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Want to upgrade instant ramen into 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.
One of the significant advantages of using instant ramen noodle packs is that you don’t have to boil the noodles for a long time nor make the seasoning from scratch.
In this post we'll cover:
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 adapted 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 the egg and ramen noodles, the recipe keeps its Korean roots.
Instant ramen with egg recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups of water
- 1 pack instant ramen noodles
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon butter
- 2 slices mild Cheddar cheese
- ¼ teaspoon 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!
Nutrition
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 included with the noodles and add the egg, butter, and cheese.
Tip: If you have trouble covering the egg entirely with water, cover the pot with a lid and let the egg cook for about 2 minutes.
Be careful not to mix the egg too much, or it’ll take on a scrambled egg texture. The goal is for a soft-boiled egg with a runny yolk and fully-cooked egg whites.
Which Ramen to Use
You can use any type of instant noodle packs 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 Noodle Soup Veggie because it is a vegetarian noodle, so you can really taste the egg and cheese.
- Nongshim Bowl Noodle Soup Chicken 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
- 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” is to add it in as “egg drop.”
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.
Nutritional Information of 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 about 650-700 calories.
Considering it’s a pretty filling meal, it’s a good lunch or dinner food.
In general, instant noodles are not very healthy because they have high fat, carb, and sodium content. But, if you add some healthy protein like egg and some veggies, you can improve it.
Additional Ingredients & How to Spice it Up
You’ve seen how simple this recipe is, but you can take it to the next level if you want by adding some additional ingredients.
How about spicing your instant noodles up 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 Bean
- 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 look around the fridge and use what you have.
For more inspiration, read 9 best ramen toppings to order or use when making ramen at home.
Conclusion
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 to make it a full meal.
It’s such an easy meal 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!
Ever had trouble finding Japanese recipes that were easy to make?
We now have "cooking Japanese with ease", our full recipe book and video course with step-by-step tutorials on your favorite recipes.
