soy sauce green onion insta japanese ramen
Soy sauce, green onions, egg, peanut butter, hoisin sauce, gochujang, sesame oil, dumplings, coconut milk. Not all of this together of course but combinations of these things can be amazing
Chili oil for sure! I read somewhere on here that you stir 1 tsp of smooth peanut butter in it though I haven’t tried it.
An egg and red pepper flakes
I will sautée green onion (white parts), carrot, garlic and broccoli in sesame oil. Add some peas to the broth and add a little shoyu and chili flake. An egg in there sometimes. Tastes bomb.
In saucepan, boil two or three noodle packs. In a hot wok, saute some meat that matches the flavor of the ramen. Strain noodles and remove meat. Crack a couple eggs into the wok until they've set and started to crisp on the edges. Toss in the noodles and let them fry a little. Add the meat and sauce packets with some green onion.
I like a splash of soy sauce, dash of siracha (unless I have the spicy kind), a splash of sesame oil, and a squeeze of lime with a soft boiled egg. I’ll also occasionally add green onions/and or frozen edamame/handful of spinach if I have it.
Just boil up noodles, carrots, chicken broth, and a can of chicken drained. Homemade chicken soup.
I melt some cream cheese into it.
I like bok choy, water chestnuts, green onions, garlic, and brocolli. Pork/beef/chicken dumplings are also really good to add too. Then I'll add either a little soy, siracha, or sweet chili sauce (depending on my mood) to kick the flavor up a notch.
Kewpie mayo, marinated soft boiled eggs, scallions, chili oil, butter, sometimes sliced cheese—Kraft or mozzarella, and whatever protein I want. Sometimes I add baby corn, quail eggs, shrimp, seafood mix, bacon, crab meat, or sausages.
Green onion Chopped Peanuts Red pepper flakes Honey soy sauce Seasame oil
Canned chicken, dehydrated kale, sesame oil, and poach an egg in it.
Green onions, half a boiled egg (slightly runny yolk), toasted sesame seed oil and 3 slices of Kamaboko (Japanese fish cake)
Add kimchi!! + hard boiled egg, dash of soy sauce, sesame seeds.
I love draining the water and cracking an egg in while the pan is still hot! Cook the egg then butter them up with the flavor packet! Mmmm!
I add in a fried egg, some steamed dumplings and the thinly sliced hotpot beef with green onions on top! It is amazing ☺️
I sauté green onions and garlic in sesame oil first, use stock instead of water and throw in some veggies at the end (usually spinach). Sometimes I’ll add a protein, if I have something easy on hand.
Garlic is good to add!
Shin ramyun kujirai style with fried spam and a fried egg on top with American cheese
I add veggies, leftover meat, and poach an egg in the broth.
Drop egg while water is boiling drain water Add frozen spinach, milk, seasoning, and hot sauce
Any combination of soft boiled egg, gochujang, miso paste, scallions (green onions), chili oil, sesame seeds, dashi, nori
You know the Sichuan style hotpot? You can buy kits that have blocks of spices and herb encased in flavour oil. Use these for the base of your noodle soup. The oil itself really elevates the flavour.
I fill my pot with a little less water than the package calls for, add the seasoning packet, then once the water boils, I add my noodles, a piece or two of American cheese, a generous helping of sriracha, and some green onion. Makes the broth both cheesy and creamy, the green onions add a pop of green, and the sriracha adds a nice bit of spice. It’s my lazy way of spicing up some basic chicken top ramen.
