For college kids with a low budget and the need for a quick meal, ramen noodles have been a university essential since the beginning of time. However, this meal can often become boring and repetitive, so upgrading your basic instant ramen by investing in better ramen brands and adding ingredients will enhance your meal. This pantry staple is so versatile that mixing and matching different ingredients can create the perfect ramen dish for you!
Ramen Brand
Nongshim Shin Ramyun is an option geared more toward those looking for spicy and peppery-flavored soup-type ramen. It’s perfect for those looking for an instant ramen with a little kick. This can typically be found in a local grocery store in the Asian aisle.
The Indonesian instant noodle, Indomie Mi Goreng, is typically found in Asian grocery stores. This instant fried noodle is bursting with umami flavors thanks to the flavor packets it comes with. This is an underrated ramen that is easy to make and is so tasty that you might find yourself constantly craving it.
A rightfully well-known ramen brand, Samyang Buldak stir-fried noodles, has been on the rise with people making and eating them on TikTok. With different variations such as their most popular one, Carbonara, the brand is known for its spicy chicken flavoring that turns up the heat and is sure to make your mouth burn.
Add-Ins
Rice Cakes, known as tteokbokki, are a great addition, adding more substance to chow on if the noodles are not enough for you. These Korean rice cakes can be boiled with the noodles, but be careful not to leave them for too long, as they can become overcooked and too chewy. These are best paired with stir-fried noodles, especially the Samyang Buldak ones.
If you like mushrooms, they are great for adding an extra umami flavor to the mix. In my opinion, the best type of mushrooms to add to ramen are shiitake and enoki. While shiitakes add a chewy texture, enoki mushrooms add a bit of a crunch factor that helps enrich the eating experience of a sometimes boring meal.
A lot of ramen noodles can be crazy spicy, so adding some type of dairy can help tone down the spice and give the dish a more creamy and rich flavoring. For soup-type ramen, it’s best to add some Kewpie mayo for the punch of umami. In spicy stir-fried ramen, adding a dash of milk can make the dish creamier and add a thick, rich flavor.
Toppings
Working as both an add-in and a topping, an egg is a tried and true addition that is typically added many times into ramen, no matter how it’s prepared. A soft or hard-boiled egg is best paired with a ramen soup. For stir-fried ramen, a fried egg can go perfectly on top. For the best flavor, mixing in the egg is the way to go, especially if the yolk is runny.
Cheese can sometimes be questionable to add to ramen, but when it melts in from the hot temperature, it’s the ultimate combination. As mentioned before, dairy can help ease the spice of ramen, so cheese is perfect for this. The cheese pull when you pull the noodles for your first bite is just as satisfying as the taste.
A not-so-common topping to stir-fried ramen is corn cheese. Make it yourself by mixing butter, kewpie mayo, a dash of salt and pepper and a lot of cheese. It’s a twist to the classic cheese addition that should be tried before being knocked off the list. This is best paired with the Samyang Buldak noodles.
Some other basic toppings to include in your instant ramen are furikake, sesame seeds and green onion. Furikake is a Japanese sprinkling topping made with a mix of seasonings that can bring a bold and savory umami flavor to your instant ramen. Sesame seeds are similar to furikake but in a more subdued way. Both are found in Asian grocery stores, but can also occasionally be found in a local grocery store. Green onion is another typical ramen topping that not only boosts taste but also adds a bit of color for an aesthetically pleasing picture of your food.
Sides
Keeping to the theme of the typical college pantry, spam is an addition that many students can find in their kitchen. Adding crispy, fried spam to your ramen brings another flavor into the mix that will blend seamlessly into your ramen noodles.
Dumplings are another side that are quick to make and can add that extra oomph if the noodles themselves feel like they’re missing something more. You can add even more flavor to the dumplings by coating them in the leftover sauce from the noodles.
Noodles are typically chewy, so adding crispy egg rolls to eat alongside them creates a great juxtaposition to balance the softness of the ramen. The crunch factor of egg rolls paired with the tenderness of noodles makes for the perfect combination.
