The Best Protein Ramen Is Made By a Brand You Know and Love

Even though everyone seems to think the protein craze was very 2025—it’s all fiber all the time in 2026, apparently—there are new high protein products coming out pretty much every day. Believe me, I know—as a member of the food media, I get the press releases. If the fervor has, likewise, made you acutely aware of your protein intake, well, rest assured there are high(er) protein versions of various foods you already consume coming out on the daily. One of them? Protein ramen.

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Now, I’ll admit, we’re a little bit ahead of a trend here. When I set out to shop for this taste test, I could only find two brands of higher protein noodle soups at my usual grocery store: Cup Noodles Protein and Immi. (There were some more on Amazon, but you have to buy larger quantities and I just don’t need all that.)

I bought all the protein ramen noodles I could find, cooked them in the microwave, and tasted them alongside each other. At the moment, there’s only one brand I can recommend, but I’m going to go ahead and do it because, y’all, these are really good. If you want your quick lunch of Cup Noodles to offer a little more in the way of filling nutrients, here’s the best protein ramen to buy right now (and please let us know in the comments if there’s a brand you love).

Best Beef

Cup Noodles Protein Rich & Savory Beef Flavor (16g)

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Okay, I didn’t like this flavor of Cup Noodles protein ramen right out of the microwave. I thought the broth kinda tasted like chlorine even though I used the same water to make the other cups and they didn’t have that same slightly off flavor. But as these noodles cooled and sat on my desk and I, of course, kept mindlessly snacking on them like a dirty little gremlin, the flavor got much better. These are made with bone broth so they have a very savory flavor, as advertised. The little rehydrated bits of dehydrated beef are spongy and creepy, but I kind of like it. Once the broth was cooler, I really felt like I could taste that bone broth flavor. Worth noting: Even though these have protein, which makes them seem healthier, they are absolutely loaded with sodium—1390mg in this cup!

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

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Best Spicy

Cup Noodles Protein Hot & Spicy Chicken Flavor (16g)

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If you like a little bit of heat, this is the protein ramen for you. It’s savory and chickeny, much like our #1 pick, but it has a pleasant, subtle heat—the heat meter on the packaging indicates that level is only two out of six peppers, which is just warming and pleasant enough to make an impression. You get bits of rehydrated chile pepper in the cup and they’re nice for extra texture, too.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9.5/10

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cup noodles rich and savory chicken protein ramen review

Best of the Best

Cup Noodles Protein Rick & Savory Chicken Flavor (16mg)

Instacart

Regular cup noodles have 6g protein, and these cups of protein ramen have 10 more grams, which actually seems pretty significant, right? In addition to having spongy little bits of dehydrated chicken in the mix, Cup Noodles Protein are made with bone broth. You can definitely taste a difference, but it’s subtle, especially once you start eating. There’s just a touch of that bone broth creaminess, but it’s really mild—not gamey. These protein noodles are also higher in calories, fat, and sodium than a regular chicken Cup Noodles: 12g fat versus 11g, 320 calories versus 290, and 1480mg sodium versus 1160. This cup is slightly larger though, so there’s that. All in all, these taste really good and I would probably buy them again over regular Cup Noodles. What can I say? The protein-positive marketing is working on me! Even people in the business aren’t immune to health washing.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

10/10

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