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!
- 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?
COCONUT AMINOS. If you are not a fan of soy, you can easily replace it with coconut aminos. 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.
TAMARI. What about Tamari sauce? You will find it stronger in flavor than coconut aminos, but also less salty than regular soy sauce. 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!
What kind of skillet do I need?
I like using a solid stainless steel pan, such as this 12 inch pan with a lid.
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!
I also encourage you to try 10 Best Pasta Recipes for more “noodle” ideas.
More delicious Asian recipes
Chicken Chow Mein Restaurant Style
Easy Thai Noodles with Peanut Sauce
Low Sodium Chicken Lettuce Wraps
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.
Genia C says
Can it be cook without ground beef? And just veggies?
Olya says
It can definitely be done without it, the only thing is that you will not get the same flavor, so I would use a bit more soy sauce. Maybe more salt.
Tina says
It was delicious.
Jordan S says
Hi! Super interested in trying this. What os the serving size in your nutritional facts? Currently calorie counting. Thanks!!
Olya says
One cup is the serving size. I hope you enjoy this!
Sue says
Is there a substitution for the apple cider vinegar? I don’t keep it in my house, but I do have regular vinegar, white wine vinegar, and red wine vinegar. Can one of those be used instead? The recipe sounds delicious and I want to try it out soon.
Olya says
Yes! Red wine vinegar will be a great substitution!
Sherri says
I made this today and it was really tasty! I added matchstick carrots and sauteed my veggies in toasted sesame seed oil. I also used coconut amino in place of soy sauce. Instead of brown sugar I used a tsp. of Splenda. Lastly I added a tsp. or two of Fish boat fish sauce. Yummy! Couldn’t stop eating it.😋
Olya says
Yes – coconut aminos are great – I use them a lot as well! I enjoy reading the details of individual ways of making the same dish – I don’t think I could stop eating it either!
Karman Foods says
This Beef Ramen Noodles recipe is so delicious! Jin Ramen is perfect for this, same with using Tamari Soy Sauce instead of the regular soy sauce.
Olya says
So glad you made it perfect! Tamari sauce is amazing!
Shawn says
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.
Olya says
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.
Candy says
What is a good side dish to serve with this?
Olya says
I would definitely eat this with sauteed spinach or more broccoli.
Sylvia says
Very good receipe. I love stir fry
Ursulla says
This recipe is so yummy and light! Thank you for sharing with us, it’s really tasty.
Olya says
Thank you Ursulla – so glad you tried it!
Cory says
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 👍🏼
Amanda says
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!
Olya says
Amanda, love your comment and your two year old!