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Satisfy your craving for Ramen soup with this homemade ramen bowl recipe. In less than 30 minutes you can be slurping up this restaurant-worthy Ramen in the comfort of your own home with little effort. This is the noodle soup everyone deserves!
Table of Contents
This homemade Ramen soup remains a reader comfort food favorite after years of it being published. To be able to enjoy a big yummy bowl of your favorite Japanese soup in your own home is some kind of bliss! Between this recipe, my Shoyu Ramen Recipe, and my Miso Ramen, we’re all set come soup season.
We aren’t all fortunate enough to have access to restaurants that offer this good stuff. So having this simple recipe up your sleeve is awesome.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Accessible ingredients—A quick trip to the grocery store will get you what you need! (If you want to build yourself an authentic Japanese Ramen bowl however, check in with Nami at Just One Cookbook and her collection of authentic Ramen recipes.)
- So flavorful—The garlic, ginger, and sesame do wonders for the broth. You’ll want to drink it by the mugfull!
- You can make it your own—Readers love to cook this recipe as their very own by adding their favorite veggies, proteins, and garnishes.
Featured Comment
I used shimeji mushrooms , cuz we dont have other ones here, and it still ended up really good, love the recipe thank you very much ♡ this was my first homemade ramen experience and you made it amazing 🤩
— Sarah
Ramen Soup Ingredients
A full ingredient list with exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
- Sesame oil—This brings a wonderful nutty flavor to the broth that is familiar with Japanese foods. You could use olive oil instead, though. Or half and half!
- Rice vinegar—The mild acidity and subtle sweetness offers a nice balance here.
- Soy sauce—I highly recommend going for low-sodium. Kikkoman in particular, as their low-sodium soy sauce takes exactly the same as the regular type, so you won’t lose out on any flavor.
- Chili garlic sauce—Making your Ramen soup spicy is optional, but if you do, reach for the chili sauces like Sriracha or sambal oelek.
Recipe Variations & Modifications
- Vegetables—I love using shredded carrots and sliced shiitake mushrooms, but you could also add others, like cabbage, broccoli, diced zucchini, or seared baby bok choy.
- Protein—Anything goes with this Ramen soup recipe! You could add chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or even tofu to keep it vegetarian.
- Egg—The jammy soft-boiled egg will always be my favorite part of a Ramen bowl, but you could omit it if eggs aren’t your thing. See the recipe card for instructions on cooking a Ramen egg.
- Other fun Ramen toppings—Narutomaki (fish cakes), enoki mushrooms, nori (dried seaweed), bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, or corn kernels
How to Make Homemade Ramen
- Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and ginger; simmer until fragrant.
- Add the carrots, mushrooms, and any other veggies you want to cook and add to the soup. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
- Pour the broth into the pot. Add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, and Sriracha. Give it all a good stir to combine.
- Let the soup simmer for about five minutes, then give it a taste and add more soy sauce or Sriracha if needed, depending on how salty and spicy you want it.
- While the soup simmers, cook the Ramen noodles in a separate pot as per the packages instructions.
- When the noodles are ready, drain them and give them a quick rinse under cool water, then place them into your soup bowl; set aside.
- Spoon the broth over the noodles, then garnish the bowl with whatever fun toppings you have on hand.
Pro Tip
I don’t recommend cooking the noodles in the broth because the noodles will soak up the broth, leaving you with less of it! For this reason I always cook and store my noodles separately.
How to Serve Homemade Ramen Bowls
Ramen soup is hearty, so it can be eaten like a meal on its own. Especially if you add some protein. There are some great sides you can bring to the table, however. I love this cool and crisp smashed cucumber salad. You could also work in these honey miso roasted sweet potatoes or some seared baby bok choy, which could be added right to your homemade ramen bowl.
Storage & Reheating
- Leftover broth and noodles can be stored in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3-4 days, but be sure to store them separately if possible. Otherwise the noodles will soak up all of the broth and turn mushy.
- To reheat, bring the broth to a low simmer in a saucepan then stir the noodles in. Remove from heat, then transfer to a soup bowl.
Frequently Asked Questions
Aside from the obvious Ramen noodles (yes, you can use the popular Instant Ramen packets you grew up with), Ramen soup is made up of broth, vegetables, and proteins in addition to various seasonings like garlic, ginger, sesame, and soy.
