Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium} (2024)

One of the most embarrassing thing my kids like to do is to talk about their favorite junk food. Embarrassing because everyone knows that I have a blog for healthy eating for kids! My 15 year old used to tell people his favorite food group is candy! Ugh. But recently, he started declaring his love for commercial top ramen! They were turned on to it when we had a Japanese exchange student a few years back, and now they would really like me to buy some. There is literally nothing redeeming about commercial Ramen. With 1660mg of sodium, and no veggies to speak of, they might as well be eating a brick of salt. Making our own Top Ramen, while considerably more expensive than the commercial kind, can be much healthier for kids. We can make it with extra vegetables and a negligible amount of sodium.

Our kids do not need more than 1500mg of sodium PER DAY!! Sodium, while a necessary mineral, becomes toxic at the levels we are consuming it today.

When salt intake is high, excess fluid accumulates in the circulatory system, exerting pressure on the walls of blood vessels, consequently raising blood pressure and overworking the heart. About one-third of American adults have elevated blood pressure, a condition that is responsible for 62% of strokes and 49% of coronary heart disease, increases the risk of dementia, and is a risk factor for kidney disease. (source)

So, of course, in our final series this week of homemade versions of our kids favorite foods, I chose to re-do their favorite “make it themselves meal”, and make our own top ramen!

Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium} (1)

Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium} (2)

This Homemade Top Ramen Recipe is actually much easier than you might think! In fact, it literally took me less than 5 minutes. The benefits to homemade: LESS SODIUM & MORE VEGGIES!

We used

Pint Sized Mason Jars (you can use any containers, but I prefer the jars because they are the least expensive)
Labels (Have I mentioned, I’m obsessed with these Avery templates-I buy them at any office supply or drug store, and then you go online to print according to your template)
Chow mien noodles (The one I bought only had three ingredients: Wheat flour, water, salt, and tumeric. I found them in the Asian aisle at the grocery store. SunLuck)
Dehydrated vegetables! These were not easy to find!! We had some from food storage. We used Freeze dried corn, freeze dried green beans, dehydrated mushrooms, and dehydrated onions.
Chicken bouillon!This is where you can get into trouble. Most boulion comes with 800 mg of sodium per teaspoon! I found a brand at the regular grocery store that said “Sodium Free”, and there literally was no sodium. (Herb-ox)

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I added 1 cup of the chow mein noodles, 1 packet (or 1 teaspoon of my sodium free broth), and a handful of dried veggies to each jar. Then, stuck a label on them, and put it in the pantry.

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At meal time, kids can fill the jar with water, and microwave. The jars do get hot. Either transfer to a microwave safe dish that does not absorb heat, or remove the jar yourself with a hot pad.

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Shall we look at the comparison?

Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium} (6)

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3.6 from 284 votes

Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium}

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time3 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 177kcal

Ingredients

1 cup dry ramen noodles
1 teaspoon sodium free bullion
1/4 cup dehydrated vegetables

Instructions

Place all ingredients in pint sized mason jar.
When ready to eat, fill with water and cook for 3 minutes in the microwave.

Nutrition

Keyword : homemade, low sodium, top ramen

www.superhealthykids.com

That’s it! Super easy, and much healthier for your kids!For more of our commercial food makeovers- check out our DIY category here!

Homemade Top Ramen Recipe {Low Sodium} (8)

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie

Why does it need to go in the fridge?

Hi Melissa,
Are you looking at the picture of my pantry? Its not in my fridge. Our nuts are in the pantry because we eat them so fast they never have time to get rancid. Lol

Oh my! I did Not realize I wrote fridge! Will fix it now!!

Now it makes sense..LOL!

Thank you so much for this recepie–you have made my son’s YEAR. He was upset when we quit buying RAMEN. He knows it’s not good for us, but he loves it so much. Thank you again

Is it the noodles that have the sodium or the packets of crap the give you to put in the water with the commercial Ramen??? I never use the packets .. just add my own verggie, herbs and meat if so inclined. i don’t taste sale doing this …

No, the noodles aren’t packaged with any seasonings. You could use the noodles that come with the seasoning packets, but I heard they were fried. These are just dried.
It looked like this, although of course at my grocery store was only a couple of dollars. http://www.amazon.com/Sun-Luck-Chow-Chuka-12x6Oz/dp/B00DGDF0G2/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1384550649&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=sun+luck+chow+mein

more questions…(1) Do you know of any stores where I get a small amount of dried veggies?. (2) How does it taste without veggies…just the bullion and noodles?

