Salty, spicy, savory and sometimes creamy, instant ramen is time saving meal. Mixture of meat or vegetable based broth with flakes and spices, it is a versatile and comforting dish for everyone.
Instant ramen is already flavored and packaged to serve with boiling water. Improve taste by adding fun textures that pair well together, there are many ways to transform the original instant ramen.
What to eat with instant ramen? Garnish instant ramen with fun ingredients to give the bowl flavor, color, and texture. Add sriracha, kimchi, sesame seeds, dried seaweed, herbs, sesame oil, crushed chiles, furikake, or a wedge of lime for easy things to add to ramen.
In addition, prepare a side of dumplings, edamame, fried rice, pickles, Japanese fried chicken or braised pork belly to make a fulfilling and complete meal.
This steaming bowl of goodness is cheap and very easy to prepare in large quantities. It is mainly considered an informal meal, and a fun experience rolling up sleeves and slurping noodles.
This article shares fun goodies to eat with instant ramen as a side dishes or topping to add to the original flavor of instant ramen. Check out the ideas below to find your favorite flavor combinations.
Easy things to add to ramen
The simplest way to upgrade a plate of instant ramen is using simple condiments such as chili bean sauce, fish sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil. But you can also season it with ponzu, miso paste, Thai curry paste, and Japanese curry powder.
These help to improve the broth flavor, but if you need to add ingredients to garnish the noodles and broth in a bowl, here are some ideas to try:
- Meat: chicken, beef, pork, egg, sausage, ham, tofu
- Seafood: shrimp, fillets, crab, octopus, abalone, mussels
- Vegetables: scallions, bok choy, mushrooms, spinach, snow peas, mung bean sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, bell pepper, carrots, zucchini
- Cheese: American cheese, cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan
- Dairy: milk, butter
- Condiments: peanut butter, soy sauce, miso paste, honey, maple syrup, sriracha, hoisin sauce
Seasoning to add to ramen
Ramen seasoning that is already included in the package is easy to prepare and tastes delicious. However, adding additional spices and herbs will improve the flavor deeply.
Here are seasonings to add to ramen:
- ginger
- black pepper
- white pepper
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- cayenne pepper flakes
- curry powder
What flavor goes well with instant ramen?
A variety of flavors goes well with instant ramen. We can’t talk about instant ramen without spices, especially ginger and pepper offers an aromatic flavor that matches well with instant ramen.
Here are fun flavor combination that goes well with instant ramen:
- instant ramen + American cheese + sesame seeds
- instant ramen + sriracha + spinach + egg + garlic
- instant ramen + soy sauce + maple syrup
- instant ramen + spam + kimchi + hard boiled egg + olive oil
- instant ramen + chicken breast + broccoli + green onions + brown sugar
Eat with Ramen: Conclusion
Instant ramen noodles have a savory taste that is made of various elements. The dish is filling on its own, but it does also go well with other meals.
Standard sides to serve with ramen include potato salad, stir fry, yakitori skewers, kimchi, gyoza dumplings, plain fried rice, cucumber, chili salad, and more.
Ramen is versatile to simply boil hot water to serve as is, or with other side dishes such as dumplings, edamame, fried rice, pickled vegetables, Japanese fried chicken or braised pork belly. Ensure the flavor of ramen is plain and subtle enough to prevent from overwhelming the sides.
Even though every package has seasoning, the broth can be improved by adding ginger, black or white pepper, garlic, onion, or curry powder.
These classic pairings are delicious, easy to prepare, and go well with instant ramen. Try some of these combinations for the ultimate experience that will make you look like a culinary genius.