Upgrading Instant Noodles: Broth, Egg and Toppings

The base: adjust broth and seasoning

The seasoning powder delivers a lot of salt and flavor enhancers but little depth. That is where you start.

• Use less powder: Start with half or two thirds of the packet and season to taste. That leaves room for your own ingredients.
• Replace the water: Some chicken or vegetable stock instead of water gives more body right away. Leftovers of a homemade ramen broth are ideal.
• Add umami: A teaspoon of miso, a splash of soy sauce or some dashi powder rounds it out. Stir in miso only once the pot is off the heat. Which paste suits what is covered under miso varieties.
• Fry the aromatics: Briefly sweat a finely chopped garlic clove and some ginger in a teaspoon of oil, then pour in the water. That takes a minute and changes a lot.

If you want to be more precise, build the bowl like real ramen: seasoning concentrate in the bowl, hot broth on top, a spoonful of aroma oil. The guide to ramen tare explains how the system works.

Cooking instant noodles properly

1. Prep the toppings: Slice the scallions, wash the vegetables, set out the egg. The noodles cook in three to four minutes, and after that there is no time left.
2. Cook the noodles separately: For a clearer broth, cook the noodles in one pot of water and heat the broth in a second. You pour away the cooking water with the starch and the frying fat from the noodles.
3. Cook one minute less: The noodles keep cooking in the hot broth. Take them out while they still have bite.
4. Warm the bowl: Rinse it with hot water so the soup does not cool right away.
5. Assemble: Seasoning into the bowl, hot broth on top, stir, add the noodles, toppings on top.

For dry instant noodles that you eat without soup, cook as above, drain all but two or three tablespoons of the cooking water, and toss them in a pan with sauce and seasoning oil. The starchy water binds the sauce to the noodles. A fried egg with a crispy edge and a few raw cucumber strips go with it better than leafy greens.

For the quick one-pot version: vegetables that take longer go into the water with the noodles, leafy greens in the last minute.

The egg: four ways

• Poached in the soup: In the last minute, slide an egg into the simmering broth, put on the lid, turn off the heat. After two to three minutes the white is set and the yolk is runny.
• Beaten: Pour a beaten egg in a thin stream into the boiling broth and stir briefly. It forms fine ribbons like in an egg drop soup.
• Soft-boiled: Put an egg in boiling water, cook about six and a half minutes, shock in ice water and halve. Marinated, it becomes an ajitsuke tamago, which you can easily make in advance.
• Raw as a yolk: Set a yolk in the middle of the finished noodles and stir it in as you eat. This works especially well with dry, stir-fried instant noodles. Use fresh eggs with a long best-before date for this.

Toppings that fit

Two or three toppings are enough. More waters down the soup and cools it.

• Fresh greens: scallions, cilantro, bok choy, spinach, bean sprouts.
• Fermented: Kimchi brings acidity and heat. A spoonful of kimchi juice in the broth helps too. The Korean way is shown in the recipe for Korean instant ramen with egg and kimchi.
• Protein: tofu cubes, leftover roast chicken, thinly sliced beef that cooks in the hot broth, or a few slices of chashu.
• Fat and seasoning at the end: a few drops of toasted sesame oil, a spoonful of rayu or a pat of butter. Butter and corn go with miso broth.
• Crunchy: fried onions, toasted sesame, a strip of nori.
• Cheese: In Korea many people lay a slice of processed cheese on spicy noodles. It sounds odd, but it takes the edge off the heat and makes the broth creamy.

For a whole meal with sausage, tofu and vegetables, have a look at budae jjigae, the Korean stew with instant noodles. More ideas are collected in the post improving instant ramen.

Common mistakes

• Cooked too long: The thin noodles go soft and keep swelling in the bowl.
• Whole powder plus soy sauce plus miso: The soup turns too salty. When you add seasoning, take some away from the powder.
• Cold vegetables on the finished soup: The broth turns lukewarm. Blanch the vegetables briefly along with the noodles.
• Egg in too early: The yolk turns firm and crumbly.
• Too many toppings: The bowl gets full, but not better.

Allergens and shopping

Most instant noodles are made from wheat flour and contain gluten. Seasoning packets often contain soy, and some contain fish, crustaceans, celery or milk. Read the ingredient list on the package, even for familiar brands, because recipes change. Gluten-free alternatives exist made from rice or buckwheat. With buckwheat, check the wheat share, and read more under soba noodles.

The widest choice of Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian instant noodles is at the Asian grocery store. Supermarkets and drugstores carry a smaller range, and online you can find specialties too. Unopened packs keep for a long time. Watch the best-before date, because the frying fat in the noodles turns rancid over time.