When you cook up some instant Ramen noodles, do you use the seasoning packet or do you use your own recipe?

I toss the packet. It’s full of MSG, salt and fake chicken flavor. God knows what else. I usually add some sea salt, a small bit of coconut oil, fresh basil and some red curry sauce. May sound elaborate but it’s a 5 min meal.

I am an OK cook, but I still like modified cheap ramen. I use half the seasoning packet and add chopped spinach leaves and a sliced hard-boiled egg.

I always have eggs and spinach on hand. Other great additions are green onion, white onion, and fresh basil.

I use the packet. But I put the packet in the water before the noodles. And once the noodles are cooked I pour out most of the water (I normally eat it on a plate) and then I cover it in a disgusting amount of Parmesan cheese.

My old roommate added the packet after he drained most of the water and it was inedible for me.

edit :: And I make two things of ramen at a time and only use one seasoning pack. I save the extras. They are good for adding to egg noodles. Same procedure as above.

@ARE_you_kidding_me…I will give red curry sauce a try (I love curry)...Thanks for your answer.

@Call_Me_Jay…” Other great additions are green onion, white onion, and fresh basil.” I like where you’re going with this.

I wonder if fresh Cilantro would be good in the mix.

Thanks for your answer.

I use some of the seasoning packet and my favorite is to add snow pea pods and let them steam in with the noodles. Shrimp are also great and water chestnuts too.

Packet and sometimes add some mushrooms, peas, and corn. If I put mushrooms I let the water boil a minute with the seasoning and mushrooms, before I shut off the water and add the noodles.

I use the seasoning packet. I only buy the cup of noodles.

My favourite ramens are the ones that come with three or four packages of different flavourings so you can mix them to your own preference. There are oils, chilis, minced garlic, and then specific flavourings. I like to add greens and sometimes leftover bits of meat to them. Setanta often adds egg to ramen when he prepares it.

I really like the Pinoy version – they call it Mami instead of Ramen. This Spicy Beef is very tasty.

edit: mushrooms and pak choy are excellent add-ins, but asparagus/spinach/pea pods are also pretty dang good

Thanks for the question, @azlotto!
I considered Ramen noodles garbage food, suitable for when I was a poor college students. Some of the suggestions above sound delicious!

@johnpowell suggestion is my kind of eating! Tasty noodles on a plate with Parm.
I wish this was my question so I could feel comfortable commenting on every answer.
Setanta adds egg in what form @BellaB? Raw or cooked?

When I did eat Ramen, I preferred adding the seasoning packet to taste, and I always smashed the dry noodles to make them easier to eat when cooked. I find I can eat short noodles easier. No chin slappers.

GQ!

The packet suffices, but only about ½ of it. Place spices in water just as water comes to a boil, add (one or two packages) noodles. Cook noodles until almost totally soft (a wee bit chewy), drain excess fluid and pig out.

Usually I use two packets of noodles. Bring to a boil. Add one egg per pack. Then if it’s cold out I add flavor packs, and reduce to simmer. Makes a soup.

Or, after boil,I drain the water, add flavor packets, and stir a lot. That’s better in hot weather, which is normally how it is where I am.

Sometimes I add cheese.

I use the packet and often add peas and carrots. it’s a like a double win-win in that the seasoning covers the fact that I don’t care for peas and carrots, and it also makes me feel less bad about eating a bowl of salt and starch. The only reason I eat Ramen is because I’m craving Ramen.

@ibstubro , Setanta breaks a raw egg into the noodles as they’re cooking.

__

Several of our Chinese and Vietnamese groceries also carry the noodle pucks without seasoning packets. I sometimes buy big bags of those. You can get air-dried or fried noodles. Some of them have flavour built-in.

some different types

There are some good ramen restaurants here – there are almost always line-ups at Kinton Ramen. Not surprising when the food looks like this

Ramen yum

Instant noodles? Not a good option if you’re looking to eat healthy food. Ok in case of college days as mentioned by someone.

Both. I include the packet in the water before I add the noodles, and then I drain and use the noodles with various vegetable combinations.

@BellaB I forgot about the separate oil and chili packets, I used to live where I had two big Japanese supermarkets along my commute home. Also I forgot about raw eggs. Egg drop soup for 50 cents. Thanks for the reminders!

The packet, always. The only reason I make Ramen noodles is to prepare something for myself to eat with the least possible effort.

I use the packet, and sometimes add a squirt of Sriracha.

Where’s the lemon? I want lemon with my Ramen noodles.
I’m going to buy a pack when I’m next to the grocery.

Chikin broth and lemon. Maybe a bit of mushroom. I’d like to try the raw egg sometime too.

My wife just discussed this very thing with her nutritionist friend. The noodles are apparently a deep fried unhealthy mess and the freaking packet is the only thing really ok to eat because it’s basically salt with color and a little MSG.

@ARE_you_kidding_me , some are made with fried noodles, others with air-dried noodles. There’s quite a range of ramen/instant noodle products out there.

Serious Eats breaks down ramen here

Instant Noodles were invented in 1958 by Momofuku Ando and were most likely your very first introduction to the world of ramen. What hungry college student hasn’t nursed themselves out of a hangover over a 59¢ bowl of instant ramen? The most common method of production is to deep-fry par-cooked bricks of noodles to dehydrate them (aka “de-fry-drating”). Take a look at the fat content on a pack of inexpensive instant ramen. That all comes from the dehydrating process.

