Romanticizing ramen: How to spruce up the college student’s favorite noodle

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Taylor Maerz/Iowa State Daily
With this easy and fun recipe, ramen doesn’t have to be a boring fall-back meal. 

Taylor Maerz.
February 1, 2022

Ramen noodles. They’re a college staple, a right of passage into college life if you will. Labeled a “struggle meal” by many, ramen is cheap, tastes fairly good and fills you up. However, it gets old pretty quickly. Here is a budget-friendly recipe to spruce up that dull ramen into something more. 

Taylor’s Honey Garlic Shrimp Ramen (yes, I made this up myself!)

Ingredients:

To make the shrimp:

  • Drizzle of olive oil

  • 3 tablespoons of garlic

  • 2 tablespoons of butter

  • 1 pound of pre-cooked, frozen shrimp

  • Drizzle of honey

  • Garlic powder, salt and pepper to season and taste

To make the noodles:

  • Drizzle of olive oil

  • 1 tablespoon of garlic

  • 1 bag of frozen broccoli

  • 1 sweet yellow onion, chopped

  • 2 cups of broth (I used chicken broth, but vegetable or bone broth will work too)

  • ½ cup of water

  • 2 packages of ramen noodles and their seasoning packets (any flavor, choose your favorite!)

  • ½ cup of ramen liquid from saucepan

  • Drizzle of soy sauce

  • The juice of half of a lemon

  • Optional: red pepper flakes

Directions: 

  1. Put oil, garlic, and butter into a pan on medium heat.

  2. Add the shrimp once the garlic becomes fragrant.

  3. Flip the shrimp after about 3 minutes, add the seasoning, along with the drizzle of honey.

  4. Take shrimp out of the pan when it has a golden brown color on the edges and put it on a plate.

  5. Using the same pan, add another drizzle of olive oil, garlic, onion, and frozen broccoli on medium heat.

  6. Sautee until the onions and broccoli are softened. Add the shrimp back in, and turn to low heat to keep warm.

  7. In a saucepan, add the broth, water and ramen noodles on high heat. The ramen can be added in immediately with the broth; as it boils, the noodles will absorb the broth.

  8. When the noodles are soft, add them to the onion, broccoli, and shrimp pan along with ½ cup of the liquid the noodles were boiled in. Add the ramen seasoning packets. 

  9. Mix everything in the pan, add a drizzle of soy sauce, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

  10. Enjoy!

This ramen is the perfect mix of savory and sweet flavors. The honey melts everything together in the pan and gives the ramen the littlest bit of a sugary relish, and if you add the red pepper flakes, there’s that hint of spice. This ramen is a crowd-pleaser for sure and remains cheap and tasty, of course!