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!
Oh yeah, another thing is using leftover coleslaw mix (shredded cabbage and carrots) in ramen. I like to sauté mine before adding, but you could just throw it in with the noodles when cooking.
Oooh, some of my favorites include: mixing in a little ranch dressing, adding a couple slices of American cheese (it melts better than other cheeses), topping with a fried egg, adding kimchi, and adding any left over meats I have on hand.
I thought I was so weird for adding ranch to mine!
I have no shame! I have actually been able to turn Ramen into a full-fledged meal for my family and I don’t feel at all guilty about it…. Here’s what I do:
Put some shredded carrots in the bottom of the bowl, put in the ramen noodles, flavor packet (I like the beef) and boiling water and let sit. Once noodles are soft and can be fluffed with a fork, I top it with cilantro, lime juice and siracha. If I have bean sprouts I will throw those on there, too. I love how it resembles and tastes like Pho! If we are splurging that week, I will make a flank steak marinated in an asian marinade and slice it very thinly to put on top. Yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy! Cannot.get.enough.
Love these ideas!
On the soft boiled egg front — no need to pre-prep a soft-boiled egg. I usually cook mine for two minutes, then add some frozen peas. After it reaches a simmer again, I carefully crack an egg into one side. The white will spread, but does not mix well, and cooking in the ramen for the last minute or so (or until it’s as done as you want) will cook the white and give the same runny yolk as using a soft-boiled egg. One technique tip: after the white has begun to set well, pull the noodles away from the edge of the white. This will sink the yolk some (for better immersion and cooking) without breaking the white.
When I was in college we used to make breakfast ramen by cooking the noodles in milk and adding sugar and cinnamon. Good times.
Have you tried peanut butter? Super easy peanut noodles. Yum!
I tried making a creamy ramen once. Like a carbonara but without the bacon. It didnt come out so great. Maybe you could give it a try, i am sure yours would be so much better.
My favorite way is a ton of rooster sauce and lime juice and of course an egg
My daughter loves it when I add leftover cooked chicken and some shredded carrot.
I grew up eating Ramen as a kid. It will always have a soft spot in my heart, I don’t care how bad it is for you. Occasionally I like to toss the seasoning packet and simmer the noodles in homemade chicken broth and soy.
My go-to is frozen peas and/or broccoli + I mix a raw egg in right at the end and stir to make ribbons. I also usually use 1/2-2/3 of the noodles and add extra water + cub of bullion to make it brothier.
Great post. Thanks for sharing. My husband and I eat a lot of Asian noodles. I cannot wait to cook up a pot. I’ll add both garlic and ginger LOL. Hope you don’t mind that I share your blog on my fb page?
Love the pictures!
Thanks to this, I had ramen today for lunch. With some sliced mushrooms and an egg sort of poached on the top of the liquid/noodlesmushrooms. I should be good on sodium for the next 6 months.
These are some great suggestions :) love to cook up a frozen salmon patty from Costco to go with my noodles, topped with some fresh lime juice and cilantro.
I like to do a fake bebimbop with mine. Finely chopped brussel sprouts sauted in sesame oil to your desired consistency. (day old cabbage in sesame oil is better but in a pinch sprouts will do.) Boil noodles, dump water, add a little bit of seasoning (or not if you’re watching salt). Fry an egg to medium. You want a runny yolk. Noodles in a bowl, chop pickles and add, add sauteed sprouts, sesame seeds, and egg. Cover in soy sauce. It sounds weird, but it’s the best late night snack I ever learned to make.