The Ultimate Guide to High Protein Ramen

Whenever you think of adding more protein to ramen, the standard few additions come to mind. Sadly, there’s only so much beef and chicken you can have before it becomes boring. Fear not though, because we came up with a few ways to have the ultimate high protein ramen meals. 

In this guide, we’ll share some of our top healthy and tasty tips, recipe modifications, and workarounds that we came up with while trying to make ramen healthier for everyone. 

Deeper Flavored Meats

Red meat is not a common addition to noodles. However, when it’s in there, it tends to become the star of the show.

This is because of the stronger flavor that red meat brings to any dish, especially when compared to chicken or lean fish, even pork. Now granted, pork can be very flavorful but the more delicious cuts are also fattier so the only feasible option is beef, fattier fish, and shellfish.

Using meat with a deeper flavor means you don’t need to add fat for flavor, thereby making it not just a healthy but also a flavorful high protein dish. But, if you have already seasoned ramen such as our Spicy ‘Beef’ flavored immi ramen, you just need some good meat and you’re good to go. 

Our Recipe Mods

In our opinion, aged or long-cooked meat is always better for adding flavor depth to high protein ramen.

Char Siu pork is a great example of this. The meat is flavored to the bone and has a depth that you just don’t get with fresh pork. Once you have something like that in a ramen dosh, there’s really no need for fatty cuts like belly. 

We also love sausages such as Cha Bo and Lap Cheong which are absolutely amazing when paired with a more subtle flavor such as our Black Garlic ‘Chicken’ flavored immi ramen.

Higher Protein in Noodle Strands

This is an important one for us since a higher protein content was one of the most important factors for us on our noodle journey. This definitely reflects in immi ramen which comes in at up to 3x the protein of regular noodles.

The protein content of noodles sets the baseline for how much overall protein there will be in the dish. For example, egg noodles will obviously have a higher protein content than plain wheat noodles.

Just shop around your local Asian market for noodles that state a higher protein content on the back of the pack, or just save all the trouble and get some delicious immi ramen instead!

Our Recipe Mods

Whenever we make some immi ramen, we know there’s always plenty of protein in there so we can focus more on the rest of the ingredient nutrients.

However, if we still want a higher protein dish, we like to keep it simple such as an egg or lean ground pork. The egg is for when we still want some richness and the ground beef is for volume, taste, and texture combined. 

The best thing to do with a high protein ramen dish is to reduce the number of ingredients and keep the recipe simple. This will prevent you from diluting the protein too much with other macros. 

Lean Fish

Fattier fish is really great for you from a health standpoint but leaner fish is really where the protein’s at! 

That’s not to say you don’t get enough protein from mackerel or salmon. It’s just that the percentage of the protein and fat is geared too much towards the latter and it’s easy to make a fattier meal than you might want to. 

The best lean fish for high protein ramen are haddock, flounder, cod, pollock, halibut, and tilapia. You can also get mollusks and shellfish if you want some flavor diversity. 

Our Recipe Mods

When choosing lean fish, go for the less flaky ones such as haddock, which still has more flavor than most fatty fish types, especially when cooked with light aromatics, or a stronger flavor such as in delicious Tom Yum ‘Shrimp’ flavored immi ramen. 

Also, make sure the fish isn’t handled too harshly since that can break it up and disintegrate it into the dish before you’re ready to eat. 

Additionally, try not to overcook the lean fish, regardless of whether you’re frying, grilling, or steaming it. This is because cooking lean fish for longer than medium-well doneness will dry it out and render too much of the internal fat. You definitely want some of those good fats in your high protein ramen.

High Protein Vegan Ramen

It’s always good to have a vegan or 100 percent plant based option on the table when we’re talking about high protein noodle recipes. 

Luckily, we have tons of choices such as tofu, tempeh (delicious fried tofu), and even the new impossible meats that taste just like the real thing. All of these can add some awesome meaty texture to the dish without diverting from the original taste too much. 

You can also have different forms of meat substitute, and in various consistencies such as finely ground, chopped, sliced, and/or cubed. Plus, with seasonings, sauces, and marinades for any kind of meat available, you don’t have to worry about flavor either. 

Our Recipe Mods

Tofu and its varieties are the go-to for meat substitutes, especially in dishes that require slices or specific cuts of meat. However, you can also go for beans and seed mixes for a ground meat substitute.

We would suggest trying out several of them to see what suits your taste. 

However, a general rule of thumb would be to use more absorbent ones for dishes with thicker sauces, and looser textured ones for broth-based recipes.

New and Unique Flavorings

Even though ramen, and Asian cuisine in general, are very diverse, you can still eventually run out of recipes to make on a daily basis. 

To combat this, try to take advantage of the countless herbs and Asian spices at your disposal, many of which can alter the flavor of a dish completely. 

Some examples of this are Chinese Five Spice, Maqaw pepper, dried ginger, MSG (technically not a spice but oh-so-delicious nevertheless), and Sichuan peppercorns, among others. Try out combinations of these in place of similar ingredients and you’ll never get bored, we promise!

Our Recipe Mods

We suggest experimenting with both the spice levels and flavor types in a dish. 

So for example, if you’re having some of our amazing Black Garlic ‘Chicken’ flavored immi ramen with thinly sliced turkey breast, scallions, and mushrooms, try adding in some freshly grated galangal when you start boiling the water for the noodles. 

Alternatively, you can also add a citrusy vibe to otherwise rich dishes. Fresh lime juice, cilantro, and lemongrass can freshen up a dish and add a brilliant aroma to make them even more appetizing.