Description
Quick Asian Beef Ramen Noodles is a flavorful and easy recipe combining ground beef, ramen noodles, and a savory sauce made of dark soy, oyster, hoisin sauces, and mirin. Ready in just 15 minutes, this dish is perfect for a fast weeknight dinner with crunchy bean sprouts and optional garnishes of green onions and sesame seeds.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 2 packets ramen or other instant noodles, discard seasoning
- 1 tsp oil
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 200g / 7oz beef mince (ground beef)
- 1 1/4 cups (315 ml) water, plus more as needed
- Big handful bean sprouts
Sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce (or hoisin)
- 2 tsp hoisin sauce (or more oyster sauce)
- 1 tbsp mirin
Garnishes (optional)
- Finely sliced green onion / shallots
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Mix Sauce – Combine dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, and mirin in a small bowl and set aside.
- Sauté onion and garlic – Heat oil and sesame oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Add sliced onion and minced garlic, cooking for 1 1/2 minutes until they start to turn golden.
- Cook beef – Add ground beef to the skillet and cook, breaking it up as you stir, until the beef changes from pink to light brown.
- Caramelise beef – Pour the prepared sauce over the beef and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring, until the sauce caramelizes and coats the beef well.
- Add water and noodles – Push the beef mixture to one side of the skillet. Add 1 1/4 cups of water and place the noodles into the water.
- Cook ramen – Allow the noodles to cook in the water for 45 seconds, then turn them carefully. After 30 seconds, untangle the noodles with a fork or tongs.
- Toss noodles with beef – Mix the noodles thoroughly with the beef and sauce.
- Add bean sprouts and finish cooking – Add the bean sprouts and toss for about 1 minute or until the sauce reduces to coat the noodles and the noodles are fully cooked.
- Serve – Serve immediately, garnished with finely sliced green onion or shallots and sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
- Use any brand of instant or ramen noodles but avoid large ramen packets unless breaking them into smaller pieces.
- If fresh or dried noodles are preferred, cook according to package instructions and use approximately 2 packed cups. Toss cooked noodles into the caramelised beef with a splash of water.
- Sesame oil can be toasted (brown) for more flavor or untoasted (lighter in color); both work fine.
- Substitute ground beef with any other ground meat like chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, veal, or even kangaroo.
- Dark soy sauce has a richer color and flavor; if unavailable, regular soy sauce will work but the sauce will be lighter in color.
- Oyster sauce can be replaced with hoisin sauce; vegetarian oyster sauces are also an option.
- Mirin is a sweet Japanese cooking wine; substitute with Chinese cooking wine, dry sherry, or for a non-alcoholic option, use 1/2 cup water and 3/4 cup low sodium chicken stock and omit mirin.
- Add more water if noodles need additional cooking time, following the packet instructions.
- To scale the recipe up, use a larger skillet and break the noodle cakes if necessary to fit.
- Using low sodium soy sauce can reduce sodium content by approximately 175mg per serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 450 kcal
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 900 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 25 g
- Cholesterol: 65 mg
