Question
Why are most instant ramen sweet? Like Buldak 🍜
Hey Everyone! I'm quite new to the Instant Ramen world, and saw everyone suggesting Buldak, so i tried multiple Buldak flavours, and all of them were too sweet for me 😭, I tried Nissin and Indomie as well, and found them sweet as well.
The spiciness of Buldak is negligible to me because I have very high spice tolerance, but i don't mind if the ramen is spicy or not, what bothers me is the sweetness in all these ramnes I've tried.
Please give your ramen/noodle recommendation, something that is not sweet, or havevvery negligible amount of sweetness.
The original Buldak dish (literally means Fire Chicken) which the ramen was based on, is slightly sweet. Gochujang and rice syrup is used in the dish. Yakisoba sauce is also a little sweet too if that's what you're referring to for Nissin. Indomie is a little sweet if it's based on Mee goreng because kichap manis is sweet.
TLDR: Certain instant ramen are sweet because the original dishes they're based on are slightly sweet.
Are you looking for instant ramen that are more sauce than broth? If so, unfortunately most sauce type ones are slightly sweet.
In that case, definitely recommend Shin Ramyun. And just look for tonkotsu flavoured ramen. My go to for Nissin is black garlic tonkotsu. Both are just pure savoury.
I tend to just add loads of chill crisp to all tonkotsu instant ramen and use the seasoning as a base as nothing will ever be as flavourful as the real deal.
Should be "Why are most *buldak I've tried are sweet?"
The soupy korean noodles aren't sweet at all. A lot of Korean stir-fry Noodles are based on either Bulgogi or the Korean fried chicken yangnyeom sauce, which is made with gochujang, vinegar and other spices so this sauce base will always have some sweetness. Noodles from other countries like tonkotsu/miso flavored ones, Tom yum, pho, laksa, etc aren't sweet at all. 😊 A visit to your local Asian grocery would open you up to more variety (and likely not predominantly spicy).
Nissin and Marutai tonkotsu and miso ramen ones aren't sweet. Mama Tom yum is cheap and lightly spicy and sour (May have some hint of sweetness but mostly sour for me). Lots of instant pho are very savory. Laksa is mildly sweet naturally from the coconut but is more curry flavored. Chinese brands like Kang Shi Fu, Uni-President have instant ramen that are tomato based, Braised Beef, pickled beef. Not sweet at all.
That's a lot of recommendations wow!😁
And sorry I'm new to ramen and have found the ones I've tried quite sweet and hence the title of the post, my bad 😅.
I don't think we have Laksa and Pho available here, but we do have Kang Shi Fu here, and are you talking about Koka Tom Yum?
I'll be getting Kang Shi Fu, Tom Yum, and Shin as well .
Ah well, I hope that someday they sell some laksa wherever you are because if you like curry-flavored stuff you'd love it too. I haven't tried Koka brand Tom yum but they have varieties that tend to be less sodium and air-dried so at least fewer calories too. Koka also has curry/laksa noodles and I remember they have stir fried black pepper noodle as well.
Kang Shi Fu is the OG in China. I've seen threads here talking about the tomato egg noodles and you might like it. In our store they have all kinds of KSF flavors but I'm too overwhelmed to pick just one whenever I'd pass by. They have scallop pork bone, seafood, Braised beef, I think I even saw borstch (the East Asian version of the dish, not the European w/ beets kind).
Not really it depends on they style. The ones that OP tried like Bulddak have sweetness to them due to the ingredients they use. The only one OP meantioned im not sure about is Nissan they said it was sweet but that brand has a variety of different flavors and some of them are sweet like the teriyaki flavors or the Korean style. OP may have tried those ones instead of the other ones because most from that brand aren't sweet it just depends on the different flavors they make.
Yes it was a mistake on my own, I'm sorry for saying that. I have received a lot of good recommendations on this post, will be careful with the wordings next time.
There was nothing wrong with your wording. Nissan has a wide option of flavors so I was just saying that there are other flavors you could try that you may like. Some ramen in general is sweet and some aren't its okay to not like it. You're new to ramen so its understandable that you thought they were sweet if you only tried the ones that were sweet.
