Home-made ramen seasoning - caveat, must be easy

March 21, 2025 7:15 AM

Sometimes one wants to use ramen seasoning for, eg, some dumplings, or some fresh noodles, or just some tofu and vegetables. One does not want a wholesome stock, or an elaborate dish, one wants ramen seasoning.

And yet one does not want to just waste a whole block of ramen noodles, or even just separate the noodles and the seasoning, since often even with one's best efforts the stray noodles get stale before use.

I've seen a few jarred ramen seasoning blends on the internet, but the reviews are extremely equivocal. If you have one to recommend, that would be great. (Although the kind where it's an elaborate tonkatsu and it costs about $4/serving is not what I'm looking for.)

I also do not want to make stock at home. This should be quick and from existing supplies.

I usually cook some vegetables in the broth, so there's a little bit of a boost already.

I've got or can buy things like soy sauce, sesame oil, MSG, shaoxing wine, white pepper, garlic powder, etc. I probably don't want to use peanut butter because it's a pain.

What do you use/do? (For reference, my favorite ramen is Sapporo Ichiban tonkatsu flavor.)

posted by Frowner to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

The cheaper ramen packets are mostly salt and sugar, with less than 1% of MSG and spices. I'll focus on Chicken type since that's the most versatile imo. See here for Maruchan's ingredients. Some things you might not expect: turmeric (for color) yeast (for umami), celery seed. The rest is probably what you'd expect, powdered onion, powdered garlic, chives, some stabilizers and trace of protein (which I leave out). The absolute final ingredient is powdered cooked chicken, which I also omit and don't miss.

So, for a ~1TB packet, I'd use maybe 1.0-1.5 tsp salt, 0.5 tsp sugar, 0.25 tsp of garlic and onion powder and chive, 0.25 tsp MSG add a dash of turmeric and celery seed (ground), and maybe up to 0.25 tsp nutritional yeast. I add oil at the end, it's not really useful to mix it in the powder. Sesame and refined coconut are both good options, as is corn oil. White pepper is easy to toss in but in my experience it can overwhelm so be cautious.

I have done this before and it's worked fine. If you really want a bit of real meat flavor you can start with a bit of normal western chicken or beef bullion. If you want to have a jar around for handy use, I'd mix up a first pass and then tweak the ingredients as you refill it.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:34 AM on March 21 [6 favorites]

I'll often skip the packet in favor of veggies and some Better than Bouillon chicken base (and a little powdered garlic and onion to taste, sometimes a dash of paprika and lemon pepper). It comes in a big jar at Costco and has a long shelf life. Basic, but it works!
posted by Rudy_Wiser at 7:52 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

I probably don't want to use peanut butter because it's a pain.

They're putting peanut butter in squeeze bottles now and it's changed my life.
posted by phunniemee at 8:21 AM on March 21

Here are the ingredients for the Sapporo Ichiban tonkatsu flavor soup base:

Salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, non dairy creamer (coconut oil, corn syrup solids, sodium caseinate[a milk derivative], mono and diglycerides, dipotassium phosphate), natural and artificial seasoning(maltodextrin, modified food starch, sesame oil, canola oil, natural and artificial flavors), lactose, sesame seeds, dried leeks, chicken broth powder[maltodextrin, chicken broth flavor(contains chicken broth, salt, flavor)], garlic powder, pork fat flavor(modified food starch, rendered bacon fat, natural flavor), yeast extract, spices, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, caramel color, corn oil, tricalcium phosphate.

I'd start with chicken broth powder as a base, add some extra MSG, sugar and salt if desired (though that's mostly what the broth powder is), plus a dash of sesame oil. The non-dairy creamer is an interesting ingredient, but makes total sense for tonkatsu to get that creaminess, so throw some of that in. From there, if you want more flavour, I'd try garlic powder, ground sesame seeds, and maybe even freeze dried leeks, a little bacon fat or a little marmite/vegemite (yeast extract).
posted by ssg at 8:33 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

My "eh, close enough" winging it shoyu ramen broth for a serving is:
1 cup broth (chicken, beef, vegetable, whatever floats your boat)
splash low-sodium soy sauce (about 1Tbsp)
dash rice vinegar (about 1 tsp)
1tsp sugar
pinch onion powder
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp ginger
splash sesame oil (about 1 Tbsp)
pinch of ground pepper (usually doesn't need salt for my taste, the soy sauce is enough)

I like to add to any ramen a spoonful of spicy chili crisp and a spoonful of chili garlic sauce, and usually some chopped cilantro. That, plus the sesame oil, creates such a wonderful aroma!
posted by xedrik at 9:13 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Ah, but peanut butter POWDER is brilliant.

I make a Ramen Base Jar filled with about 1/2 Knorr Chicken (flavor) Bouillon (with msg!), 1/4 Nori Kopmi Furikake (blue label), plus a generous spoon each of hondashi, some kind of powdered pepper (I never have shichimi togarashi but I usually have gochugaru, ancho, and chipotle powders), sugar. The hondashi is optional but it's usually easy to get if you have a decent International aisle and it does add a je ne sais quois.