If you have and amish store near you. You can buy everything you need in bulk from them.

If you live in utah, you can get dried veggies at kitchen kneads in West Jordan.

Thanks Catherine- We ARE in Utah, so I’ll check it out!

Herb ox boullion is full of other bad chemicals isn’t it?

You can just heat water up, poor it in the jar and shut the lid. The Ramen will cook, takes about 5 min. We don’t use a microwave so we have been doing this for years with regular Ramen in a bowl with a plate on top to cover them so that the heat stays in and they cook. Works great! No extra dishes this way, I would hate having to wash all those jars! You guessed it, no dishwasher anymore either! :-)!

Received this recipe today and I just wanted to say how much I love your site! My kids are grown and I have a 3 yr old grandson in VA (I’m on Long Island) but I use your recipes for myself! I used to love the ramen noodle salad but never make it anymore because of all the bad things associated with that mix. Thank you for posting great recipes all the time. (Been meaning to say that for awhile…)

Love it Jazz!

Welcome Linda! Thanks for joining us here!

Michele, it does have msg.. I will keep looking for better brands. Do you know any?

Massel Sodium/Salt Reduced Bouillon is fantastic. It’s actually all vegetable, but with different flavors like chicken, beef etc… All natural flavorings with no meat. I think it’s fantastic! I hope this helps. Thanks so much for the great ideas~

Dried vegetables from my favorite online store…amazon http://www.amazon.com/Harmony-House-Foods-Dried-Vegetable/dp/B0039QXWPM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384624164&sr=8-1&keywords=dehydrated+vegetables

I have the same question. I often just purchase the ramen and use about 1/4 of the packet, because I assumed all the bad stuff (ie salt) was in the packet. I will add my own veggies to the noodle. So is there really a need to come up with different noodles?

Looks like the noodles alone in one packet have 1000 mg of sodium.

Looks like the noodles alone in one packet have 1000 mg of sodium. Found the info here http://www.livestrong.com/article/322374-calories-in-ramen-noodles-without-seasoning/

DeeAnn- I understood that Ramen noodles are lightly fried and then dried! If you have noodles that they don’t fry first, then you can definitely use the noodles that come packaged like that- they definitely are much cheaper!

Trader Joe’s has liquid bouillon without MSG, but its a liquids…probably wouldn’t work for this recipe unless you were making it fresh.

Thank you for this recipe! We love Ramen but try to avoid it because of the crazy sodium!!

I found a recipe through Pinterest to make my own chicken bouillon. It is great and has no MSG in it. It does have salt in it, but it isn’t nearly as salty as typical chicken boullion. I use it all the time and have been very pleased with it! Here is the link to the recipe: http://sherigraham.com/homemake-chicken-bouillon-powder

If you don’t mind ordering online I found that Amazon has some dried veggies for not too bad a price.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039QXWPM/ref=s9_simh_gw_p325_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=0HZAKM529S6E01JBMMGR&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200422&pf_rd_i=507846

how many calories does this have?

I tried this and my 5 year old didn’t like it, but then I tried using the low sodium bullion with the Ramen noodles instead of the packet it comes with. Score! I always add frozen chopped broccoli so the dehydrated veggies just tasted wrong. I’m excited about the low sodium bullion. She’s been eating it for months now (twice a month).

Freeze dried broccli is much better than dehydrated. Looks and tastes closer to fresh.

Hey @sallyjrw!
Broccoli is perfect to include!

Unfortunately even the ‘organic’ brands have MSG. The only way to get broths or boullions without, is to make your own.

They may say “no MSG added” which means one of the ingredients they used already had MSG in it, therefore they did not add it themselves at it does contain MSG.

“Yeast extract” is an ingredient they use to hide MSG, this will always mean it contains it.

Whole Foods has dried veggies in bulk – just get what you need…

Hello! I am beyond excited for your recipe, thank you so much! My 2 step-sons use to love Ramen noodles but I’ve refused to buy them for the last 3 years. I do want to know how long I would need to cook this on the stove top? (I haven’t owned a microwave in years) Thank you in advance! ♡

Just a few minutes till the noodles are soft Jessica- just depends on what type of noodles you buy.

My problem with ramen noodles is that they have wax or whatever as a coating that’s supposed to be horrible for your gut, do these? Also wondering if the texture is the same?

