Over 5,000 Instant Ramen Noodle Reviews Since 2002
They had a sale at HMart of this variety and it was $4. I’ve had it many times and love this stuff – but this is a little different. It’s got a little yellow triangle, mentioning ‘non-soggy noodles.’ Generally, ramyeon that is cooked isn’t soggy or spongy. Is the noodle different from previous versions? The sale kind of seems to me that it might be. This is an export version for the US market. Let’s cook it up.
Well, it’s about to be Thanksgiving here in the United States and here we have turkey dinner in a cup. This is yet another one of the Limited Edition range Nissin Foods has been coming up with and honestly, I’m pretty happy that they keep coming out with these. I’ve seen images of mountains of this variety at Walmart on clearance for 25 cents each, but I don’t know if that’s true or not. On the bright side, you could just skip all the insanity and just have this and a Pumpkin Pie Cup Noodles and call it a turkey day. How’s that for a cheaper Thanksgiving – and it does generally come from Walmart. A recipe at the bottom shows you how to economically make a pumpkin pie using the pumpkin cup as well. Be festive in the face of financial ruin! Let’s give it a try.
Found this one at HMart. Nothing pleases me more than when a brand changes its name. I think they did this for US export varieties so people would pronounce the name closer to the correct way. This one sounds good to me – let’s cook.
Another find at S*Mart in Bellevue, Washington. I think what’s happening here is Sapporo Ichiban is distributing Marutai made tonkotsu. Whatever’s going on, I like it – the last one I had was delectable. Let’s give it a try!
Otafuku is a long time brand – mainly known for sauces. I have found their yakisoba sauce to be top notch over the years – I’ve made a lot of yakisoba. This one’s udon so thicker noodle. Let’s try it out.
This looks interesting to me. I’m curious how hot and how sour it’ll be. It’s got that tofu block too – let’s cook.
If you’re wondering, this is budae jjigae – also known as troop stew. It’s what happens when army foods like beanie weenie and macaroni meet Korean flavors. I decided on this one today as I’ve got something neat to try with it – fish skin! I’ve never tried the snack before, but I did last night and it’s really quite good! This particular variety of fish skin is made from pollock. Let’s check it out!
Lemonilo is originally an Indonesian company specializing in more healthy things – like these. They’ve been pretty good – let’s give this one a try!
Here’s one I found in a Project Ramen box! They’ve got quite an array of international varieties – good stuff! Use the coupon code THERAMENRATER for a discount. Soyed beef? I’m guessing perhaps like corned beef? I really couldn’t find anything about it but that’s my guess. Let’s cook it up!
Okay, so I don’t live under a rock so I know about these things. In fact, I saw an advert for this awhile back and thought ‘oh – the kids might like this.’ So, I let them check it out and I watched a bit of the movie. I hated it. More than I hate slicing a bagel incorrectly. Well, maybe not that much, but I’m really annoyed by this film. I know that a lot of people really like it and that’s fine. However, I do not. It’s K-Pop’s version of Frozen. I went through that Frozen crap when the kids were really little, so another take on it really isn’t something I can embrace. Plus, the animation is awful. The music is catchy, but not the catchy K-Pop I really like; this is so… Commercial. But I do enjoy a tie-in product and this one’s pretty cool. I should mention that the Korean local version of this (yes, this is made in the United States in a great factory in Rancho Cucamonga, California) came with stickers, and I did hear chatter that people over there were buying tons of Shin, taking out the stickers, then selling sets of those stickers on eBay or their equivalent.
Found a set of these at HMart recently. I was sent some I think from Portugal or Italy a long time ago. I have always wanted to review varieties from Ajinomoto but always have trouble finding them – plus they’re not responsive. Anyways, let’s try this one!
Today is a special day! The video at the bottom will be my 2,600th episode of Instant Noodle Recipe Time. Yep – I’m done a ton of em and just keep doing em. I figured I would review this ramen. You might say ‘that’s not ramen.’ Well, in the United States it qualifies. I cite the Totino’s Pizza Ramen. It calls itself ramen however on the ingredients it says it is paste. This says it’s macaroni but it’s clearly rotini. It recommends topping with broccoli, shredded cheese, and Cheetos. Let’s cook up this ramen with buffalo sauce flavor and go straight to hell.
Here’s a Koreno variety that was in a Project Ramen megabox! Highly recommend checking them out – go to www.projectramen.com and use the coupon code THERAMENRATER to get a discount! So this is interesting as it’s a range by Paldo and a departure from the Volcano curry – Buldak clone? Let’s find out.
So as I type this, it’s Cinco De Mayo. My eyes are watery and I’m sneezing. Really allergied out. This variety was chatted about with friends in the Section 42 mod group – the admins for Ramen Junkies. I decided I’d re-review it; new package, over ten years… Last time, it made my bottom ten. Oh wow – more than ten years – it was review 161! So that’s 15 years ago. Sheesh! This one’s made in South Korea and packaged for US sale. Let’s give it another try – maybe I’ll like it now?