Higher-end instant noodle brands, such as Myoja Chukazanmai, are made by air-drying par-cooked noodles, resulting in an end product that’s costlier to produce, but far more similar to traditional ramen.

So, spit, Ramen noodles are off the list of edibles, before I made it to the market?

Yeah, looks like rice is a better choice. God though that real ramen looks amazing. Too bad it’s not a cheap quick meal.

Yeah, I love the same with pre-cooked rice, @ARE_you_kidding_me.

@ARE_you_kidding_me , real ramen is a quick, inexpensive meal. It’s not hard to get the air-dried noodles – people just have to read the packaging.

Rice <shudder> is not the same at all.

Why shudder at rice?

^Yes. Let us not speak badly about rice.

Been a while since I had some but I usually used the packet.

now I gotta go get some dammit!

I use half the packet, too salty otherwise.

59¢ @BellaB!! Have they gone up that much? When I was in college, packs of 10 were a $1.00 regular price. I didn’t know enough about cooking then to doctor the noodles aside of the seasoning packet. We were, you know, worried about fire going out and wolves getting into the cave.
What’s your deal with rice?

Chicken flavored was the best.

i use the flavor packet but only ½ of it. I really only like the oriental flavor ramen. I sometimes buy chicken and edamame pot at Pret a Manger and add it to my ramen noodles. It’s one of my favorite lunches!

@johnpowell…I also save the extras.

@Coloma…Great suggestions, thanks.

@BellaB…The only Ramen noodles in this area have just one seasoning pack…I’d love to try the real deal.

@ibstubro…As far as eggs, I usually crack open a raw room temperature egg into the hot noodles…but I’m sure a diced boiled egg would be good…Thanks for your answer.

@Seek,...Sriracha all good.

59 cents sounds like 7/11 prices. I moved last Monday and did my survivalist shopping trip a few days ago. 24 packs of Top Ramen were three bucks at Winco. I got four.

So if there is the big one in the Pacific Northwest we can have a Ramen party at my apartment. Tons of blue box mac and cheese too.

@johnpowell , the air-dried ramen with multiple seasoning packs are better quality than the 4/$1 ramen we get @ Dollarama. Tastier/healthier – more flavour variety. I think it’s worth the extra $0.20/$0.25 Cdn most days.

I’ve never eaten ramen but I know Costco has it so I think I’m going to check out theirs (when they have something, it’s usually a good quality). They have a liberal return policy, so although it’s buying in bulk, if you don’t like it, you just return it no questions asked.

6 for $1 today at Family Dollar.
Chix broth, which I poured off, a packet of powdered lemon, garlic and fresh ground pepper. Super easy and very tasty.
Wish I’d had some frozen peas for flavor, texture and cooling that molten bowl of noodles down.

How do we cool our Ramen noodles for eating?

I put mine in the freezer for 3 minutes, and it wasn’t enough. But I boiled in glass.

According to @azlotto, I might be able to add a scrambled/whipped egg from the fridge and both cool the broth and enrich the dish?

^^In my experience ramen cools off pretty quick. Once in a while I add scrabbled egg like how egg drop is made. Usually, I just use egg white. I don’t do it often though.

Just made up some Spicy Beef ramen. Put a few spoons of extra garlic bruschetta to the bottom of each bowl before ladling in the broth and noodles – then swirled in some hot sweet and sour sauce. That was kind of freakishly delicious.

I looked at ramen in Costco, out of curiosity, and the sodium content was over 1000 mgs. OMG. No thank you.

@jca , I wouldn’t recommend ramen that you find at Costco. If you’ve got an Asian grocery neighbourhood, look at the authentic offerings there – they are quite different in content and quality from the super-cheap ones.

Comparing cheap packaged ramen to good ramen is like looking at a box of Kraft Dinner and using it to assess a homemade lasagna.

this page has good ramen info

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/09/the-serious-eats-guide-to-ramen-styles.html

As noted above and at Serious Eats, it’s best if you can find the air-dried ramen pucks If you don’t have access to fresh ramen noodles) – without seasoning packets. Next best, air-dried with multiple seasoning packets so you can choose what to add.

I just checked and Costco has ramen and they also have Udon noodle bowls, which is what I looked at the nutrition information for. This is what they have (Here’s Amazon’s link):
https://www.amazon.com/Nongshim-Udon-Noodle-Ounce-Bowls/dp/B000LQNKAA

This had high sodium but I’m sure all instant ramen and noodles do, anyway.

Again, it’s like comparing KD and homemade lasagna.

I wouldn’t buy KD or those instant ramens unless there was no alternative – though people do buy the ramen and KD because they like the noodles – and cook them without the seasoning packets. (i.e. I’ve bought store-brand mac n cheese just to get the noodles when our store ran out of mini-macaroni )

The noodles on their own are not high in sodium – most of the sodium is in the flavour packets , just as most of the sodium in KD is in the sauce packet.

Buying air-dried ramen noodles and then preparing your own ramen is best.

I use the seasoning packet. When I cook the instant roman noodles I usually dump out the water when done, so just the noodles are in the bowl I eat in, than mix the seasoning onto the noodles. On occasion I will put an egg in while cooking, to eat with the noodles.