How many times have you searched for “ramen near me”?? I know the feeling! You’re at home. Craving ramen. But you don’t want to eat instant Top Ramen! I’ve got the solution for your late night ramen craving. This recipe for Quick and Easy Shoyu Ramen is going to become your new favorite go-to meal!
I grew up eating ramen. My mom is Japanese, so she was particular about the type of ramen we ate. She only bought Sapporo Ichiban, and always added chopped cabbage and green onions on top. I’ve never seen my mom eat ramen without adding fresh toppings!
Better than take-out ramen
When we lived in Spain, I craved Japanese ramen. After ordering take-out at a ramen restaurant, I was underwhelmed with the offering. It cost me about $15 for one order. I knew I could do better at home! After making shoyu (soy-sauce flavored) ramen that rivals restaurant quality ramen, I’m confident about sharing this quick and easy shoyu ramen recipe that you can make at home!
Quick and Easy Shoyu Ramen for any Palate or Budget!
This recipe is easy to adapt to any palate or budget. If you love veggies in your ramen noodles, load up on veggies. Anything goes from corn, to spinach, to fresh green beans. If you love snow peas, add some! Bean sprouts, thinly sliced cabbage, carrot or sliced mushrooms are all perfect for ramen. I love a little meat and a lot of veggies in my bowl of ramen.
How to make flavorful ramen soup
Of course, you can make ramen with vegetable broth and only veggies if you want to go meatless! I think the broth is the key to flavor in a bowl of ramen soup. This broth base can be made with any type of broth or stock. The flavor for the soup is generated with the ingredients added before the broth is poured into the pan.
One day, while experimenting with the base for the soup, I ran out of fresh ginger and used sushi (pickled) ginger. I loved the result! This recipe is written to use either fresh or pickled ginger.
What noodles are best for homemade ramen?
Ramen (of course!) is another important ingredient in this recipe. My favorite ramen is Hakubaku Organic Ramen. It is made of wheat flour and salt. I like the clean taste of this product. Locally, I have found this ramen at World Market. On Amazon, it is sold in an 8 pack, but may be purchased in individual packages at grocery stores or Asian markets.
Somen noodles, which are usually sold in the Asian section of grocery stores also work well in this recipe. Udon noodles are larger than somen or ramen noodles, but if you like larger noodles, you may like Udon. If all else fails, you can use angel hair pasta or regular spaghetti noodles in your ramen as well!
I hope you love this easy to make meal for yourself and your family! if you want to make a side to go with your ramen, try my mom’s Okinawa tofu recipe. Leave a comment and let me know about your favorite ramen toppings!
Quick and Easy Shoyu Ramen
Ingredients
- 3 cups assorted vegetables green onions, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, etc. sliced thin
- 1/2 boneless chicken breast or thigh meat (about 1 lb) sliced thin, or pork or beef
- 6 oz ramen, or about 2/3 of a 9.5 oz package
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 heaping tablespoon fresh or pickled ginger, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced, about 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce I prefer dark (regular soy for best flavor and color)
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar (leave out if using cider vinegar)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 4 cups chicken, beef or vegetable broth or stock
- salt and pepper to taste
- garnish optional: seasame seeds, nori (dried seaweed), medium boiled egg (peeled and halved)
Instructions
Prepare vegetables and other toppings:
- Prepare all vegetables used in ramen. Wash, chop and set aside. If using boiled egg, boil, remove from water, place in ice water bath. Peel and set aside. Place Nori (seaweed) strips near vegetables.
- In saucepan heat olive and sesame oil over medium heat. Add ginger and garlic and cook for one minute. Do not burn. Add thin cut strips of chicken and cook just until barely done on each side. Season chicken with salt and pepper while cooking. Remove chicken from pan to a dish and set aside.
- In the same pan, add soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and onion powder. Cook for about 1 minute on medium heat. Add 4 cups broth to the pan. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and let simmer on medium for 5 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, bring water to boil in a medium size pan. Add ramen when boiling. Cook ramen according to package directions in water, do not over cook!
- When ramen is done cooking, drain. Divide the hot soup into bowls (if using tofu place in bowls) and add cooked ramen. Top with fresh vegetables, chicken, and garnish with nori, sesame seeds and boiled egg if desired. Serve hot.
Notes
- To make ahead: Make the soup up to 3 days before serving. Store in refrigerator in covered container. To prepare ramen ahead, cook as directed, drain and toss with a tiny bit of olive oil. Place the ramen noodles in a container separate from the broth and refrigerate. When ready to eat, heat the broth until boiling, place noodles in broth for a few seconds before placing in bowl and assembling for serving.
- I like to undercook the ramen a bit, it will sit in the hot broth in the bowl and continue to cook after removed from boiling water.
- Do not cook the ramen in the broth, the starch from the noodles will change the flavor of the soup. Always cook the ramen in boiling water.
- If preferred, strain the broth before pouring into bowls.
- If you like your vegetables cooked, throw them in the broth just before turning off the heat. Let simmer in the hot broth for about a minute before placing in bowls.
