When it’s cold outside and I want comfort food, this easy Instant Pot Chicken Ramen always hits the spot. Ramen noodles combined with shredded chicken, jammy eggs, served in a truly flavorful homemade chicken broth.
Here’s the secret: the amazing broth is the star of the dish!
And thanks to the Instant Pot/ pressure cooker, you will have the most delicious dinner on the table in no time…while eating really, really well.
I love Instant Pot Chicken Ramen
I grew up eating soups made from homemade stocks that takes hours (or even a whole day) to cook.
We slowly boil the meat and the bones, and wait very patiently for the most flavorful, amazing tasting broth to grace us with its presence.
And then enter the life-changing concept that is the pressure cooker slash Instant Pot. Where one throws everything in this magical device and BAM, broth that takes a whole day to make are ready in less than an hour.
Yes, it also tastes like it has been cooking for a whole day.
Welcome to the 21st century, where everything is convenient and (almost) instantaneous.
This yummy Instant Pot Chicken Ramen is simply that: convenient, (almost) instantaneous, and so incredibly delicious. We love this meal to pieces, and here are a few things you should know about it:
- The broth is crazy flavorful. Don’t under estimate this simple-looking bowl of ramen. It pressure cooks the chicken thighs to create the best tasting broth, and you will never look at store-bought chicken stock the same way again.
- Using the Instant pot or pressure cooker, it makes this dish so attainable and easy to make!
- It stores really well and we love eating this as leftovers.
- It also happens to be healthy and good for you! No more store-bought ramen flavor packets with ridiculously high salt content.
- So versatile! More on this later…
I should also note that this is not a traditional ramen recipe. It tastes kinda like traditional ramen, but it is not a direct replica (or copycat) of it.
Because traditional ramen is super complicated to make, I wanted to create a recipe that is crazy good but still easy enough for everyday people like you and me to make a simple and yummy comfort food meal at home.
Tips for making Instant Pot Chicken Ramen
Here’s how we put this noodle bowl together.
I make the broth in the Instant Pot using Asian-inspired spices (soy sauce, Mirin, sesame oil etc). While the broth is cooking, I typically work on boiling the eggs/peeling them, and chopping the green onions to save time.
P/S: Mirin (Japanese rice seasoning wine) and sesame oil can easily be found in most main stream grocery store today. Try not to skip Mirin as it gives the broth a distinct and delicious flavor.
Remove chicken from the broth and shred it, then cook ramen noodles briefly in the Instant Pot (in the broth) under the sauté setting after the broth is completely cooked.
Then assemble everything in the bowl: noodles, broth, shredded chicken, egg, and green onions.
A couple of things to keep in mind when making this dish:
- Even though the Instant Pot is set to cook for 20 minutes, give it extra time to build up and release pressure. It takes longer than 20 minutes from start to finish, but the good news is this is all passive time. Feel free to walk away and do something else!
- After the broth is cooked, taste the broth and add hot water if the broth taste too salty. I like it slightly thicker/strongly flavored so I typically do not add water, but you may prefer the broth to be more diluted.
- If you are using a different pressure cooker, you may or may not have more/less diluted broth. I tested it on a different pressure cooker and noticed it varies slightly using different equipment.
How to store leftovers
The trick to storing leftovers is to store the stock, eggs, noodles and green onions separately. Only combined them when you are ready to eat!
Don’t store noodles submerged in soup because noodles will get soggy. You can even freeze the broth for much later if needed.
Oh so versatile!
One of the beauty of this dish is that there are lots of ways you can make this!
Here are a few variations:
- Use different noodles: Use rice stick noodles (used in Pad Thai, Pho etc), udon, lo mein noodles, or even spaghetti!
- Add more veggies: Add other vegetables such as carrots, edamame, bok choy, spinach or other leafy greens.
- Add other garnishes: Dried seaweed, sesame seeds, crispy/fried onions or garlic will be delicious as well!
How to make this if I don’t have an Instant Pot
Yes! You can use a different pressure cooker to make this.
This dish tastes the best using a pressure cooker, but if you don’t have one, you can also use a slow cooker and cook the broth on high for 7-8 hours. You will need to boil the noodles separately instead of cooking them in the broth after the broth is done if you use this method!
I still highly recommend the pressure cooker method because it tastes the best cooking it this way!
We have been eating this non stop because we love it so much. It is the comfort food you need this Fall/winter!
Give it a try! You won’t regret it!
If you make this recipe, comment below and let me know what you think! Also, don’t forget to take a picture and tag me on Instagram, because I WANNA SEE!!
Other Noodle Dishes!
Calling all noodle fans! More noodle recipes…just for you! 🙂
- Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
- Simple Thai Noodle Bowl
- Pad Thai Noodle
- Pad See Ew Noodle
- Shrimp Stir Fried Noodles
- Chicken Lo Mein
- Spicy Pork Ramen Noodle Soup (by Kitchen Sanctuary!)
Instant Pot Chicken Ramen
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 2 lbs bone-in skin-on chicken thighs ~4 chicken thighs
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 4-5 green onions
- ~1 inch ginger root
- 1 tbsp Mirin Japanese rice seasoning wine
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- salt
- pepper
- 4 large eggs
- 4 packets ramen noodles discard flavor packets
Instructions
- Prep ingredients: clean and remove skin from ginger root; cut and save the white part of the green onions, and cut into small pieces the green part of the green onions; sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of chicken thighs.
- Set Instant Pot to 'saute' setting. Sear chicken thighs on one side (sear skin-on side first – doing this will produce some oil at the bottom of the pot and no additional oil is needed), flip and sear the other side. Make sure chicken thighs are not stacked on top of each other. You want to brown each piece on both sides, but no need to fully cook chicken. If needed cook in two batches.
- Add chicken stock and water to Instant Pot. Then add garlic, the white part of the green onions, ginger root, Mirin, soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Close lid. Set Instant Pot to cook on High Pressure for 20 minutes. Make sure to give it time as it takes a while for the Instant Pot to build and release pressure.
- While waiting for broth to cook, add water to a separate small pot and boil water on the stove. After it comes to a boil, gently lower eggs into boiling water and cook for 7 minutes for jammy eggs. (Cook for 9-10 minutes for hard boiled eggs). Remove eggs, rinse in cold water, and peel. Cut eggs into half.
- Once the broth is cooked, remove chicken thighs and shred chicken. Discard skin and bones.
- Taste broth. If it is too salty, add hot water to diute it. Keep in mind that ramen broth tends to be thick and super flavorful.
- Bring Instant Pot back to a boil under the saute setting, and cook ramen noodles in the broth for 2-3 minutes, or until soft.
- Assemble ramen noodles, broth, shredded chicken, chopped green onions (the green part that is cut into small pieces in Step 1) and egg in bowls. Serve and enjoy!
Sam says
If I wanted to add mushrooms to this how would I do that?
Joyous Apron says
I would add it in when you add the ginger, garlic etc (before you pressure cook) so you can pressure cook the mushrooms and infuse the broth with mushroom flavors!