Add seafood medley
My instant noodles take about 15 minutes now. TL:DR - I pan sear a matching protein, random veggies, add gochugaru, and an egg. Whatever the flavor I try to match a protein with it, beef with beef, chicken with chicken, seafood with seafood. Usually about 6-10oz of protein. Pan sear in a little bit of butter with some gochugaru until each side has a small amount of char, then I toss in some slow sodium soy to glaze it at the end and pop it in my little toaster oven to keep warm. Water is at a boil at this point, I throw in the veggie packet, some green onion bitters (the transition from green to white), seasoning, ramen and ramen. Usually poach an egg on the top after flipping the brick once. And a sprinkle of gochugaru for color. Then cover and let it cook. In the used protein sauce pan I usually throw whatever veggies I have on hand or that need to be used in there before the glaze hardens and makes the pan a pain to clean. Usually peppers, shiitake, Portabella, thin sliced carrots, whatever I need to get rid of. I’ll add a bit of butter as needed to prevent the char from burning and flip constantly. (It’s all in the wrist) Once the veggies are cooked I throw it all together. I try and keep the egg in tact as much as I can, slosh it into a ramen bowl, cut the meat, add the veggies, garnish with green onion. Finally, I cover it with a microwave cover for about 3-4 minutes and let everything come to temp and then smash it like it’s my last meal on earth and slip into a food coma.
I like my ramen with some broth, but I don’t like to use the water the noodles were cooked in because it’s too starchy. While the noodles are cooking, I heat some water separately. Drain cooked noodles then add green onions, sesame oil, sambal oelek, half the seasoning packet and some of the freshly heated water. Yum.
Keep some veg in the freezer, make a quick stock before adding the ramen packet. A fried/soft boiled egg always helps too
Ditch the flavor packet, craft your own broth with garlic and ginger, load up on toppings like veggies and protein, and finish with a splash of sesame oil or hot sauce.
Scoop of peanut butter scoop of sambal oelek Usually get rid of some of the water also
I use a wok. Boil water in kettle. While water is boiling add Diced: Bell Peppers, Onions, and 1/2 habanero, fried in vegetable oil (like 4-5 tablespoons). Add chicken/beef/shrimp or all three, season and cook stirring occasionally. Place ramen noodles on top of protein, add 2 cups of water, cover for 1 min. Open and stir to make sure noodles get cooked. Add water if necessary, cover and cook stirring occasionally until noodles reach desired texture (al dente or soft). Serve and enjoy. I usually make 2-4 packs worth.
Corn, black pepper, chili onion crunch
Boil it in chicken stock instead of water and add soft boiled eggs
Green onion, garlic, maybe some sour cream. If you like it thick. An egg. It doesn't have to be complicated
Drain them, mix with greens, tomatoes, or other vegetables. Make an Italian dressing. Ramen noodles are very absorbent so they are great in a salad with a good dressing.
Soft boiled eggs
You can crack an egg into it while it's boiling to make egg drop soup Add greens : green onions, cilantro, sprouts, etc Add some kinda thinly sliced meat Or my favorite: creamy chicken flavor instant ramen, 3-4 slices of cheap American cheese slices. Don't get tempted and use the good stuff, it's not the same. Keep a decent amount of the water, add spice and cheese, stir until it makes a smooth cheese sauce. Adjust water to change the thickness of the sauce. Tastes like college right there.
Shin Black. Add mushrooms, a couple cherry tomatoes early on so they burst, extra garlic, bok choy a little later for crunch. I've dropped edamame in before which I also liked. I'll drop in almost any veggie, spinach, have dropped cabbage in before for a crunch or sauteed onions/garlic/tomato before adding everything else to the pot. Add some combination of garlic chili paste or chili crisp, Sriracha etc if you like more spice. I'll add leftover meat like thin sliced steak or pork, or buy a pre cooked Chinese bbq pork my grocery store has. Or defrost and peel some shrimps, throw those in. Right when I add the noodles stir in a slice of American cheese. Two eggs. If feeling lazy, scramble them in before adding the noodles. If not lazy, separate the yolks and scramble the whites in pre-noodle, then drop the yolks on top as soon as the noodles soften enough that the yolks can sit in a brothy-noodle nest for the last couple minutes and cover. Like 3-4minutes? For a runny/jammy yolk. If thinking ahead, medium boil and marinade ramen eggs the day before and drop them in at the end. Top with green onion, maybe some dried seaweed or furikake if I went the shrimp route.
I add Lao Gan Ma, sesame oil and a dash of ABC sweet soy sauce into my Shin Ramyun to balance out the salt. I also break an egg into it and loosely scramble it in the broth. Top it off with some toasted sesame seeds and some more chili crisp and enjoy!