- When adding tofu, I like to place in the bottom of each bowl of ramen before adding the ramen noodles. The tofu does not need to be cooked before adding to the broth. You may also add the diced tofu to the oil in the pan with or without the chicken.
- Ramen is traditionally assembled in a bowl in the following order: soup, ramen noodles, vegetables, meat and other toppings.
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. I’d love to see a photo, tag @abountifulkitchen on Instagram!
Michelle
I splurged and went to the Asian market to get some top notch ingredients. I ended up.making this exactly as instructed except I went for the udon noodles from the refrigerated section. It was so good! I doubled the soup, using pickled ginger, and I added fresh baby bok choy, snow peas and bean sprouts. The flavor was so heavenly that, after dinner, I used my remaining ingredients to make a double batch of the soup, for leftovers this week and to share with my elderly parents.
Si Foster
Hi Michelle,
What an incredible meal! That sounds delicious and we are happy to hear that it turned out so great. thanks for sharing!
Best,
Jillian @ABK Team
Jennifer Taylor
I have made this twice already. This was a new type of recipe for me. I have never made anything like it before and was a little nervous, but I loved it! It was way easier than I expected. I had already cooked chicken made and just warmed that with the ginger and garlic. I cooked my veggies for a minute in the broth to soften then a little and did half an egg on each bowl. My family all loved it too! They were excited when I made it a 2nd time. I chopped up the snow peas and used carrots that I had spiralized and green onions. So good!
Carolyn Byers
Wow! Made this last minute and what a lovely blend of flavors! Thanks for sharing another terrific recipe!
Linda Murri
This is a great recipe for an easy, healthy dinner. I liked that it was so easy to make and my family enjoyed it. A little Asian hot sauce or spice would be perfect with this.
Leslie Ella Rogers
This was a crowd pleaser and my family said it was restaurant quality and they felt that they were eating take out. How fun it is for me to be able to make some different, unfamiliar ethnic foods that are new to my family. This was super easy and fast to make and is our new choice for comfort food. The hard boiled eggs tasted so good with this.
Angela Howard
Love this take on ramen – and it was delicious!
angelene
Better than a ramen restaurant! I love this ramen recipe. It is versatile and you can enjoy it any season of the year. This is a dinner or lunch staple at my house.
Laura Oblinger
I was super hesitant to try this recipe, but I can thank the ABK Cooking Club for the final push. So glad I made it. The flavor of the broth can’t be beat. The sky is the limit for your vegetable mix-ins, and I really like the suggestion of a hard boiled egg as garnishment.
Lena
This is my family’s favorite Ramen ever! 😋
Julie Call
Tasty Ramen recipe. I usually try to make one vegetarian meal a week and I will use this recipe with soft boiled eggs instead of the chicken. Quick, easy meal.
Christa Wagstaff
My family loved this! I don’t think we will be able to get Ramen take out again, It was so delicious and the kids all loved it , veggies and all.
Katie
What a easy and tasty introduction to the world of ramen cooking. So yummy and do-able. Will definitely make this again.
Nicole
This was my first time making homemade ramen using a recipe and I’m so glad I found yours! The broth was so flavorful. I used chicken thighs and the vegetables we added were carrots, mushrooms, green onions, and cabbage. I doubled your recipe for our young family of 6 and we all had multiple bowls. It was absolutely delicious!
Si Foster
Hi Nicole! I am happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed this recipe. Good choice of veggies! Thank you for your kind review and for reading ABK!
Xo
Si
Lisa Williams
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I have tried other ramen recipes but this had been the best! I used snow peas, carrots, nori, mushroom, boiled egg, pickled ginger and green onions as suggested. A few changes I made were using frozen cooked bulgogi meat that I had on hand and frozen udon noodles. I also added a couple sliced of kamaboku which we just bought from Japan Sage in Salt Lake City. I wish I had taken a picture of the ramen dish; it came out so pretty.
My mother is from Tokyo and has since passed, so I appreciate you sharing your Japanese recipes! Thank you for sharing your experience doing Japanese family history. I loved the picture of your mother and her family.
Natasha Woodward
My family loved this! Even better than going out for Ramen. This will be added to my go to quick meal list. Full of flavor and customizable for varied tastes. Thank you for sharing!
Si Foster
Thank you Natasha! Don’t you love it when you find a recipe the whole family loves?! Thanks for reading ABK,
XO
Si
Rachel
I made this with great success! I used Ocean Halo’s Organic Ramen Noodles (that I got from Walmart pick up) and we added chopped celery, frozen peas, and boiled eggs (because that’s what we had!). We will definitely make it agin because it had good flavor and it was fast and easy! Thanks!
Si Foster
Rachel,
Thanks for your feedback on this recipe! I love how easy this recipe is to adapt to what you have on hand!
XO
Si
Kate
Truly rivals our favorite takeout ramen! The broth was definitely the star of the show…we topped with carrots, broccoli, spinach and a 6 minute egg! So so good. With a new baby I’m always looking for quick yummy recipes. We will definitely be making this on repeat!