Ditch the ramen packets and make your own using this easy recipe for Homemade Ramen Soup! Made with rich broth, crisp-tender vegetables, and ramen noodles, not only does Homemade Ramen taste better, but it is better for you!
Who else lived on packets of ramen soup as a broke college student? I tended to always have them on hand for a cheap and easy meal I could make in my dorm room in minutes.
Now I opt to make Homemade Ramen, which happens to still be a quick and easy meal. But the homemade version trumps those packets 100-fold in terms of flavor and nutrition. You are going to love this recipe for ramen!
Reasons To Love Homemade Ramen
- Quality Control. While tasty, those seasoning packets in store-bought ramen are incredibly high in sodium, filled with preservatives, and often contain MSG. You leave all those additives on the shelf when you make ramen yourself.
- Quick and Easy Recipe. Using a few key ingredients to develop rich flavor, this Ramen Soup comes together in less than 30 minutes, with little hands-on prep. While that is longer than it takes to make a packet of ramen, this homemade version rivals traditional Japanese Ramen or ramen you get at an expensive ramen shop.
- Fresh and Flavorful. Homemade Ramen is filled with fresh ginger, garlic, and veggies, which produces a soup that is filled with nutrients and flavor.
- Soul-Satisifying. Filled with rich broth and hearty noodles, I always feel comforted after a bowl of ramen, much like I do after a bowl of chicken soup. Not to mention the garlic and ginger in ramen soup help to clear up congestion.
- Customizable. You can make ramen the way you like it. Add veggies of choice, add some shredded chicken or leftover grilled shrimp, or swap out the vegetable broth for chicken stock, beef broth, or mushroom broth.
Ingredients Needed for Homemade Ramen
- Broth: Use mushroom, vegetable, or chicken broth as the base for the ramen. Mushroom broth will be incredibly flavorful, but is much harder to find and more expensive. I typically use homemade vegetable broth.
- Ginger: Be sure to use peeled, grated fresh gingerroot, not dried ginger powder. Store the peeled gingerroot in the freezer and grate directly from frozen for future use.
- Vinegar: Rice wine vinegar or mirin is best when making ramen.
- Miso Paste: Miso paste is made from fermented soybeans and adds a delicious, rich flavor. If you don't have it on hand, you may want to add a bit more soy sauce to duplicate the umami flavor miso adds to ramen.
- Mushrooms: I like to use shitake mushrooms, but baby portabella mushrooms or oyster mushrooms are good substitutes.
- Greens: I find the tops of bok choy to be perfect for this Ramen recipe, but you can use napa cabbage, kale, or spinach or omit the greens altogether.
- Ramen Noodles: For ramen noodles, use packaged ramen noodles or refrigerated ramen noodles. Just be sure to discard any flavor packets that may accompany the noodles.
- Toppings: The toppings for Ramen are up to you. I recommend adding something crunchy and something creamy for texture. Shredded carrots, diced green onions, diced red peppers, a soft-boiled egg, Sriracha, and/or dried seaweed are all great options.
recipe modifications
- Adding Meat: To make a heartier version of ramen, add cooked shredded chicken, shrimp, or cooked and diced pork chops to the ramen along with the noodles to warm the meat through.
- Lower-Sodium: I recommend using low-sodium broth and low-sodium soy sauce to help control the level of sodium in this ramen.
- More Broth: Feel free to double the broth, soy sauce, miso, garlic, ginger, and soy to create a ramen with a more broth-to-noodle ratio.
∗Tips for Making Homemade Ramen∗
The following tips are provided to help you achieve perfect results. You will find the detailed instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Simmer the Broth. To develop a rich, nuanced ramen, simmer the broth, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, and miso together for at least 10 minutes.
- Add Veggies. While adding vegetables is optional, that is one way to amp up the nutrients and flavor in ramen. After simmering the broth, add in vegetables of your choice and simmer until just crisp-tender, which will vary between 5-10 minutes, depending on the vegetables you add.
- Follow Package Directions. There is a wide variety of ramen noodles on the market, so be sure to cook them according to the package instructions for best results.
- Add Toppings. I recommend adding something crunchy, like shredded raw carrots, something creamy, like a soft-boiled egg, and something spicy, like hot sauce, to make the best ramen.
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If you tried this recipe for Homemade Ramen, I would love for you to leave a comment and review below.
Easy Homemade Ramen
Ingredients
- 4 cups reduced-sodium mushroom, chicken, or vegetable broth
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons peeled, grated fresh ginger root grated
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ cup shitake mushrooms sliced
- 2 tablespoons red pepper minced
- 9 ounces ramen noodles about 3 packages
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste optional
- 2 cups bok choy greens thinly sliced
Toppings for Ramen
- 4 soft boiled eggs
- 1 large carrot grated
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1 small red pepper diced
- Sriracha
- Dried Seaweed optional
Instructions
- Pour vegetable or mushroom stock into a large saucepan. Add in minced garlic, freshly grated ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and miso if using. Bring the broth to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
- Add in sliced mushrooms, red pepper, and bok choy into the broth, and simmer for 7-10 minutes, or until greens are wilted.
- Add in packaged ramen noodles (discard seasoning pack) and cook according to package directions. Typically this is 2-3 minutes.
- Dish up cooked ramen into serving bowls and top ramen as desired.
Theresa
Great way to use ramen packs that get hidden away in the pantry. Miso should be added last after broth is finished; boiling miso will cause it to lose its probiotic benefits and some flavour as well. Happy cooking 🧑🍳
Stephanie
Kristen, my family loves this meal. I was wondering if you l, or anyone, has tried to do some of the steps in the Instant pot.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Stephanie! I am so happy to hear your family enjoys this recipe! It is a bit harder to make this recipe in the Instant Pot and have the vegetables turn out with the same consistency, but it can be done. Add the broth, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, miso, vinegar, mushrooms, and red peppers and cook on high for 5 minutes with a natural pressure release, and then add the noodles and greens to the hot liquid, place the lid on the inner pot and let the greens wilt and noodles soften.
Stephanie
Thank you Kristen for responding. Everyone is under the weather and am trying the instant pot recipe you mentioned right now.
Kristen Chidsey
I hope you all feel better soon!
Emily key
Absolutely delicious, and I loved that it wasn’t so salty.
Kristen Chidsey
I love that too! Thanks for sharing, Emily!
David
I was trying to taste of ingredients. I don't have ginger root and shitake mushrooms. I use ingredients instead of the original ginger powder 2 tablespoons. I did taste ramen it too much ginger powder. I don't want to use ginger 2 tablespoons again.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi David. The recipe specifically indicates to not replace the gingerroot with ginger powder, as the flavor is overwhelming. I am sorry you missed that, but it would explain the off-putting taste.
Jill
Delicious! I will make this again!