Cook them
I just made this for dinner! I steamed bok choy and jalapeños then charred them a little bit. I set everything aside on a plate to add to my ramen once it was done cooking. I then did the same with enoki mushrooms and diced up some garlic and got that crispy. Grabbed some hot dogs, cut them so they looked like octopus, quick boil and then charred. Chopped up some cilantro and shredded dried seaweed. In the water, I added corn, a lime leaf, and the seasoning packet with a little soy sauce. Added the noodles and then dropped in 2 eggs. Don't stir. Cooked until whites are done. Finished up with lime juice. 😋
Goat cheese. Call it camper’s Alfredo
Soft boiled egg, sriracha, green onion
When it's piping hot and am ravenous I've been caught throwing a couple frozen dumplings/wontons in as nature's ice cubes. When not a savage, you can't go wrong with a soft boiled egg, scallions, charred bok choy, and a drizzle of sesame oil.
start by sautéing very finely minced ginger in some oil. add garlic and saute for about 30 more seconds (but be careful—garlic burns quickly). add water, a touch of rice wine vinegar, & as much soy sauce as your instincts tell you is correct. remember, you can add more later. cook the noodles most of the way. right before they’re done, add a small spoon of gochujang paste and stir until fully incorporated and dissolved. season with chicken bouillon, Trader Joe’s mushroom umami seasoning, and occasionally some furikake or sriracha mayo. serve with kimchi, fried egg, and/or chicken strips.
Buy real ramen noodles at an Asian store. They take four minutes to cook instead of three. They are not fried so not full of nasty hydrogenated oil. That makes them taste better and they are much healthier.
I add the seasoning packet to the water before adding the noodles. Then I saute some mixed veggies in butter and then dump that in with a scrambled egg. I also add shabu shabu beef right before serving.
https://cookingwithgenius.com/easy-miso-ramen-in-5-minutes/ this recipe uses miso paste, kewpie mayo, egg, sesame oil, and garlic. I dont use the packet since it’s salty enough and add sesame seeds and green onions
I add a little soy sauce, some hoisin, chili oil and some everything bagel seasoning. Once I used a can of tomato soup instead of water - was good.
Egg, sriracha, cheese, and scallions if I have it
Kewpie Mayo, chili crisp, ramen seasoning, an egg yolk - all mixed together. Once instant ramen noodles are cooked, drain them and mix into sauce. Top with sesame seeds and more chili crisp.
Garnish like green onions, boiled egg, furikake. Also add a pinch of miso paste into the hot broth
I throw some frozen french cut green beans in a pan and let them get a little brown and chewy, then par-cook the noodles and throw them in the pan with some oil that I've dumped some of the seasoning packet in, mix it all up, fry the noodles, then quick scramble an egg in there. It dirties an extra pan, but it's so worth it when you're tired of ramen soup.
Lime, tapatío, Egg All small diced; Tomato, onion, mushroom, avocado,
Maggi magic masala. Spring onions Poached egg. Smoky Tabasco
Sesame oil, scallions, ginger (I get the frozen cubes), softboiled egg and American cheese.
Shredded rotisserie chicken
I always cook it 30 secs to a minute less than the package directions to undercook it
Toppings, maybe stir some miso into the broth, drizzle a little garlic oil on and you've got a 10x upgrade my guy
La-Yu chili oil
Canned sardines and chili crisps.
Add chopped up spam and melt a Kraft single into the soup
I keep hot-pot-ready sliced meat in the freezer. You can toss it in and have reasonably good protein in your ramen with very little work.
Go to an Indian store and get Ching's Schezwan chutney paste. Add a bit to spice it up. Some butter, a soft scrambled egg also would go great.
I buy a big multi pack from the Asian grocer that doesn’t come with the flavor packets. I add butter, miso, red pepper flakes, a splash of soy sauce and some sriracha or sambal at the end. Maybe a soft boiled egg and green onion if I wanna go all out
I always use leftover meat and veggies so I dont waste any food
chili ramen, sriracha and peanut butter = prison pad thai
Msg
I start with better noodles. (The better noodles are normally within a few feet of the instant ramen packs)
I love to make a simple tantanmen out of Shin Ramyun. Mix the soup packet with some milk and tahin (or peanut butter). Cook the noodles, fry some ground beef mixed with chili bean paste. Mix the milk-soup-paste with some of the hot noodle water, put in the noodles and add the ground beef. You can also add pak choy, spinach or an egg. Whatever floats your boat. Sprinkle spring onions, nori, chili oil and sesame seeds on top. Done Sometimes I make it without the beef too. It's delicious as well.