Shoyu (soy sauce), miso (fermented bean paste), shio (salt), and tonkotsu (pork) are the four broths you’ll most often see served with Ramen soup in restaurants.
Various vegetables such as mushrooms, baby spinach, broccoli, bok choy, onion, zucchini, etc. can be added to Ramen soup, as well as your favorite protein.
Ramen Soup Essentials
- Japanese Style Ramen Bowl
- Chopsticks
- Wonton soup spoon, the best way to slurp up that homemade Ramen broth.
If you try these Easy Homemade Ramen Bowls, or any other recipe here at Killing Thyme, please pop back in and leave a 🌟 star rating! And let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
More Ramen Soup Recipes You Have to Try…
Easy Homemade Ramen Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp freshly grated ginger
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced (optional)
- 4 cups Chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 TBSP rice vinegar
- 3 TBSP low-sodium soy sauce (more to taste)
- 1 TBSP Sriracha sauce (more or less, depending on your heat tolerance)
- 2 3 oz portions of Ramen (discard the flavor packets)
Toppings
- Sliced scallions
- Sesame seeds
- Shredded carrots
- Soft-boiled egg
Instructions
- Heat oil in a medium-large saucepan over moderate heat. Add garlic and ginger, and simmer until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Do not brown the garlic, or else you'll get a bitter flavor.
- Add the carrots and mushrooms if you’re using them, and simmer until they soften, about a minute, stirring frequently.
- Add the broth, Sriracha sauce, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir, and bring to a simmer; let it go for about five minutes. Taste, and adjust heat and taste to your liking by adding more Sriracha and soy sauce if needed.
- While the broth simmers, cook the Ramen noodles in a separate pot as per the package's instructions. (You could cook the noodles in the broth directly, but I don't recommend it as they will soak up some of the broth and it also makes for a messy transfer to the bowl. It's much easier to transfer drained cooked noodles to a bowl and spoon the broth over top.) Once the noodles are tender, drain and rinse under cool water, place into a soup bowl, and set aside.
- When the soup is ready, spoon the broth over the noodles. Allow to cool. At this point, make your soft-boiled egg if you're garnishing with one, and add the rest of your toppings to serve.
Soft-Boiled Egg
- Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan.
- Add the egg(s), and let them boil for five minutes. In the meantime, prepare an ice bath in a bowl.
- Once five minutes are up, remove the egg(s) and dunk them into the ice bath for about a minute to cool them off enough to handle. Then, lightly crack and roll them on a flat surface, peel, slice in half, and place on top of your Ramen soup.
These were better than restaurant quality. I love that I could control the flavors in each one so that even the kids could enjoy them!
These bowls were amazing. All my favourite flavours and so easy to make.
The family and I had fun making this ramen over the weekend. It was the perfect warm and cozy dinner!
I love this recipe! It is so flavorful and easy to make! Thanks for sharing!
I love ramen – REAL ramen. I made this last night for the family, and it was so good. There’s just nothing like homemade ramen.
yummy!! loved it so easy!
Delish! I followed the recipe exactly aside from adding snow peas and using Udon noodles instead of ramen. This will definitely become part of the regular dinner rotation for winter
Thank you for this incredible recipe!
But I’ve got to ask, where are the bowls in your pictures from?
I’d love a set of my own!
Hi Terri! I’m so glad you enjoyed this. Also, happy you asked about the bowls. I could nerd out about pretty dishes all day ;) Believe it or not, I got these from Amazon! They are these bowls right here. I’ve had mine (I have the white ones also) since 2020 and they are still in perfect condition. I have some of their larger serving plates as well. Fantastic brand! Let me know if you get some, would love to see what you pick out. I just went to their page again and it looks like they have some new beautiful pieces in stock! Must resist…
Made this tonight — added some snow peas, edamame, and the whites of the scallions that I was using the greens of for garnish. Holy smokes, this recipe is a big hit in my house. And as an added bonus, I hadn’t prepped anything in advance, and it only took me 45 minutes to go from walking in the door to sitting down for dinner. This is definitely going into the last-minute dinner rotation. Thanks for a great recipe!
First time making this and it is absolutely amazing and super easy. Can’t wait to try the next one.