Somehow, I unknowingly chose to try only the sweet one 😅. In Nissin I have tried quite a few like the spicy Chicken, Kimchi, Cheese which were all Korean ones i believe, one person suggested to try the Tonkotsu and garlic one which isn't sweet, so I'll try that.
I’d recommend ANY Shin. Black, red, Gold, Spicy Beef, Kimchi, Spicy Chicken, Hot, Noon, Toomba. These are all great on their own or with toppings such as Eggs(however you like them done), spring onion, sesame seeds, any protein of choice etc. happy noodle hunting 🍜
Both have a more, I think it's beef based broth that is more on the savoury side. Black is more expensive mostly because it has an extra seasoning packet and more premium dehydrated veggies, where red just has the seasoning packet and veggies (I don't bother with the veggies with red, doesn't add much to the flavour imo). But, either and even as a basic addition, poaching eggs in the broth, can't go wrong.
Red isn't necessarily worse than black, they taste a little different and red is bit spicier, if anything red with 2-3 poached eggs has become my go to for a while now. Just be careful with the sodium levels, a packet is nearly your entire daily intake. But pretty much all instant ramen is like this with sodium.
Bukdak comes from Korea, where sweetness is common across much of the local cuisine.
Kang Shi Fu from China is generally far less sweet, but is also less hot, and a bit more salty. Their main product line is soups as opposed to stir fry noodles, but I find them quite tasty.
Can't go wrong with the Braised Beef, I find the spicy beef to be a little bland. The Xiaomijiao Pepper KSF is crazy though it's very sour and very spicy.
The tomato egg KSF exceeded my expectations my gf didn't like it though. It was salty. Not sweet. I liked it.
You’re basing instant ramen unfairly on a select few. Those ones like buldak are based on Korean cuisine and developed for the Korean palate in the first instance. If you know anything about Korean food, you’d know that it is often quite sweet. There are way more instant ramens out there than what Korea has to offer. Most instant ramen is not sweet.
I looked up online and we have few Paldo here, Jjajangmen, Bibimmen, Bulnak and a few more, couldn't find Gompaghetti tho :(. What do you think about the rest?
I haven’t tried Paldo jjajangmyeon but I have tried Chapaghetti, and even though the general dish of jjajangmyeon is quite sweet, I thought the Chapaghetti one wasn’t that sweet (I also sometimes am really not in the mood for the sweetness of buldak).
Buldak is the only one that’s sweet to me besides bibimmen, and I don’t really like them because of that. Buldak is EXTREMELY overrated. I’ve never finished a bowl.
Agreed kecap manis is really the base of Indonesian fried rice and fried noodles. So, removing it would just transform it into another dish. Its instant ramen, but you’re not gonna call it mie goreng
Yep, those are sambal sauces. They’re typically sweet and spicy. The Indonesian version of Indomie usually has a stronger spiciness to it but still sweet.
I like buldak, but I totally agree!! So many Korean snack foods especially feel soooo insanely sweet to me it can be a challenge. Not spicy but as far as instant noodles go indomie will always have my heart haha
You ended up buying all the sweet instant ramens, if there's one thing you should objectively avoid like the plague is the Samyang Tangle series, most notably the Bulgogi Alfredo, that thing has sugar, corn syrup, and 4 other sweeteners in it. Pretty much inedible and would not recommend it to anyone under any circumstances.
On the other hand, you could do Paldo Jjajang, Nongshim Soon, Shin Ramyun kimchi / black / red, Ansungtangmyun, Kang Shi Fu Braised Beef, Otoki Mild, I don't think either of those is sweet. These off the top of my head anyway.
Yes, I'll actually completely avoid the Samyang range because I find them too sweet.
And thanks a lot for the other recommendations, I've got similar recs from others as well and will try those before giving up on instant ramen.
Btw, what do you think of the other Shin flavours other than Red and Black, sadly we don't have the beef broth ones here I guess .