I often add some of either Costco/Kirkland No-Salt Seasoning or Trader Joe's 21-Seasoning Salute because they both have lemon and tomato powder in them for a little acid hit, but I always have one or the other so I don't know if it's worth buying just for this (but they're great to have in the spice rack).

But obviously this is very riffable and you can mix to your heart's desire as far as the "extras" on top of the bouillon. Also don't sleep on Knorr's Tomato with Chicken Flavor Bouillon which is definitely NOT Japanese but is a damn fine soup base. If you want to really make a variety, know that you can get powdered soy sauce.

You will meet the lowest bar with any kind of meat-flavor powder, msg, and sugar, but I think the expanded ingredients get you closer to the fancier instant ramens.
posted by Lyn Never at 9:17 AM on March 21 [6 favorites]

Dashi powder as a base maybe? Add some chicken/beef bullion, then to taste w/soy, rice vinegar, bit of MSG, etc, along w/whatever veggies & etc you're cooking in it? There's spam in saimin and it's shelf stable.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:09 AM on March 21 [1 favorite]

Considering a pack of ramen costs about $0.15, you could use the seasoning packet and compost the noodle brick and harm no one.
posted by toodleydoodley at 10:16 AM on March 21

A good point. And also cultivate other uses for the ramen brick (like with eggs in the morning) and build a seasoning baggie.
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:17 AM on March 21

Most of the time, I used the jar of chicken bouillon straight up, and there is a shrimp one. If I wanted to make it taste more ramen like, you could add soy sauce powder and maybe some powdered ginger.
posted by advicepig at 10:32 AM on March 21

They are things you don't have, but if any of these are flavors you like, having Togarashi for spice or Furikake for sea gets you closer to restaurant ramen, if that's of interest and both are pennies a serving. If you like mushrooms, a dash of powdered mushroom would also get you close to some ramen packets. The Trader Joes one is pretty good and I use it with a variety of cuisines when I want a bump of umami.
posted by Candleman at 12:12 PM on March 21

I found this four ingredient Tonkatsu sauce for you:

sugar
oyster sauce
katsup
Worcestershire sauce

Tonkatsu
posted by effluvia at 12:24 PM on March 21

Sorry, do you want an easy sauce to put on ramen (that might or might not taste anything like the packaged stuff), or a tastealike version of the seasoning powder/gunk that comes in the package?
posted by Birds, snakes, and aeroplanes at 1:54 PM on March 21

Response by poster: Seasoning powder/gunk! This is for quick cooking fresh noodles, dumplings, tofu, vegetables, etc in a quick vaguely Japanese broth for lunch. If I want fancy, nice broths or sauces, I can take the time to make those, but very often I just want a simple, ramen-inflected broth to simmer some dumplings in.
posted by Frowner at 2:04 PM on March 21 [1 favorite]

You could also try these Ghibili Tonkotsu base packets (or one of the competitors) -- $1.50/ea (in a 15-pack) via Amazon.
posted by snuffleupagus at 2:15 PM on March 21

Mod note: One duplicate comment removed.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 2:49 PM on March 21

Maybe look at recipes for vegan or gluten-free versions of ramen seasoning powder? Those are people who have an incentive to make their own un-fancy tastealikes from scratch instead of just using what's in the packet.

(I did some brief googling and it looks like they're mostly like "bouillon powder, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, msg, maybe some spices," which seems about right.)
posted by Birds, snakes, and aeroplanes at 3:42 PM on March 21

For basic chicken broth use lee kum kee chicken bouillon, you can get it online or at any Asian market, I use it as the base when I make wonton or noodle soups, I also use Yamasa brand broth concentrate when I want more of a Japanese taste.
It's not particularly difficult to make a decent Japanese or Chinese soup base but it is difficult to remember to have the scallions and ginger on hand so those concentrates are a real life saver.
For an easy wonton soup I panfry a handful of frozen pot stickers with some frozen stir fry or 'asiam style' vegetable. Iat the same time I bring a couple cups of water to boil with the concentrate as directed, by the time the water is boiling, I can dump the potstickers and veggies into the broth and allow it all to simmer for three minutes.
It's not as good as the real thing but it's miles better than a packet of ramen and almost as easy.
posted by kzin602 at 4:02 PM on March 21

I’d also do Lee Kim Kee chicken bouillon powder (they have a mushroom version too) or beef dasida if you want it more like the Korean ramyun packets. Then I usually add gochugaru, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, and sometimes MSG. This is what I do when I’ve got plain noodles and want instant noodle flavor without chopping. Sometimes I’ll add sesame oil or a Sriracha-style chili sauce, or a chili crisp.
posted by loulou718 at 8:05 AM on March 22 [2 favorites]

Mizkan ramen broth concentrate has been a game changer in our household.
posted by veery at 3:36 PM on March 22 [1 favorite]

I know it's not traditional for ramen broth, but Shiro Miso can add a lot of flavour to any broth! I also sometimes roast garlic cloves in the air fryer and then blend them into the broth.
posted by winterportage at 7:40 AM on March 24