Easy Gourmet Ramen Recipes

So Simple, You Can Make Them In Your Dorm Room

Ramen is a staple of college diets, and for good reason. Not only is it inexpensive, but it’s easy to dress it up and turn it into an impressive, noodly meal without a lot of extra ingredients or kitchen tools. Check out these suggestions for livening up your Ramen dinner (and for using the Ramen in this month’s college care package).

Veggie Ramen Soup recipe

Veggie Ramen Soup

Prepare your ramen noodles as normal, using any flavor you like.

As the water heats and begins to cook the noodles, toss in a handful of a variety of frozen vegetables. You can purchase a bag of mixed veggies, or a few different bags of your favorites.

We recommend peas, green beans, carrots, and corn, for starters. But you can get creative and make new combinations with more adventurous veggies, like brussel sprouts, broccoli, or squash.

Restaurant-Style Ramen Bowl recipe

Restaurant-Style Ramen Bowl

For this recipe, you’ll need the frozen veggies of your choice; a soft-boiled egg;  a piece of leftover protein, like chicken breast, tofu chunks, round steak, or a pork chop; and the Asian sauce of your choice, like hoisin, soy, or sriracha.

Prepare your soft-boiled egg in advance. (A quick Internet search will give you lots of ways to cook your egg with the equipment you have.)

Then, heat up your ramen with your frozen veggies. Stir in your favorite sauces, as much as you prefer.

As your ramen is nearly finished, slice your leftover meat into bite-size pieces and gently float it on top of the broth. Use the hot broth to reheat your protein, but don’t let it cook it any further.

Peel your soft-boiled egg, carefully slice it in half, and set it on top of your noodles. 

ramen for breakfast

Ramen Noodles for Breakfast

For this recipe, you’ll need a package of ramen noodles; an egg; shredded or sliced cheese;pre-cooked bacon or bacon bits; a diced scallion; and the sauce of your choice.


Prepare your ramen noodles from the package. We recommend chicken or veggie flavors.

In a separate skillet (or microwave safe bowl), cook an egg in the style of your choice, like scrambled or fried. Add a slice of your favorite cheese to your eggs, and heat it until it melts.

Dish out your cooked noodles into your bowl. Top it with your egg and cheese, bacon bits or pre-cooked bacon cut into small pieces, and diced scallions. Drizzle your favorite sauce on top; we recommend sriracha.

Pho recipe

Imitation Pho

Buy small bottles of star anise, garlic, ginger, ground cinnamon, and lime juice to keep on hand when the pho craving hits. You’ll also need thinly-sliced beef, diced scallions, bean sprouts, basil leaves, and fish sauce (or a similar sauce that you prefer).

Prepare your ramen noodles, and add a sprinkle of garlic, ginger, and ground cinnamon to the broth. Toss in one star anise. Stir in your bean sprouts, scallions, beef, basil leaves, a little bit of lime juice, and your fish sauce.

Voila! Budget pho with ingredients you can keep on hand in your cabinet or mini-fridge.

Design Your Own!

Put together ramen to please your palate by trying out different combinations of ingredients to dress up your noodles. Practice makes perfect!

Tag us @mycollegecrate on Instagram to show us your results.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for accuracy. It was originally published on August 19, 2020.