Shin Super Spicy is pretty good but it's also really strong chili-wise, but interestingly it's less of a lasting burn and more of a stinging burn, it's quite intense however. If you're not good with spicy you won't be able to eat it, lol.
Shin with cheese, never seen this.
Shin Spicy Chicken, it's like eating breaded chicken as a soup. I've heard of a method that uses half the powder and creates a stir fry instead of a soup, I think that would be way better than the soup. But I think it's skippable.
Ansungtangmyun is good. It's mild, I think it wasn't spicy. Fairly basic but a pleasant flavor.
Soon is good. It's mild, vegetarian, one of the best vegetarian ones. The Jin Veggie for example is trash, and instead this is a much better one.
Shin Kimchi is epic and you should get it.
Shin Red is the staple, personally I remember preferring the original old-style Ottogi Jin Spicy, but the new Otoki rebrand has the mild as the good one and the new spicy Otoki Jin is bland. So if either of Ottogi Jin Spicy, Otoki Jin Mild, or Shin Red is a good pick. I think I preferred the Jins, funnily enough but it's a common one, quite customizable.
Shin Gourmet is a stir fry, very beefy, but quite spicy, very concentrated, my gf wasn't into it, I think it was alright overall, you need spice tolerance for it tho.
As for Toomba and Tom yum, I'm still planning to eat it eventually, I have them here in a box...
Thanks a lot for explaining and reviewing each one the these. I really appreciate your effort, this was very helpful 😁🍜!
Yes I have very good spice tolerance so I'll be able to keep up with any spicy ramen, they are usually not very spicy to me 😄.
Do lemme know what you think about Toomba whenever you try it :)
Though, i have a doubt for the super spicy and the red one which you said is a staple for you, are the ones you are talking about vegetarian? Because the one in the picture shows itself as vegetarian with the green 🟢 mark on the top right of the packet (green means vegetarian, red means non vegetarian). So I'm confused since one more person mentioned that they like the red one and it's beefy broth taste. I'll attach a picture, if these are the ones you are talking about —
Korea has this secret technique that they somehow make onion and garlic taste like beef. If you ever check "dasida" a common beef-flavored soup powder, that also does not contain beef. Checking the shin super spicy cup and shin red cup that I have with me atm, there is a "vegan" marking on the regular shin, and a "halal" marking on both. "Halal" marking means it does not contain pork. Anyway, it does have the flavor of beef, but it is not beef. That's kinda why I preferred "shin black" and "shin kimchi" a little more than the default "shin"s, but the default "shin"s are alright too.
If you ever see it anywhere, try out the Ottogi Cheese Soup (not necessarily the spicy one), it's really good too.
Which Nissan flavor did you try? They have a wide variety of styles and flavors not all of them are sweet. The ones that are labeled teriyaki, are going to have some sweetness to them and the Korean style noodles are also going to have some sweetness to them as well. The soy sauce ones aren't necessarily sweet but they are slightly sweeter than the regular kind. They also have sweet chili flavors and sesame chicken flavors that have sweetness due to the style of it as well. If you want to keep to that brand maybe try the beef based ones. There is a hot and spicy wok bowl that is pork flavor and i really liked that one and didn't think it was sweet. The brand has a wide range of different flavors so don't base it on just ones you tried if it was one of the styles I meantioned.
Add something, it can be acidic, bitter, umami. Something like soy sauce, eggs, and other 'traditional' items that you would find in ramen you'd get from a ramen shop, make it taste a whole lot better.
P.S, even though they have lots of salt in them I find that adding your own salt brings out more of the heat.
56
u/Papertache 3d ago
The original Buldak dish (literally means Fire Chicken) which the ramen was based on, is slightly sweet. Gochujang and rice syrup is used in the dish. Yakisoba sauce is also a little sweet too if that's what you're referring to for Nissin. Indomie is a little sweet if it's based on Mee goreng because kichap manis is sweet.
TLDR: Certain instant ramen are sweet because the original dishes they're based on are slightly sweet.
Are you looking for instant ramen that are more sauce than broth? If so, unfortunately most sauce type ones are slightly sweet.