Well, here it is – the spiciest one as well as the one I’m most curious about – tonkotsu. I’m hoping for a rich, creamy and savory base with a ruthless beatdown of heat. Let’s give it a whirl.
Hey look at this one! Big thank you to my wife Kit for getting me this! Only at Walmart. So, haven’t we gone through this before? Yes and no. Yes, it’s identical in every way to the pumpkin spicy flavor Cup Noodles – except one little thing. The name. They changed the name from spice to pie – why? I don’t know. New barcode now as well. To see both and a myriad of weird things to do with it, check out my definitive guide here. I’m gonna do it up real pretty. Let’s do it up!
A few reviews ago, I had a different collab from A-Sha – a Taiwanese Beef Noodle and it was insanely good. This one sounds spicy – let’s give it a go!
Here’s the last one of these, sent by James of Lakeside, California – thanks again! This is a prison ramen – lots of clear pack everywhere. Time to cook it up!
Well, this is the last one of the Totino’s / Old El Paso things. Honestly, I’m hopeful we might have one that gets more than a zero here. Fingers crossed.
The second of the Jin Ramen bowls from Otoki. Excited to try this with my new add-in! Let’s hit it!
Here’s the second of the two pizza ‘ramen.’ I’m not expecting much but I’m hopeful – so far this and the Old El Paso stuff have netted a zero star. Pray for the pizza noodles. Let’s begin.
This one is particularly interesting. They changed the package design – and the brand. This has been Ottogi for years but now it’s Otoki. Perhaps a way to get westerners to pronounce the brand name correctly? Well, let’s give it a try!
It should be noted that this is being posted on National Noodle Day – October 6th, 2025. I didn’t really see anything pointing for the reason for the inception of this day. All I find are things about noodles. Anyways, I guess every day is National Noodle Day over here.
Well, this is it. The last of the Momofuku varieties. I’ve been waiting to do this one and as this is Thanksgiving eve eve, hopefully I’ll be doing this one tomorrow. On with the pre-turkey noodling!
This is the last of this range sent by James from Lakeside, California – thanks again! They’ve been pretty decent and I must say 6 minutes is the right timing to use. Let’s try it out.
Here’s another one from James of Lakeside California – thanks again! I was pleasantly surprised with the chicken flavor from this range – not bad. Doesn’t make we interested in going to prison though – these will generally only be sold to people who are in prison. My guess is this range wasn’t so popular or an order wasn’t picked up. It’s in Grocery Outlet all over the place at the moment. Let’s give it a try!
Here’s one sent by James of Lakeside, California – thanks! The first of these was good as I remember and this one sounds very good. While made in China, everything is done specificall for the USA. Let’s give it a whirl!
Here’s the last of the Kenchan Ramen varieties they sent over – thanks! I think I might end up doing this cold today. Let’s give it a try!
This and the next Kenchan Ramen varieties I’m trying will be gluten free, which I think will appeal to many. I’m very curious about these – let’s give ’em a go!
In addition to fresh noodles, Kenchan Ramen also has shelf stable stuff like these. These can go hot or cold. Let’s try em hot!
Kenchan Ramen is providing a myriad of different delivery ramen options. The recently sent a box on ice with fresh as well as shelf stable varieties. The fresh boxes contain two servings of everything. This one today is their tonkotsu – a lot of nice garnish and looks good to me – let’s give it a go!
Kenchan Ramen is providing a myriad of different delivery ramen options. The recently sent a box on ice with fresh as well as shelf stable varieties. The fresh boxes contain two servings of everything. This one today is their tonkotsu – a lot of nice garnish and looks good to me – let’s give it a go!
This sounds interesting; I donn’t see what flavor it is as ‘tofu flavor’ wouldn’t make much sense. Spicy? Sweet? I suppose I’d better cook it up and find out!
Here’s a new one from the folks over at Lemonilo! They’re an Indonesian company with export varieties – and this one says it’s going to have a burn to it! Let’s give it a try!
I actually ordered this off of YamiBuy which is something I never do but I wanted to give this a go. I’m guessing it won’t be incredibly spicy and I don’t know if or what to pair with it. Dessert ramen? I mean, there’s candy references all over it… Maybe a little chicken though. Let’s cook!
Today, we have a variety from Indonesian company Lemonilo for the US market. I like curry – a lot. Let’s give it a go.
Tried this 12 years ago. Packaging has changed as well as what’s in there – let’s give it a whirl in the microwave!
Here’s one that The Fat Hipster sent – thanks! These are made for hiking/camping as they don’t make a huge amount of waste that takes up a lot of space afterwards, they’re light, and just need boiling water. Let’s check it out!
Here’s a new packaging variety from the ‘states. These contain instant rice as well as little bits of noodle – last one I tried was quite nice – let’s give it a go!
I’ve done a lot of reviews lately of things that arrived in a Nissin Germany advent calendar box. This particular variety arrived in a box from Nissin USA that contained every noodle product they make! Let’s cook this one up!
