Give Ramen A Flavor Upgrade With This Effortless Canned Soup Trick

While instant ramen has a reputation for being a "struggle meal," or something that you eat when you're in a hurry and don't have time to cook a more elaborate dish, it can also be the base for something truly delicious. While there are plenty of flavors of instant ramen to choose from if you want to try new tastes without sacrificing convenience, there's another ultra-quick, super easy way to make instant ramen richer and more flavorful. Even better, you can add extra protein and/or vegetables in the process. Simply make your instant ramen with canned soup in place of some of the water. Ramen is arguably already a soup, so this trick is really just doubling down.

But it has as many different combinations as there are varieties of canned soup. For instance, chicken noodle soup, combined with instant ramen, can make for a hearty, comforting, and noodle-heavy meal, while minestrone ramen is a filling and savory treat packed with vegetables, including a source of protein from the beans. Feel free to experiment with your favorite canned soup varieties, but be aware that, depending on the kind of canned soup you use, you might want to ditch the seasoning packet the ramen comes with, to avoid ending up with an overly salty meal.

Making ramen using the canned soup trick is far from the only way to take instant ramen from convenience to something you crave. One of the most popular additions to instant ramen, which echoes traditional, Japanese-style ramen dishes, is to add an egg, for extra flavor, protein, and to make the dish more filling. Other additions come from your condiments shelf, and can include Worcestershire sauce, sriracha, Japanese furikake seasoning, or even your favorite hot sauce. However, one of the easiest and most versatile ways to upgrade your ramen is to pack in the plants. 

From fresh spinach to frozen broccoli, vegetables can really bulk out your ramen, while also adding more flavor and nutrients — and remember, frozen vegetables are not "unhealthy" compared to fresh; in fact, they can actually be better for you. Because the ramen is made with very hot water (or soup) the vegetables can be cooked in the broth itself, meaning there's no need to pre-cook them, which also saves you time. Another powerful plant-based addition is chopped nuts, which are nutritious, flavorful, and effortlessly make your instant ramen more filling as well as much tastier.