Ramen Noodles To-Go

Try this easy make-and-take meal if you’re bored to tears by your Monday-to-Friday lunch routine. Upgrade your instant ramen with this tasty, healthy, and inexpensive “Cup Noodles” copycat that you can prep at home and take to work in a mason jar.

Instant ramen is a dirt-cheap, convenient, and filling meal — but it’s no surprise that those flavor packets are filled with corn syrup, MSG, and other suspect ingredients. That’s why we love instant ramen hacks, because we can customize the noodles to make a meal that’s more, and more exciting, but just as effortless.

We tossed the flavor packet, and built our own Asian-inspired broth from a few squirts of sauces you probably already have in your fridge: vegetable bouillon base, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce (like Sriracha), and tahini (a.k.a. sesame seed paste — the stuff that makes hummus so creamy).

Ramen Noodles To-Go
Prep: 5 Mins | Total: 10 Mins
Serves: 1 instant noodle jar
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
1½ teaspoon Vegetable bouillon base ((amount may vary depending on the brand. We used Better Than Bouillon))
1 Tablespoon Chili garlic sauce ((such as Sriracha sauce))
1 teaspoon Tahini
2 Tablespoons Low sodium soy sauce
½ teaspoon Grated fresh ginger
1 package Instant ramen noodles, parcooked for 1 minute in boiling water, then shocked in cold water
¼ Cup Grated carrot
2 medium Mushrooms, sliced
¼ Cup Fresh spinach, chopped
1 Hard-boiled egg
1 Green onion, sliced
1 Lime wedge
1-2 Cups Hot water
Equipment
1 Wide mouth pint-sized mason jar
Directions
Into the bottom of a wide mouth pint-sized mason jar, add the vegetable bouillon base, chili garlic sauce, tahini, soy sauce, and ginger.
Add the par-cooked ramen noodles, carrots, mushrooms and spinach.
Place the hard-boiled egg, green onions and lime wedge into a small plastic resealable bag and place the bag in the jar on top of the vegetables. Cover the jar with the lid and refrigerate it until you're ready to use it, up to 4 days.
When you're ready to eat it, remove the plastic bag and top the noodles and vegetables with enough hot water to cover them. Put the lid back on and let the jar sit for about 5 minutes.
Remove the lid and stir to evenly mix the broth ingredients together. Top the noodle with green onions, a squeeze of lime juice and the hard-boiled egg, cut in half.
Chef Tips
You can use uncooked instant ramen noodles, but they will be slightly more al dente than if you parcook them. (Also, you'll need to break up the raw noodles to get them to fit in the jar.)
For a gluten free option, you can also use uncooked rice noodle nests.
Wrap a kitchen towel around the jar to help insulate it while the noodles and vegetables are warming up.

Then we added colorful layers of fresh veggies. We used spinach, carrot, and mushrooms, but you could totally swap in your favorites — we’re thinking snow peas, cabbage, or tofu would all be delicious. And it’s just not ramen without a perfect hard-boiled egg on top.

It all fits into a mason jar, then all you have to do is add hot water for an umami-rich, satisfying meal in no time. These noodles stay fresh in the fridge, so spend a little extra time on a Sunday evening prepping four jars — then take yourself out to eat on Friday with all the money you saved.