This isn’t your cliché college-student ramen! Easy 15-minute spicy ramen topped with soft-boiled eggs, nori, and your choice of chicken, pork, or tofu is an incredible way to upgrade those cheap blocks of ramen noodles without breaking the bank. Super savory and loaded with umami, plus make it as mild or as spicy as you like.
🍜 What Makes This Recipe So Good
- This easy spicy ramen recipe takes those cheap store-bought packets of dried ramen and turns them into a total restaurant-style meal. Rich broth, jammy soft-boiled eggs, and umami seasonings make this the perfect Japanese comfort food.
- This recipe uses traditional Asian ingredients, like miso paste, nori, sambal oelek, and togarashi for an authentic taste. Though they sound fancy, most of these ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery or online.
- Maybe best of all, this spicy ramen comes together in less than 20 minutes! Perfect for a lunch or dinner when you don’t have a ton of time and don’t want to do a lot of actual cooking, but want something tasty and satisfying.
🍲 About the Ingredients
- Miso paste is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It’s made from fermented soybeans, salt, and kōji, which is a mold used in making soy sauce, sake, and other foods.
- Sambal oelek is an Indonesian chili sauce or paste that frequently contains other ingredients such as ginger, rice vinegar, garlic, and lime juice. It adds the perfect kick to your ramen, and is easy to find in stores or to make your own.
- Nori means “sea vegetable” in Japanese and is edible seaweed. It’s usually sold in sheets. If you’re a fan of sushi, you’ve definitely tasted nori before.
- Shichimi togarashi is a seasoning blend made from 7 spices, usually red chili peppers, Japanese peppers, orange peel, sesame seeds, ginger, nori, and other seeds. If you can’t find any, you can use just black sesame seeds instead, although shichimi togarashi is typically available for pretty cheap online.
👩🏼🍳 Chef’s Tips
- Take your spicy ramen to the next level by adding chicken, pork, or even tofu for an extra boost of protein.
- You can actually make this spicy ramen without ramen noodles. Any thin noodle, even gluten-free noodles, will work. Shiritaki noodles and palmini are good options, too!
- Use low-sodium versions of any ingredient you can or you might find this dish way too salty.
- If you can’t find or don’t have sambal oelek, you can use Gochujang, chili-garlic sauce, red chili flakes, or sriracha. Sriracha will be a little sweeter, though, and may throw off the overall flavor of the dish.
🥟 More Delicious Asian-Inspired Recipes
15 Minute Spicy Ramen
This 15-minute hack for 25¢ ramen packages gives you a perfect Japanese comfort food with ease.
Ingredients
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
Equipment
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Large saucepan
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Slotted spoon
Instructions
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Place large saucepan on stovetop over high heat. Add 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, 1 cup water, 1 1-inch-long piece fresh ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon miso paste, 1 tablespoon sambal oelek, 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, 2 teaspoons sesame oil, and 1 dash rice wine vinegar. Stir well to incorporate ingredients, then bring mixture to boil.
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Once mixture reaches rolling boil, immediately reduce heat under saucepan to medium-low. Simmer mixture 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes, use slotted spoon to remove ginger and garlic pieces.
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Add 2 blocks dried ramen noodles to saucepan and cook noodles in broth mixture until noodles are soft.
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Once all noodles have softened, use slotted spoon to transfer noodles from saucepan to serving bowls, dividing noodles evenly between bowls.
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Pour broth over noodles, dividing broth evenly between bowls.
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If desired, top ramen with halves of 2 large soft-boiled eggs. Garnish with thinly sliced scallions, black sesame seeds, ½ sheet nori, and chopped chicken. Serve ramen immediately.
Notes
- Sambal Oelek: If you can’t find or don’t have sambal oelek, you can use Gochujang, chili-garlic sauce, red chili flakes, or sriracha. Sriracha will be a little sweeter, though, and may throw off the overall flavor of the dish.
- Ramen: Use the dried noodle blocks only – don’t use the seasoning packets!
- Chicken: You can also use pork or tofu instead of chicken if desired, or omit it completely with no replacements.
- Sodium Content: The sodium estimate in the nutrition information reflects using low-sodium chicken broth and low-sodium soy sauce, and omitting the ramen seasoning packets.
- Make it Vegan: Use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. Serve with tofu instead of chicken if desired and omit the soft-boiled eggs entirely.
Perfect Soft-Boiled Eggs
- Stovetop Soft-Boiled Eggs: Boil eggs 6 to 7 minutes. Immediately transfer eggs to ice bath and let eggs soak until cool enough to handle.
- Instant Pot Soft-Boiled Eggs: Cook 1 minute on Manual Low Pressure, then immediately quick release steam and remove eggs. Immediately transfer eggs to ice bath and let eggs soak until cool enough to handle.
- Air Fryer Soft-Boiled Eggs: Air fry eggs at 300° Fahrenheit for 7-9 minutes. Immediately transfer eggs to ice bath and let eggs soak until cool enough to handle.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: 1 serving, Calories: 562kcal, Protein: 27g, Fat: 24g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 187mg, Sodium: 2480mg, Potassium: 468mg, Total Carbs: 59g, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 1g, Net Carbs: 56g, Vitamin A: 293IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 60mg, Iron: 4mg
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
