Your Instant Ramen Will Taste Restaurant-Worthy With One Simple Swap
Instant ramen is a workhorse of a food. It's quick and delicious, there's no doubt about it. Coming in many different variations and from a wide variety of brands, each with their own mix of flavorings, ramen is certainly a delightful meal or snack. And it's easily customizable as well. If creamy is your preferred style, you can always add egg and mayonnaise to the base. If you're into toppings, there's an almost endless list of veggies and proteins to add: Think bok choy, mushrooms, or a jammy, soft soy sauce egg. But if brothy, delicious, rich restaurant style ramen is what you're after, then there is one simple and inexpensive hack you'll want to try. Adding broth as the base of your ramen soup instead of water will bring your pack of instant noodles to an entirely new level.
Chicken or vegetable broth will add richness to your soup that is sorely lacking in water-based instant ramen, especially a more basic instant ramen such as Maruchan. This broth swap will give your noodles more flavor. Consider boiling your noodles in broth rather than water. Adding the flavor pack is optional. However, you should be mindful about your flavor pack's sodium content, as many broths contain a lot of sodium on their own. Adding both might make your soup too salty. Instead, you might choose a low sodium or no-salt-added broth with a flavor packet. Or you can ditch the packet altogether and jazz up your broth on your own. Really, there is no limit when it comes to making your perfect ramen, as long as you like how it tastes.
Brothing up your ramen
So how exactly should you go about brothing up your ramen, and what broth should you choose as your base? Well, it depends on what kind of ramen packet you are using. For more flavor-intense instant ramens, such as Samyang or Nongshim Shin Ramyun, you might want to go with an unsalted broth, and also use the provided flavor packets. It would be helpful to use a broth that aligns with the flavor profile of your ramen. Using a seafood broth, for example, would be a great choice for Nongshim Neoguri Spicy Seafood soup. Soy sauce flavored Maruchan, on the other hand, would do well with a beef or mushroom broth, which would bring out the soup's umami flavors. Then again, a basic chicken or veggie broth is also sure to please.
You can also add butter in order to make your soup more rich, adding depth to its flavors that will really make your soup pop. This can also help to enhance the flavors found in your seasoning packet, such as dried onion, garlic, salt, mushrooms, and dried sources of protein such as meat or shrimp. Adding broth and butter to this seasoning mix can help to flesh out its flavors, and change your soup from a convenient snack to a full-blown meal.