Sign In
Sign Up Now

Weeknight Ramen

Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
image for Recipe schema

Let Your Friends Try This Recipe!

Why we love it:

Listen, if you’re into incredible ramen from traditional joints, this is not that. This is, “I love ramen’s comforting vibe and slurpy noodles but I don’t have any kombu on hand for a 15 hour dashi broth, but I still think I can do better than college ramen” ramen. It’s perfect for a speedy Tuesday night meal.

Ingredients

  • 5 cloves Garlic (divided)
  • 3 teaspoons Fresh Ginger (about a 2 inch piece)
  • 1 ounce Shiitake Mushrooms (dried)
  • 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
  • 4 cups Chicken Stock
  • 4 cups Water
  • 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
  • 4 Eggs
  • 3 Carrots
  • 12 bunch Cilantro
  • 2 Tablespoons Pickled Ginger (optional, for garnish)
  • 1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
  • 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
  • 2 packages Ramen Noodles (instant kind - noodles only!)
  • 1 bunch Green Kale (small bunch)
  • Sriracha (to taste)

Cooking Instructions

  • 1. BROTH

    Mince the garlic and fresh ginger. Reserve a teaspoon or so of garlic for the breadcrumbs. Chop the dried mushrooms up a little bit.

    Heat the sesame oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Add the garlic and fresh ginger; and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the chopped mushrooms, the stock, and the water and bring to a simmer. Gently simmer for about 10 minutes. Add soy sauce.

  • 2. EGGS

    Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower eggs into water one at a time. Cook for 6½ minutes, adjusting heat to maintain a gentle boil the whole time. Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water and chill until just slightly warm, about 2 minutes.

    Gently crack eggs all over and peel, starting from the wider end, which contains the air pocket. Set aside for serving.

  • 3. TOPPINGS

    Grate the carrot on a box grater and set aside for serving.

    Chop the cilantro and set aside for serving.

    Mince or slice pickled ginger, if using.

  • 4. PANKO

    Use a large sauté pan and melt the butter. Add the reserved garlic and sauté for 1 minute until it’s fragrant. Add the panko and stir often, for about 3 minutes until it’s well flavored and golden brown. Turn off the heat and continue to stir occasionally as it cools so the bottom doesn’t burn.

  • 5. NOODLES

    After the broth has simmered for 10 minutes, add the noodles to the pot. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until the noodles have softened.

  • 6. KALE

    Wash and shake dry the kale, some clinging water is ok. Stack and roll up the leaves and very finely chiffonade through the leaves and center stems (if your bunch of kale is quite large, just shred up about 2 cups of kale and reserve the rest for the gratin side salad from this week’s meal plan or another use).

    When the noodles are tender, stir in the kale.

  • 7. SERVING

    Serve in large bowls, ladle in broth and noodles. Top each bowl with grated carrots, pickled ginger, and a mound of garlicky bread crumbs. Slice eggs in half and float them on top. Drizzle on sriracha to taste.

Check out our new features!

Substitutions

  • GLUTEN FREE:
    if you can find GF noodles, go for it. Otherwise, rice noodles are nice but cook accordingly. Use tamari instead of regular soy sauce
  • PALEO:
    remove noodles, add more veggies and consider more meat
  • DRIED SHIITAKES:
    if you can’t find these, any dried mushroom will do. Porcini are readily available. If no dried mushrooms can be had, 1-2 cups of fresh shiitakes are wonderful, just remove the stems, slice and sauté until tender before adding the broth. Regular cremini or even button mushrooms will taste lovely as well
  • RAMEN NOODLES:
    if you have the instant packets, just set the spice blend aside. The packets tend to be really salty and your broth will be delicious without. But also, sprinkle half a packet or so in if you’re tempted. If you don’t have these noodles, somen, udon, or soba are also wonderful. Boil according to package instructions
  • STOCK:
    if you have homemade in the freezer, go for it! Using a high quality stock will be worth it. And, if you have beef broth, that is great here too
  • EGG:
    omit
  • MUST HAVE MEAT:
    if you’d like, sauté a few strips of bacon with the garlic. Poach a chicken breast or thigh while the stock boils then shred that meat into the soup at the end. Ground pork is tasty sautéed with the ginger and garlic in the first ste
  • KIDS CORNER:
    separate out their portions before adding kale if that’s a problem. Let them add toppings to taste. Consider lifting out the noodles and serving without the broth or with it on the side
Rate this recipe:
2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 52 votes, average: 5.00 out of 52 votes, average: 5.00 out of 52 votes, average: 5.00 out of 52 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5 (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
You need to be a registered member to rate this.
Loading...
Send us feedback

Meal Plans

save time and reduce food waste
Get Your First Meal Plan