Last week I asked you all about your favorite ways to jazz up the infinitely riffable instant ramen and you, my friends, did not disappoint.
There were so many good and interesting ideas—and I mean very interesting—and I was a little sad I couldn’t make them all. Below you will find what I did make, and I hope you find each dish as enjoyable as I did.
Bacon Mushroom Ramen
Bacon and mushrooms are two of the best culinary add-ins available in the grocery store—using them almost feels like cheating—so this suggestion from TheReturnofAlessar immediately grabbed my attention:
To kick it up several notches into a meal, I like to put 1 strip of bacon into the saucepan before I boil the water and cook it well, stirring to lightly grease the nonstick sauce pan. I then remove the crispy bacon and toss in 1 sliced button mushroom to lightly sauté in the bacon grease THEN I add the water (or low sodium broth) and boil it. When the water is boiling I add the noodles and broth and follow the package directions while I chop up the strip of bacon which I add back in when it’s all cooked.
I was initially worried that the bacon would make everything too salty, but it didn’t. The soup just tasted meatier, with the umami-factor way upped by the cured pork and ‘shrooms. Best of all, I didn’t even have to dirty an extra dish, as this is a one-pot wonder.
Ramen Sandwich
I love ramen. I love sandwiches. And I had a feeling I would love this ramen sandwich from Antonius:
One thing I like to do if I’m using instant ramen is throw it in a frying pan with only half the recommended water and cook it down until there’s no runny soup left and it’s sort of like a stir fry. I then grab a hoagie roll, gut it down the middle and throw the noodles in it (this usually makes two).
As you can see from the above photo, I couldn’t resist adding mayo, because there are very few savory sandwiches that don’t benefit from a little mayo. I’ll admit that this sandwich felt a little wrong at first, but it tasted very right. Salty, slurpy noodles on a soft, chewy roll? Yes please, and I dare say the mayo provided a much appreciated bit of tang.
Ramen-Fredo
Though Given2Dream listed this as their “trashiest application” for instant ramen, I found it to be almost refined.
My trashiest application was christened “Ramen-Fredo” in college. Boil the noodles by package directions, adding the flavor packet with the noodles. Drain (or drink) the broth, but make sure there’s a little liquid left. Then add butter and Parmesan cheese. With the leftover broth, the butter and parm make a sauce that is (very) vaguely reminiscent of alfredo. Then slurp away!
Given the fact that this was a college meal, I suspect Given2Dream had used the shaker parm, but I had to try this with the real stuff. After the noodles were done cooking in the broth, I drained it off as described and reserved it. I then added butter and cheese to the hot noodles, stirred to get everything nice and melted, then added back in just enough broth to get things saucy. I topped it all with some more cheese, ground on some fresh pepper, and slurped as instructed. I won’t tell you that it tasted like Alfredo, but I will tell you that it tasted very good. This makes sense though, because it is hard to go wrong with butter and cheese.
Fancy, Meal-Worthy Ramen
Our very own Patrick Allan suggested this hot little number, and I can say with utter confidence that he knows what’s up:
How do you make instant ramen meal-worthy (and somewhat healthy)?
Shiitake mushrooms, seaweed, chopped veggie mix (carrots, onion, cabbage), and either turkey, chicken, or beef. And a hard-boiled egg, of course. THEN—and this is important—I add a little Better Than Bouillon and some fish sauce to the broth to make it extra yummy.
You all know that I am Better Than Bouillon’s biggest fan, so I immediately trusted Patrick and all of his ramen-centric suggestions, and am happy to report that he did not steer me wrong. I cooked the cabbage, onions, and carrots in the broth—hot tip: purple carrots will turn your broth purple—and sauteed the mushrooms separately to give ‘em some color. For the meat, I went with some barely seared beef, and I think it was a very good decision. As you can see from the above photo, it made for a very substantial, almost decadent bowl.
Basically, you are all ramen geniuses, and I applaud your skills and ingenuity.
