Instant Pot Chicken Ramen

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 crazy flavorful ramen broth is the star of the dish, and it’s made possible by the incredible Instant Pot.

Chicken Ramen in the Instant Pot

This Instant Pot Chicken Ramen has so much depth in flavor yet is made in a super short amount of time. Ready in ~40 minutes!

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.

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 chicken ramen. It pressure cooks the chicken thighs to create the best tasting chicken ramen 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. Instant Pot Chicken Ramen is the way to go!
• So versatile! Add other ingredients, use what’s at hand, and make it your own!

I should also note that this Instant Pot Chicken Ramen 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 this Instant Pot Chicken Ramen 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.

Ingredient Notes

Besides an Instant Pot (obviously), here’s what else you need to make this Instant Pot Chicken Ramen recipe:

• ramen noodles – use ramen noodle packets but without the seasoning packets.
• chicken – using bone-in, skin-on chicken for maximum flavor. You can use boneless and/or skinless chicken too if you prefer not to mess with the bone and skin
• chicken broth – use good quality chicken broth or bone broth for best flavor
• garlic – use fresh garlic, avoid using garlic powder
• onion – use fresh onion as well
• ginger root – if needed ginger powder can be used. Somehow I find ginger powder to retain more of its original flavors than garlic and onion powder.
• Mirin – this is a Japanese rice seasoning wine commonly used in Japanese cuisine. You should be able to find this in my mainstream grocery store in the Asian aisle. Avoid skipping this because it is responsible for that delicious umami flavors often found in ramen noodle soups.
• soy sauce
• sesame oil – another ingredient that provides a unique umami flavor to the ramen broth.
• eggs
• salt and black pepper

Making Instant Pot Chicken Ramen

Here are three key components when preparing our Instant Pot Chicken Ramen:

• Cooking chicken ramen broth in the Instant Pot
• Preparing other ingredients – egg, noodles etc.
• Assembling chicken ramen

Cooking chicken ramen broth in the instant Pot

The chicken ramen broth is definitely the most complex component in this Instant Pot Chicken Ramen recipe. At the same time, it also happens to be the most tasty! It really makes our chicken ramen the delicious dish that it is.

Chicken ramen broth is cooked in the Instant Pot using chicken, chicken broth, garlic, onion, ginger, and Asian-inspired spices such as soy sauce, Mirin, sesame oil, salt and black pepper.

The product is a truly flavorful broth with so much depth in flavor. I can seriously drink this chicken ramen broth every day and never get tired of it. It is truly comfort food for me.

A few things to note when making chicken ramen broth in the Instant Pot:

• 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 chicken ramen 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.

Other Ramen Ingredients

While the chicken ramen broth is cooking in the Instant Pot, I typically work on boiling the eggs/peeling them, and chopping the green onions to save time.

Once the broth is cooked remove chicken from the broth and shred it, then cook ramen noodles briefly in the Instant Pot (in the broth) under the sauté setting in the broth until noodles are soft.

Assembling Chicken Ramen

Then grab your bowls and assemble everything to bring together your Chicken Ramen:

• chicken broth
• ramen noodles
• shredded chicken
• boiled eggs
• green onions

How to store leftovers

The trick to storing leftover Instant Pot Chicken Ramen is to store the stock, eggs, noodles and green onions separately. Only combine them when you are ready to eat!

Don’t store ramen noodles submerged in chicken broth because noodles will get soggy. You can even freeze the broth for much later if needed.

Variation and Substitution

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 pressure cooking creates the most flavorful chicken ramen broth.

We have been making and enjoying Instant Pot Chicken Ramen 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!

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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!)