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This Easy Five Spice Chicken and Ramen Bowl is super cozy, aromatic, and filled with wholesome feel-good ingredients like carrots and bok choy.
Earlier this week we threw together a quick from-scratch chicken stock in the Instant Pot. (Liquid gold!) Now, a reason to use it. This easy five spice chicken Ramen bowl is heavenly. Slurp-worthy Ramen made by you, at home, in the comfort of your own kitchen. Sure, it sounds too good to be true. But if you’ve ever made my Easy Homemade Ramen Bowls, you know I’m not messing around.
Five Spice is mostly used in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines, so this is by no means a traditional Japanese Ramen. But the warm, robust, and aromatic blend works extremely well in a brothy bowl of noodles. Admittedly, I’ve always been a bit of a purist when it comes to Ramen. But a nearby noodle bar in Cary, NC introduced me to the idea that Ramen can, in fact, tap into different cuisines just a little; their Chicken Curry Ramen Bowl will knock you on your ass with delight.
What’s in Five Spice seasoning?
There are varying blends, but the most common includes star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. If you’ve ever had Vietnamese pho, you’ve tasted this amalgam in soup before.
What goes in Ramen bowls?
The beauty of making your own Ramen bowl is that you can top it with whatever you want: jammy eggs, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, cabbage, kimchi—the possibilities are endless. In this recipe, we’ve used the following:
- Chopped cooked chicken rubbed with Five Spice
- Seared bok choy hearts (or baby bok choy)
- Ribboned carrots
- Scallions
- Soft-boiled egg
- Sesame seeds
Tips on how to make a Ramen bowl.
Although Ramen bowls are easy to throw together, there are a few tricks to consider which you can personalize as you get used to making it at home.
- Sauté the garlic and ginger in the pot before adding the stock.
- Certain vegetables are best sautéd and cooked in the soup rather than used as toppings, such as carrots, mushrooms, or bok choy. Any of these can be added in at the same time as the garlic and ginger for a quick simmer. (Though the bok choy shown with this particular recipe was made prior using this recipe.)
- Consider adding soy sauce, a splash of fish sauce, and some Sriracha or sambal oelek to your stock to bring on more of those umami flavors.
- Once the broth is simmering and flavored to your liking, you can go ahead and cook the noodles right in the broth.
- For sesame lovers, a drizzle of toasted sesame oil over your finished bowl adds big and awesome sesame flavor.
- Top the bowl with raw scallions as opposed to cooking them in the soup; they add a nice tangy crisp!
Want more easy Ramen bowl recipes to make at home?
Hope you love it!
If you plan on making this recipe, be sure to snap a pic and tag us on Insta! @killing__thyme.
Easy Five Spice Chicken Ramen Bowl
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients.
- 1/2 TBSP Five Spice seasoning; more if desired
- 1 cup shredded or roughly chopped cooked chicken
- 6 oz Ramen noodles, You can use fresh or those handy packages from college.
- 1 TBSP sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, grated or minced
- 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1 carrot, shredded, chopped, or ribboned.
- 4 cups of chicken stock, I like to use my Instant Pot Chicken Stock
- 2 TBSP low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tsp fish sauce (optional)
- 2 TBSP sambal oelek, chili garlic sauce, or sriracha
- Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
Additional toppings.
- Soft-boiled eggs, halved , *See notes
- Seared baby bok choy, *See notes
- Shiitake mushrooms
- Shredded cabbage
- Kimchi
- Microgreens
Instructions
- Place the shredded cooked chicken in a bowl. Sprinkle the Five Spice seasoning over it and, with clean hands, massage the spices throughout the chicken for even coverage; set aside.
- Heat the sesame oil in a medium-sized pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and simmer for about 30 seconds. Add the carrots (and if you're using shiitake mushrooms or any other vegetables that need to be cooked to tender, add them now), and simmer until tender—about 2 minutes. Decrease the heat if you feel like the garlic is browning or sticking to the pot. Additionally, you can add a splash of stock to the pot if the garlic seems to be sticking.
- Once the carrots are tender, add the chicken stock to the pot. Bring it to a low simmer. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, and sambal oelek, and let the soup simmer for about five minutes. Give it a taste and adjust as needed (add soy sauce or more heat if you need to.)
- While the soup simmers, cook the noodles in a separate pot as per the package's instructions. Drain the noodles, and equally divide them into bowls.
- Pour the soup over the noodles, then evenly distribute the chicken between the two bowls. Top with sliced scallions and any other toppings you've prepared—and enjoy!
Made this recipe for myself and my son tonight and I have to say, I think it’s one of the best meals I’ve ever made! Absolutely delicious!
for years i have been trying to find a good ramen recipe. none ever impressed me, until this one. this recipe is simply amazing, and the flavors go together so, so well. my favorite ramen recipe to date!
Lillie, this is awesome! I’m so glad. Thanks for taking the time to pop in with feedback :)