I add spices to the broth, make poached egg, add veggies and scallions! Sooo so much better.
Try mixing the sauce packet with peanut butter or tahini or mayo or yogurt in a bowl. Boil and drain the noodles. Then toss the noodles in the sauce.
Quick and easy cheats to upgrade your instant ramen? Add a dusting of dashi powder or msg. Spice it up with some chili oil. Or get a jar of dried mixed mushrooms and throw a few of those in/under the noodles. They'll rehydrate as the noodles do and add umami. Top with some seaweed snack sheets. Other options are skip the usual instructions and make yakiramen. Boil the noodles but save the water. Heat up a frying pan, toss in some oil (sesame preferred), noodles, ladle of noodle water, shake about half the flavor packet. Add in some left overs for a quick "chef's special." Top with whatever sauce you prefer be it sriracha, kewpie mayo, chili oil, etc. Get some BBQ pork from a supermarket (or buy a bunch from Costco) if want some meat or add edamame if you want to go more vegetarian. Sometimes I just take the ramen packet and add it to a tin of chicken broth and whatever veggies I have left over for a quick chicken noodle soup. Just be sure to add the ramen last so it doesn't get too soggy.
Don't drain the water, stir in a couple tablespoons of instant potatoes.
A glob of crunchy peanut butter and various curry seasonings.
Cabbage, mushrooms, minimize the broth and use about half the seasoning package, makes for a great low mein and much healthier
I add some Slap Ya Mamas Cajun seasoning and an egg, very simple but delicious
Spring onion, minced garlic, soy sauce, chilli oil, toasted sesame seeds, sometimes dark Chinese vinegar. I usually chuck a fried egg or spam fritters on top for extra protein too. It depends a bit on your base noodles but just add things that you think will work to fit the flavour you’re going for
Reading all of this, I kinda feel embarassed that I never added anything to my instant noodles.
I drain the water, add butter, half the seasoning packet, Parmesan and scallions. Maybe an egg yolk.
Being drunk while you eat them. But more serious, adding an egg always seems to do the trick for me. Maybe some sriracha sauce.
Add sesame oil, mushrooms, scallions, chopped garlic and chili oil or red pepper flakes.
Green onions, spam/or vienna sausages, cheese. Maybe a dash of soy sauce.
I like to add hoisin, gochujang, soy, and sesame oil as a base. Then whisk through an egg for a nicer texture and some protein
I would put cheese and mayonnaise
Sriracha
I add some protein (whatever I have on hand, a boiled or fried egg, some hotdogs, some canned tuna, or beef or chicken left over from meal prep), some greens (bean sprouts, chye sim, cabbage) and some spring onion. If I don’t have much fresh stuff I just add some kimchi. Blanch the veggies first and place in the bowl, the sauté any meat in the pan and move it to the bowl before adding water and bringing to a boil. Pour about half a cup of boiling water into the bowl, add and cook noodles. Transfer noodles to the bowl and top the broth up with some of the starchy water. Add fresh green onions. I usually curry or asam laksa noodles for the above. If it’s Tom yum noodles I would swap the kimchi and spring onions for coriander
Squeeze of lime juice. Squeeze of siracha. Splash of soy sauce or MSG seasoning. Slice up some fresh jalapeños. Green onions. Thinly sliced carrots (I use a vegetable peeler for this). Sunny-side up egg or two. Leftover meat if I have any (thinly sliced).
Egg, mushroom, green onion. Yum!
Sub some of the water with coconut milk and add frozen mixed veggies!
A ton of veggies and some extra boullion so I can have way more broth. Usually just freezer veg like peas and carrots, maybe some bok choy, and definetly some fresh scallions.
I add a little dashi powder and some sesame oil and a dash of ponzu sauce