This Miso Ramen is rich, tasty and most importantly, it's quick and easy to make! Chewy noodles in a flavourful miso broth, topped with seasoned pork, beansprouts, spinach, sweetcorn and melty butter to add a decadent creaminess!
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Miso Ramen
What is Ramen?
Ramen is a Japanese dish consisting of Chinese style wheat noodles served in a tasty broth and it's probably one of the most famous and well loved Japanese dishes in the world. Every region of Japan has it's own unique ramen, but overall there are 3 main types.
- Shoyu (soy sauce base)
- Shio (salt base)
- Miso (fermented soy bean paste base)
Of course, it's not limited to these three. But most ramen dishes start with one of these bases and then build up. Today's recipe has a miso base!
What is Miso?
Miso is a salty paste made from fermented soy beans and there are a few different kinds.
- Shiro Miso - A white miso paste that uses less soybeans. Slightly sweet and mild.
- Shinshu Miso - A yellow miso paste which uses more soybeans than white, but less than red. Fermentation time is longer than shiro miso. It is salty and slightly acidic.
- Aka Miso - A red miso paste that has the highest soybean concentration of all the miso pastes.
- Awase Miso - A mixture of red and white miso paste. The flavour is a blend of the sweetness from the white and the richness of the red.
In this recipe, I used "awase miso" with dashi. Many miso pastes contain dashi for extra umami, it saves you from making dashi from scratch too! (Miso paste that contains dashi should say "出汁入り".) You can buy awase miso with dashi on Amazon.
Note: Most miso pastes with dashi contain fish products so this recipe isn't suitable for vegetarians or vegans. (If you're interested in making a vegan version of this dish, you can mix additive-free miso paste such as Hikari Miso with vegan dashi instead of water and swap the pork for tofu.)
Tips for adding miso paste to broths
There are a few techniques you can use to make sure your miso maintains a good flavour and texture in the noodle broth.
Firstly, miso should be added to the broth last when the heat has been turned off. This is because miso tends to lose its flavour if over cooked. Adding it last means it won't have a chance to lose its flavour!
When adding miso paste, you shouldn't add it directly to the broth. Doing so will make the miso paste harder to incorporate it into the broth and you'll end up with lumps of miso floating around in your soup. I recommend these tools:
- A whisk (or chopsticks)
- A mesh spoon or ladle
You can place the miso paste onto the mesh spoon and then dip it into the hot broth, allowing you to whisk the miso paste with a smaller amount of liquid on the spoon itself. Once it's broken down it will be easy to mix with the rest of the broth.
If you don't have a mesh spoon, you can achieve the same thing by mixing the miso paste with a small amount of broth in a ladle or even a small bowl.
Toppings
Somehow, miso ramen has more vegetables than your usual ramen. It's very versatile and every restaurant and home adds different toppings. Here are some of the toppings you might find on miso ramen:
- Pork
- Spinach
- Cabbage
- Sweetcorn
- Beansprouts
- Green onion
- White onion
- Ramen egg (Check out my recipe!)
- Carrot
As you can see, the possibilities are endless! If you don't want to use pork, you could even use tofu or a meat alternative.
Miso Ramen in Japan
The most well-known miso ramen in Japan would be Sapporo ramen which started in Hokkaido, Northern Japan in 1955 at a restaurant called "Aji no Sanpei (味の三平)". Although there are various theories, one of the well known theories is that the owner got inspired by the regular customer asking "Can you make ramen in tonjiru?".
Whatever the story, it is evident that he put it on the menu in 1955 and since then, it has become the most popular miso ramen dish in Japan!
The great thing about this recipe is that you don't need to simmer the broth for a long time. It's rich, flavourful and delicious! I hope you enjoy this quick and easy Miso Ramen!
Check out our video "How to make Butter Miso Ramen in 15 minutes"
Easy Homemade Miso Ramen with Butter (味噌ラーメン)
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 portions 1x
Description
Chewy ramen noodles served in a rich and buttery miso broth, topped with seasoned pork, spinach, beansprouts, sweetcorn and green onion. (Serves 2)
Ingredients
Pork
- 1 tsp Butter
- 150g (6oz) Pork mince
- 4 cloves Garlic finely diced
- 1 tbsp Fresh ginger finely diced
- 2 tbsp Spring onion white part, finely diced
- 1 tsp Soy sauce
- 1 tsp Mirin
- 1 tsp Oyster sauce
- ½ tsp Sichuan chilli bean paste (Tobanjan)
Broth / Noodles
- 400ml Boiling water
- 1 tsp Chicken stock
- 1 tbsp Smooth peanut butter
- 1 ½ tbsp Awase miso paste
- 2 portions Ramen noodles
Toppings
- 30g (1 cup) Spinach
- 100g (1 cup) Beansprouts
- 2 tsp Sweetcorn tinned
- 2 tsp Spring onion green part, finely sliced
- 2 tsp Butter
Instructions
- Heat a pan on medium and add 1 tsp butter.
- Add finely diced garlic, ginger and spring onion (white part) to the pan and fry in the butter until fragrant.
- Add your 150g (6oz) pork mince, mix well and fry until the pork is cooked through.
- Add 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp mirin, 1 tsp oyster sauce and ½ tsp Sichuan chilli bean paste.
- Stir the sauces in and continue to fry until the liquid is gone.
- Turn off the heat for now.
- In a heatproof measuring jug, mix 400ml of freshly boiled water with 1 tsp chicken stock and 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter until dissolved.
- Pour the mixture into the pan with the cooked mince and turn the heat on to medium.
- Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat.
- Now it's time to add the miso. Place 1 ½ tbsp of miso onto a mesh spoon or ladle, dip it into the soup and then whisk it to break it up. This technique makes it easier to incorporate the miso into the soup smoothly without lumps.
- Add the beansprouts to the broth to allow them to cook in the residual heat. (No need to turn the heat back on.)
- Cook your noodles according to the packaging and add the spinach to the water in the final minute.
- Dish up the noodles into a large bowl, pour the broth over the noodles and top with the pork, beansprouts and spinach.
- Garnish with spring onion (green part), sweet corn (straight from the tin is fine but you can microwave them if you prefer them warm.) and 1 tsp butter in each bowl.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 2 mins
- Cook Time: 13 mins
- Category: Noodles
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: Japanese
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