Confession time: sometimes I actually like instant ramen. You know, those cheap little packets of salty noodles that only cost 30¢? I don’t eat them often, maybe once per year, but when I get the craving I love grabbing a packet of instant noodles and going to town with all sorts of add-ins and toppings. Over the years I’ve found 6 easy ways to upgrade my instant ramen, to the point where it feels like fancy ramen and can qualify as a legit meal. Plus, I get to use up the leftovers in my kitchen at the same time! So I’m going to share what I add to instant ramen to make it better because it’s a total win-win.
Can you believe that’s instant ramen in that bowl in that photo?? And those upgrades were pretty inexpensive.
Now it’s obvious that the best way to make instant ramen better is to just get real ramen noodles from a restaurant or from an Asian grocery store, but that’s not what we’re talking about today.
We’re talking about what you can add to those inexpensive little ramen packets to make them better. Ingredients that you can find in your fridge or just about any grocery or convenience store. So, when cheap ramen packets are what you’ve got, here’s how you can spice up your instant ramen and turn it into a bowl of fancy ramen!
What to Add to Ramen
Instant ramen is a blank slate for all sorts of flavors and ingredients, so you can really have fun when customizing your bowl! Here is a summary of some of the ingredients that I like to add to a bowl of instant ramen to really spice it up:
- Broth: experiment with using your own broth and different flavors of broth (vegetable, coconut, curry, shrimp base, etc.)
- Aromatics: Adding a few fresh aromatics, like garlic, ginger, or scallions, can really add a lot of depth to the flavor of your broth.
- Sauces: scour your fridge for sauces that you can stir into the bowl, like sriracha, chili crisp, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, or even peanut butter.
- Vegetables: Instant ramen is a great way to use up leftover vegetables in your fridge. They add color, flavor, and texture to every bite!
- Protein: Make your bowl a little heartier by adding in some rotisserie chicken, cooked shrimp, a soft-boiled egg, or some tofu.
- Toppers: I like to add a little flair at the end, whether it be something for texture like sesame seeds or furikake, or something fresh like cilantro. It’s just another layer of delicious that takes the ramen over the top!
how to Make Ramen Better – Step by Step
1. Use Your Own Broth
Skip the flavoring packet and use your own broth, whatever kind you prefer. I like to use either vegetable or chicken-flavored Better Than Bouillon (I do half broth, half water to keep the salt down), but you could also use a homemade bone broth, dashi, or even just some miso mixed with water. Not only does this give you more control over the salt and other ingredients, but it offers you a lot of flavor options!
2. Add Aromatics
Upgrading instant ramen is all about the add-ins, and that begins with adding fresh aromatics to your broth to really give the flavor some oomph. I like to add fresh garlic, ginger, and green onion. I usually have all three of these on hand (I keep my ginger in the freezer), so it’s a no-brainer. Plus, fresh ginger gives the soup a pleasant medicinal quality that is great when you’re under the weather.
TIP: Mince the garlic and grate the ginger. Sauté both in a little oil for a minute or so before adding your broth to the pot. The green onion can either be sprinkled over top at the end, sautéed with the ginger and garlic, or both!
3. Sauce it Up
If you’re like me, you have no less than 20 half-used bottles of sauces in your fridge. Well, Instant ramen is a great way to use up some of those sauces. You can stir sambal, chili garlic sauce, sriracha, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, gochujang, soy sauce, or any number of other sauces into your broth for more flavor. Or add them to the finished bowl as a sort of table seasoning.
TIP: Adding sauces usually comes with added salt, so keep this in mind when choosing your broth. That is one reason I like to do half broth and half water—it gives me more wiggle room to add sauces later.
4. Add Vegetables
I looooove my bowl of ramen packed full of vegetables. This is where spicing up instant ramen gets really fun and useful. Browse your fridge for any vegetable that might need to be used up, like carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, cabbage, and more. You can also toss in frozen vegetables, like broccoli florets, peas, or corn.
TIP: If you don’t have any vegetables in your fridge, stop by the salad bar at your local grocery and grab a small handful or two of your favorite vegetables. That way you don’t have to buy a whole package of each one. You can also score proteins like tofu (see photo above) or rotisserie chicken to toss in there.
5. Add a Protein
My favorite protein to add to my ramen is an egg because it’s just so easy and I always have them (soft boiled egg or hard boiled egg). But there are so many more options! Tofu cubes, sliced tempeh, rotisserie chicken, ground pork (browned), shelled edamame, pulled pork, shrimp, you name it!
TIP: You can crack a raw egg straight into your simmering broth and let it cook for about 6 minutes. Make sure the broth is not vigorously boiling or the egg will break apart into a million pieces and just make the broth cloudy. For the egg in the photo above, I cooked it separately, using my easy 6-minute Soft Boiled Egg method, and then added it to the finished bowl.
6. Top it Off
Time to go wild! Top off your ramen with lots of fun goodies to give your bowl flavor, color, and texture. Here are some things to add to ramen:
- Sriracha
- Kimchi
- Sesame seeds
- Crumbled bacon
- Nori (dried seaweed)
- Fresh herbs (cilantro, Thai basil, chives)
- Sesame oil
- Crushed chiles
- Furikake
- Fresh lime
And that’s it! That’s all it takes to turn a sad little packet of instant noodles into a truly epic bowl of fancy ramen that I’m sure I’d probably pay at least $8 for in a restaurant.
