Instant Pot Ramen Noodle Bowls
Chewy ramen noodles with ground meat and crunchy cabbage. Easy & Fast!
In the process of perfecting this recipe, I made ramen noodle bowls 4 times in two weeks. We never got tired of eating it, kids included. Who can say no to a bowl full of squiggly noodles?
Also, who can say no to a dinner recipe that’s this easy?
First, you sauté ground meat (I like either pork or chicken) in your Instant Pot. Add garlic. Then, add crumbled ramen noodles from packs of Top Ramen. Pour a simple sauce over the top, cook for 1 minute and you’re done!
These chewy noodles are salty and savory, with a flavor that’s similar to take-out food but for a fraction of the cost. For color and texture, add crunchy, purple cabbage and garnish with green onions.
Trust me, these ramen noodle bowls are going to be your new favorite easy dinner!
Instant Pot Ramen Noodle Bowls
Servings: 4 to 6
Cooking Method: Instant Pot
Approximate Total Cooking Time: 25 minutes
A printable pdf of this recipe is at the bottom of the page. You can also find all of my Substack recipes in the recipe index.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons neutral oil (sunflower, canola, peanut, avocado, etc)
1 pound ground meat (I use either ground chicken or pork)
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 packages of dried ramen noodles (like Top Ramen or Maruchan)
1 1/2 cups water
¼ cup soy sauce (regular or low sodium)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Garnish
Thinly sliced purple cabbage (or you can buy a bag of thinly sliced coleslaw)
Green onions, chopped
Instructions
In the Instant Pot, heat the oil. Saute the ground meat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it’s fully cooked and most of the liquid from the meat has evaporated. As the meat cooks, break it up into small pieces and stir frequently so it doesn’t stick to the pot.
When the meat is fully cooked, add the garlic and saute 30 seconds more.
While the meat cooks, break apart and crumble the squares of dried ramen noodles over a large bowl. You don’t want any chunks of noodles or they won’t cook fully, so really crumble the noodles up into little pieces.
Dump the crumbled noodles out evenly on top of the cooked ground meat. Do NOT stir. The ground meat needs to be the bottom layer with the noodles laying on top.
Whisk together the water, soy sauce and rice vinegar.
Slowly and carefully pour the sauce evenly over the top of the noodles, moistening ALL of the dried noodles. Do NOT stir.
Pressure cook for 1 minute. When the cooking time is done, immediately do a quick release of the pressure. The 1 minute cooking time will go by very quickly - don’t walk away or you might forget to release the pressure on time!
Use tongs to gently pull apart the noodles and mix the noodles into the meat. Do your best to loosen any clumps of noodles and mix them into the meat and whatever liquid is on the bottom of the pot.
Set the lid back on the Instant Pot and let the noodles rest for 5 minutes. This gives the noodles time to soften and finish cooking.
Serve with thinly sliced cabbage and green onions.
Recipe Tips
When you open the 4 packages of dried ramen noodles, discard the ramen seasoning packet that is included.
You can add a tablespoon of minced ginger when you add the garlic.
You can use any type of ground meat. I like either pork or ground chicken.
Don’t cook the noodles for longer than 1 minute or the texture will get mushy. For chewy, perfectly cooked noodles make sure to crumble the dried noodles up into very small pieces. After cooking, stir the noodles and let them rest in the sauce and meat to finish cooking.
This dish is fairly salty. If you want to decrease the saltiness, use low sodium soy sauce.
Instead of plain, sliced cabbage you can serve Asian slaw on the side. Try the easy, crunchy Asian slaw from Feasting at Home.
This recipe was adapted from The Recipe Well’s Instant Pot chicken ramen stir-fry
