We’ve all been there. It’s an instant ramen night. You are either too tired, too hungry, or too struggling-twentysomething to go for anything else. You pull the packet out of the cabinet and think to yourself, “Is this it? Am I going to eat this again?” And then you think, “Hmmm…maybe I could add something with nutritional value.” And then you think, “But what? What could I possibly add to my ramen to make it more delicious and a bit more nutritious?” Then you went to look up ramen hacks and now you are here. But here’s the twist: These ramen hacks all come from you, the people. That’s right, our Twitter followers answered this age-old question: “What do you add to instant ramen to take it up a notch?” And of course you came up with some great things that we had to share. So without further adoodle, let’s see how y’all noodle!
- Cheez Whiz
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“CHEEZ WHIZ. Trust me bro. Just a cook package of MARUCHAN chicken Ramen. Drain most of the water. You don’t want a broth. Just leave some so everything can mix. 1 spoon of Cheez Whiz (has to be official) Stir until cheese has melted and mixed. Enjoy!” —@Extremejay2000
This first hack made me do a full Kombucha Girl. I was shocked, disgusted, delighted, taken aback, and then, surprisingly enough, found myself wanting to try this immediately.
Read our ranking of the best nacho cheese
- Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
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“I always like to add some pan fried steak at the end with a fried egg, sometimes 2 eggs. And of course, salt bae some Tony Chachere’s on that.” —@KromerNurmik
This one is very Mythical Kitchen—can’t forget the TONY C’s!
- Peanut Butter
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“Peanut butter, minced garlic, black vinegar, splash of sesame oil” —@smashasaur
Ugh, the peanut butter trick—an unrivaled classic and certainly one of my personal favorites. Great minds, smashasaur, great minds.
Read our ranking of the best peanut butter
- Mayo, Sriracha, Parm
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“Chicken ramen with mayo, [sriracha], and parmesan cheese, can’t beat it.” —@BrianH2SeO3
I want to try this next one. Yes, even though hot mayo is involved.
Read our rankings of the best mayonnaise and the best sriracha sauce
- Everything but the Kitchen Sink
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“Sesame oil, gochujang, chili onion stuff from trader joes, soy sauce, chili paste, chili flakes, ginger powder, onion powder, garlic power, chicken bouillon, chili powder, ground red pepper, cayenne pepper, cilantro, and onion😸😸😸” —@anabelleonline
This is an entire shopping list of things! We are here for it. Go wild.
Read our ranking of the best soy sauce
- Nori
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“Nori. Hell, just get roasted seaweed snacks and slice them into thin strips and put them on top. Sprinkle some furikake. Massive improvement.” —@tiredvoid_music
Hell yeah. 👏seaweed 👏 that 👏 ramen!
Read our ranking of the best seaweed snacks
- Ranch Dressing
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“Ranch, but not too much” —@Colortazz
Thanks for the warning. I definitely would have added the whole bottle. I have a problem. Spoiler alert: the problem is that I like ranch too much.
Read our ranking of the best ranch dressing
- Ketchup
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“ketchup” —@ambika0703
I don’t know what to make of this. Is this a cry for help or is this one of those genius, life-altering ramen hacks that is a masterpiece us mortals have simply been too cowardly to attempt? Only @ambika0703 knows for sure.
Read our ranking of the best ketchup
- Ritz Crackers
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“Crumbled up Ritz crackers” —@AntSap41
My brain doesn’t understand, but my heart does. I can’t explain why, but I somehow feel like this ramen hack would be good. Just more wet carbs in a bowlful of wet carbs?
Read our ranking of the best crackers
- All the Appropriate Ramen Fixins
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“Probably everyone has already said these but: soft boiled egg, pork, green onion, sesame seeds, and siracha sauce” —@TomadanB
Lastly but certainly not leastly, we have the classic. One of the oldest ramen hacks in the book is to make your ramen fancy by adding all the appropriate fixins and pretending you got it from a restaurant. Yes, a lot of people who responded to our tweet responded with some version of this answer, but that’s the case for a reason. Ramen in its most traditional form slaps, and getting anywhere close to that in your own home is certainly one of the most impressive ramen hacks of all.
Follow Sporked on Twitter for even more food queries and brilliant reader replies.
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