How to Make Your Own Instant Noodle Cups for Lunch

If you love how easy (and tasty) ramen noodles are but hate how unhealthy they are, then this idea from Serious Eats is right up your alley. With a glass jar and a few simple ingredients, you can actually make your own cup-o-noodles to take with you to work during the week! Just add boiling water and enjoy.

They’ve got a lot of ideas for noodle bowls, including a kimchi beef flavored bowl and a chicken and dill flavored bowl. But really, there’s a simple formula to follow for preparing these jars with any ingredients you’d like/have on hand.

Start with a glass, resealable jar (clamping jars work especially well). Then you add a flavor base (Serious Eats recommends Better Than Bouillon as the base). You can also use things like chili-garlic sauce, grated ginger or garlic, soy sauce, and/or canned tomatoes, depending on the flavor you’re looking for.

Next, you’ll want to add noodles that will cooked quickly in the boiling water (i.e. rice vermicelli or Pad Thai-style rice noodles). You could also use the precooking method used in the 60-second pasta hack. Just soak pasta in water overnight, then add it to the jar.

Then, add any veggies you’d like to add. Stick with veggies that could be eaten raw, as they won’t really cook. Think mushrooms, leafy greens, tomatoes, thawed peas or corn, etc. And finally. you can add a flavor pouch at the top in a plastic bag. The pouch can include things like fresh chopped herbs, citrus that can be squeezed in, pickled things like capers or ginger, and/or sliced chilies and scallions.

Check out all of the possibilities over at Serious Eats!