How do you make healthy ramen noodles?
Do you like the instant ramen and the convenience they bring? But not so sure about all that sodium and MSG in its spice packet of soup stock? In that case, the answer is simple! It’s time to make your own stir fry sauce! Because this ramen noodle recipe tastes better than anything in a packet! Besides it comes together as quickly as if you were using the ramen packets. So perfect for quick mid-week meal! I also encourage you to try 10 Best Past Recipes.
- First things first, you will need 2 packages of noodles to make the ramen noodle recipe. I used two 3 ounce packages in total.
- You will start by boiling the noodles. Only 2 minutes!
- While they are cooking, we will make the stir fry!
- Simply heat your vegetable oil in a medium skillet and sauté onion, garlic, bell pepper and broccoli. Only enough to make them soft. I did it very quickly, about two minutes.
- Then, I removed the vegetables from the pan and added my ground beef.
- Once you cooked the beef, drain all its liquid and add back the vegetables.
- Now, prepare the sauce by adding soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and garlic.
- Finally, drain cooked ramen noodles and toss them in the beef with sauce!
- Top the noodles stir fry with chopped green onions or sesame seeds!
I added sauce and noodles at the same time.
What if I don’t like soy sauce?
If you are not a fan of soy, you can easily replace it with coconut aminos or tamari sauce. If you never cooked with coconut aminos, they are dark in color. Just like soy sauce. But unlike soy sauce, they contain far less sodium. Yet, they still have that salty, umami flavor of soy.
What about Tamari sauce? You will find it stronger in flavor than coconut aminos, but also less salty than soy. If you are gluten free, you can use Tamari instead of soy. I used Tamari sauce in this Easy Chicken Stir Fry as well. Give it a try!
So next time you are reaching for something quick to eat, you know there is a healthier alternative! You can now make this healthy ramen noodles recipe for lunch. Or, dinner. And, you can even add more spice. If so, add a bit more sriracha until desired heat is reached. Or, use less. You can also use sesame oil here, but I find its taste a bit strong. Therefore go slow on it. Start with ½ teaspoon only. So much better than instant Ramen packets! And so healthy!
Healthy Beef Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- ½ head broccoli cut into florets
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 6 oz ramen noodles (2 packets with seasoning packets discarded)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Sauce
- ¼ c. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp. sriracha
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onions, peppers, and broccoli and cook until tender, 5 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook until no longer pink, 5 minutes more. Drain fat and return vegetables back to the skillet
- Make sauce: Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, Sriracha, and garlic.
- In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add ramen noodles and cook until tender, 2 minutes. Drain.
- Add cooked ramen noodles to skillet and pour over sauce. Toss until completely combined. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if necessary. Then garnish with scallions and serve.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
This was good but too salty for my taste. I will probably cut the soy sauce in half or a third next time and replace with chicken broth. I will try cabbage as someone suggested next time too. I used broccoli, celery, baby bell peppers, shredded carrots and onion with mine. Thanks for the recipe.
You can also try Tamari – much less sodium, but better taste! Because tamari contains twice the amount of soybeans instead of wheat – it is richer and less salty. I now prefer Tamari to soy sauce most of the time.
What is a good side dish to serve with this?
I would definitely eat this with sauteed spinach or more broccoli.
Very good receipe. I love stir fry
This recipe is so yummy and light! Thank you for sharing with us, it’s really tasty.
Thank you Ursulla – so glad you tried it!
Can you clarify when you used the garlic because as I’m reading the preview it says it was sautéed with the veggies but in the make the sauce part there is garlic. The picture doesn’t look like there is garlic in the sauce. I put the garlic in the sauce and followed the recipe. It tastes great to me. Of course I added a lot more sriracha than what was mentioned. But I put sriracha on everything because I just love it! Just curious where you used the garlic 👍🏼
This was delicious, even my two year old loved it, he ate 2 plates!
I added cabbage and shredded carrot because that’s what I had on hand. It was perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!
Amanda, love your comment and your two year old!