In a hurry? Try this 12-min instant ramen with an EGG
Want to upgrade instant ramen to a delicious and hearty meal? It’s as easy as adding a poached egg and creamy toppings, like cheese and butter!
The entire prep and cooking process only takes about 12 minutes and results in a delicious bowl of comfort food.
Let’s make it!
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Instant ramen with egg recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups of water
- 1 pack instant ramen noodles
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp butter
- 2 slices mild Cheddar cheese
- ¼ tsp black toasted sesame seeds white will do fine as well
- 1 scallion sliced
Instructions
- Grab a small saucepan or pot, fill with 2.5 cups of water, and bring to a boil.
- Add the ramen noodles and let them boil for about 2 minutes.
- Add the seasoning mix packet and let it boil for 2 more minutes.
- Now crack the raw egg into the boiling ramen. Don’t mix the egg at all.
- With a fork, pull some of the noodles on top of the egg until it’s covered.
- Let the egg poach for 2-3 minutes, depending on how soft you want it.
- Take the pot or saucepan off the heat and pour your ramen into a bowl.
- Add the cheese, butter, and sesame seeds, and mix gently.
- Garnish the ramen with the scallion. Now your ramen is ready to serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Ramen noodles don’t have a lot of protein on their own, but adding an egg will add protein and flavor to your cup noodles. You can prepare the noodles as normal and just add an egg long enough to be cooked or add a pre-boiled egg.
Add the egg after 4 minutes of cooking your ramen directly into the liquid and let it poach for 2-3 minutes, depending on how soft you want it. With a fork, pull some of the noodles on top of the egg until it’s covered.
You can crack a raw egg directly into cup noodles after adding 2 cups of water to the noodles and seasoning packet and microwaving it without the egg first on high for 4 minutes. Then stir and crack the egg on top. Microwave it for 1 more minute until the egg white is cooked and the yolk is still runny.
Korean egg & cheese ramen
While adding processed cheese slices to ramen may sound bizarre, it’s a popular method to upgrade instant ramen.
Famous Los Angeles chef Roy Choi popularized this eggs, butter, noodles, and melty cheese recipe.
People instantly adopted the recipe because the combination of hot broth and cheesy noodles has a similar flavor to mac n’ cheese, a classic North American comfort food.
But since we’re adding egg and ramen noodles, the recipe keeps its Korean roots.
Check out YouTube user Mr.Wrath’s video on making instant ramen with egg:
To enhance your ramen’s flavor, you can always add half a teaspoon of miso paste, dashi, mirin, or soy sauce.
But if you like to keep things simple, use the seasoning packet from the noodles and add the egg, butter, and cheese.
If you don’t like poached eggs, you can add a hard-boiled egg instead.
Which ramen to use
You can use any type of instant noodle pack or ramen. There are many popular Korean and Japanese instant noodles on Amazon or at your local grocery store.
For this egg and cheese dish, it’s best to use a mildly spiced noodle pack so that the heat doesn’t overpower the rich flavors.
Make sure to cook the noodles according to the package directions.
My top 3 picks are:
- Nissin Demae black garlic oil instant ramen noodles because the garlic adds additional umami flavor.
- Nongshim soon veggie noodle soup because it’s a vegetarian noodle, so you can really taste the egg and cheese.
- Nongshim chicken noodle soup bowl because it has a mild flavor.
However, if you enjoy spicy foods, you can use spicy chicken-flavored noodles, such as Samyang instant ramen noodles.
Also read: Different types of Japanese ramen explained, like shoyu & shio
How to eat the egg
If you have ramen with an egg at a restaurant, the polite way to eat it is to pick it up with your spoon, fork, or chopsticks, take a small bite, and cut it into smaller pieces with your utensils.
It’s never polite to stab and poke the egg!
However, when you eat it at home, you can cut up the egg to make it easier to eat.
It tastes best when you take a spoonful of noodles, egg, and cheese at the same time because you can feel the umami flavors come together.
Egg drop
An alternative to my “poached egg” approach is to add it in as egg drop instead.
In this cooking method, you mix the raw egg into the boiling water with the ramen noodles, or scramble them, as I mentioned above.
Some people prefer egg drop over the poached style. Alternatively, you can beat an uncooked egg in a cup with your fork and then add it to the hot ramen broth.
This method results in more delicious bits of cooked egg floating around in the broth!
You can also make a fried egg if you want something more solid.
Nutritional information for ramen with an egg
You’re probably wondering if instant noodles with an egg is a healthy dish.
Well, yes and no.
Eggs are a healthy source of protein, so adding a poached egg to your ramen provides you with B vitamins and contributes to a healthy nervous system.
Eggs are nutritious and contribute to a balanced meal, so you’ll most likely feel full and satisfied after eating this ramen.
This ramen and egg recipe has a higher calorie count than simple instant noodles because of the egg, butter, and cheese, which pack on more fats and protein.
Typically, a pack of instant noodles with seasoning has about 350-400 calories, 15 g of fat, and approximately 10 g of protein.
Sliced cheddar cheese has about 100-120 calories per slice, and a poached egg has about 140-145 calories.
The butter, scallion, and sesame seeds add about another 50 calories. So expect your ramen bowl to have around 650-700 calories.
Considering that it’s a pretty filling meal, it’s a good lunch or dinner food.
In general, instant noodles aren’t very healthy because they have high fat, carb, and sodium content. But if you add some healthy protein (like eggs and some veggies), you can improve it!
Additional ingredients & how to spice it up!
You’ve seen how simple this recipe is. But if you want, you can take it to the next level by adding some additional ingredients!
How about spicing up your instant noodles even more?
Here’s what else you can add to your egg ramen bowl:
- Sriracha hot sauce
- Dashi
- Boiled chicken
- Grilled pork
- Boiled beef
- Cooked shrimp
- Miso paste
- Soy sauce
- Mirin
- Fish sauce
- Broccoli
- Mung beans
- Garlic chips
- Bean sprouts
- Carrots
- Sesame seeds
- Leftover cooked chicken
You can experiment with all kinds of veggies and toppings. So don’t be afraid to dig around in the fridge and use what you have!
For more inspiration, read 9 best ramen toppings to order or use when making ramen at home
Make a delicious ramen meal in 12 minutes
When you’re not in the mood to make a bowl of hot ramen soup from scratch, you can always boil instant noodles, and add in a poached egg and some yummy cheese slices. It’s a full and quick meal!
It’s such an easy dish to make with minimal prep work required, and you won’t have a ton of dishes to wash up afterward.
If you want to make your ramen healthier, add in some extra vegetables, and it’s sure to fill you up!
Rather go for a vegan ramen recipe but not miss out on flavor? Check out this delicious vegan ramen noodle soup!
Check out our new cookbook
Bitemybun's family recipes with complete meal planner and recipe guide.
Try it out for free with Kindle Unlimited:
Read for free
Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.