My Favorite Instant Ramen Recipe:
The bowl of instant ramen shown in the photos here is the ultimate representation of how to make ramen better, but on a regular run-of-the-mill day, I kind of go halfway between plain and the ultimate version. Here is my favorite upgraded ramen recipe:
Upgraded Instant Ramen
Servings 1 to 2Ingredients
- 1/2 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 handful sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 package instant ramen (seasoning discarded)
- 1 handful fresh spinach
- 1 large egg
- 1 green onion, sliced
- sriracha to taste
Instructions
- Add the oil, garlic, and ginger to a small sauce pot and sauté over medium for about one minute.
- Add the sliced mushrooms and sauté for about a minute more.
- Add the broth and water, and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add the uncooked ramen noodles. Boil for about 3 minutes, or just until they are tender. Do not overcook the noodles.
- Stir in the spinach until wilted. Turn the heat down to low, crack the egg into the broth, and let sit for about six minutes, or until the egg whites are cooked and the yolk is still runny.
- Transfer the soup to one or two bowls, then top with sriracha and sliced green onion.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
And then depending on whatever else I have in my kitchen, I might add some other fun stuff in, like in the photos. :) Want to meal prep it? Check out our Meal Prep Noodle Soup Jars!
Try These Other Instant Ramen Recipes:
What About You?
Share your favorite ways to spice up instant ramen in the comments below! I love reading all the unique and creative ingredient combinations people come up with for their ramen!
I always add some lime in it =)
I love this post! My favorite is the egg. When I lived in SE Asia I learned the trick of adding an egg or two to the water as I boiled it for the noodles. The timing works out to be perfect for a soft boiled egg and it only takes one pot! I’m not quite sure about the health implications of consuming the water from boiling eggs, but I always rinsed the eggs before I added them and never had any negative effects.
soy sauce in the broth along with sriracha and oyster sauce (all stirred into broth)…stir in an egg to poach…top with sesame seeds, green onion, and Bangkok Blend by Penzy’s Spices if you have it (I got it free with another purchase…so that counts as budget, right?)
another great one is make the chicken ramen, drain all but a tiny bit of broth…add peanut butter, soy sauce, and sriracha to make “pad thai.” I think that hack is from Martha Stewart and you can look it up for the correct proportions.
also, leftover chicken nuggets make a surprisingly great addition to ramen.
My husband likes to add some kimchi and lunchmeat or tofu, and I like ginger, green onion, sliced mushrooms, and a beaten egg pored into the hot broth right before the noodles are done. My girls like it plain with tofu cubes. It’s a nice quick meal when the weather’s cold and we want a warm, filling bowl of soup.
Shin Ramyun add an egg dropped in at the end and also diced green onion.
Miso, sesame oil, ginger, rice vinegar, fresh greens, a dash of fish sauce, sambal oelek, runny poached egg, soy sauce, sriracha. Nom.
I almost always toss the ‘flavouring’ away. I little No Salt Added broth reduced by half or a little leftover homemade gravy.
I am with you on adding a few bits of vegetables about half way thru (if raw). I like to pick 2 or 3 vegetables – my usual mix include water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, snow peas, broccoli, broccolini, spinach, and finely grated carrot.
Top with a couple pieces of leftover roast. I haven’t gotten into the tofu, but a co-worker made this dish with beef & tofu that was just lovely. Likely may try as he shared how to prep it.
Love it with the addition of a little hoisin and a little Vietnamese garlic chili sauce. Perfect for a cold wet day.
Funny enough, eating shin ramyun right now. I threw frozen broccoli rabe, an egg, and a broken up burger in it. The Korean ramen is spicy and comes with a spice packet and dried veggie packet. Makes for a fast, filling meal.
Tossing in leftovers is a great way to jazz up this noodle soup, too.
Ramen Omelette with peas – pouring the egg over the noodles in a skillet
Instead of a soft-boiled egg, I poach an egg in the same water as I cook the noodles. I also add small broccoli florets to the water. I add torn dried nori to the bowl before adding the ramen. The noodles/egg/broccoli are placed in the bowl by using tongs and a slotted spoon, a slice of cheddar cheese (American works great too) is placed on top, then a small amount of ramen water is spooned on the cheese to melt it. Break the egg’s yolk, stir together all the gooeyness, top with scallions and sriracha, and enjoy.
These are great ideas! I’m a vegetarian and most of the ramen flavor packets have some sort of chicken fat included, so for the most part I’ve skipped out on the ramen phenomenon. But now I’m excited about possibilities! I never thought to substitute the broth! You’ve made instant noodles look SUPER TASTY!
The Oriental flavor packet — can’t remember if it’s Maruchan or Top Ramen — is vegan! One of the brands is not vegan though so check the label! :)
Oriental flavor is fine for vegetarians to eat!
Top Ramen’s “Oriental” flavor, although unfortunately named, is vegetarian!
Oooh yum, I love your take on spicing up instant ramen! I use most of these methods as well and they really do take your ramen up to the next level. I really like adding lemongrass into my instant ramen, goes super well with some coriander and tomatoes! And also, gochujang makes instant ramen taste magical * A *
Oh black bean paste is also an interesting addition! Okay last one, cheese! Makes it oh so creamy and delicious :D
I do a couple of the above tips, but otherwise I cook a handful of frozen stir-fry veggies in, or toss a spoon or so of TVP in to cook with the broth.
I used to cook the noodles and drain off most of the liquid. Add season pack (or part of it) and stir in a whisked egg. Cook until the egg is done. Stir in some parmesan or other cheese and garnish with chopped green onions.
Oh man, if you add bacon to that, you’ve got ramen carbonara. You may just be a genius!