Paige- According to snopes, the wax coating thing is a myth http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/noodles.asp

The wax thing is absolutely a myth. The residue you see in the water from cooking ramen noodles is residual oil from frying, and on occasion oil that is added. When you buy high end ramen that has less oil in the noodles, it comes with an oil packet to add, because the noodles are designed to have oil in them. Kinda like when you cook spaghetti in oil, or toss it in a pasta salad to keep the noodles from gluing together.

I can’t find the recipe for your homemade sodium free bullion that you use to add to the Ramen
noodle soup in a jar. Please help…

Sandra- We don’t have a recipe for homemade bullion- we used the Herb-ox brand pictured above.

Hi Amy,
I use to love eating this prepackaged stuff until I got high blood pressures and had to cut back on salt. Tried the recipe and LOVED it!!! I added fresh vegetables instead of dried. Do you have additional recipes of low sodium seasonings? Quick question, Where did you purchase the square storage containers w/ compartments in one of the photos? I’m in the process of organizing my pantry and would love to purchase something like that!!! Thanks 🙂

hi Anita- we have these seasonings here:
https://www.superhealthykids.com/diy-homemade-spice-blends/
Also, Ikea for the boxes!

Thanks for thus kids love ramen. But I don’t buy mostly because of the noodles they have some ungodly oil like Palm or something that our bodies don’t like. And the sodium yeah the sodium. This is on my must try list. And as far as the dried veggies go I’d just throw frozen or leftover in no need to go on crazy search for dried. 🙂

Chow main and ramen noddles are not the same . Glad you found a health way to eat you chow main. I hope some day you find so ramen noddles to try.

Has anyone seen gluten free noodles like these or know of some type of non wheat, non barley noodles that might work? We have gluten allergies…

Juliee Clapp, Trader Joes sells pasta made out of corn that is gf. I served it to my husband and two teenage sons in place of spaghetti and they didn’t even know the difference!

Two really good GF options for asian food are rice noodles and buckwheat noodles. Rice noodles make a good broth disk, but are more like thai noodles than ramen. If you can find straight up buckwheat noodles, without added wheat flour (buckwheat is not real wheat and is actually GF) that is your closest substitute for similarity. Of course, you could always go with a GF spaghetti type noodle, but to me it is just not the same.

Couldn’t you make a seasoned broth in advance, freeze it & then cook it on the stove, adding the noodles once it’s hot?

Ramen and Chow Mein noodles, while similar, are not the same. You can actually buy individual, healthy, ramen style noodles packaged without seasoning if you have a local Asian grocer. Houston has a large Chinese population, so over here we have several to choose from. Most large urban areas have a china town district of some form, or at least a small grocer. Even some of the major chain grocery markets like Kroger or Randalls are getting better with the selection in their international foods departments.

When we make ramen, we don’t even use bullion at all. Instead of water, I cook the noodles in low sodium chicken broth and add frozen vegetables.

I’d like to use labels on my jars as well but the Ball jars are not smooth and I don’t like the way the labels look. What jars do you use?

Karen- I know exactly what you mean! These labels didn’t stay flush with my jar either 🙁

Wow great idea to nix the sodium. I’m from Hawaii where we all grew up on Ramen/Saimen. Its a local staple food here. We eat it dry, fried what ever… So in my quest to lower my sodium I Googled , and your receipe popped up. Thanks simple and very low in sodium! Awesome!

This is completely off topic but where did you get those stackable snack organizers? Those are perfect!

Hi Becky! Those are from Ikea!

I have such a taste for Ramen Soup but could not take the huge amount of sodium the stores offer in their soup packets. Thank you for this great recipe. We are seniors and this will make a snack or mea easy and tasty and convenient . Thank you again. D.Elow , Temple, tx

Wow, I can make this for my grandkids. Thank you for your efforts.

Just wanted to note, “Top Ramen” is a brand name of ramen noodles.

Thank you for this ramen recipe. I love ramen with fresh, sliced zucchini. I have not eaten it for years because of the sodium. I look forward to eating it again, possibly with a couple of pinches of nutritional yeast for a bit more saltiness

Do not use jars for canning after being used in the microwave. They can break.

I’m way late to the party here. I read through all the comments to make sure I wasn’t repeating. Lotus Foods makes a brown rice ramen noodle that is great and would be perfect for this recipe! We buy it at Costco but I’ve seen it at other big box stores.
I can’t wait to try this for my big kids.

Curious how you would make this a spicy version. I really like spicy ramen!

I love the jar idea. Although I no longer kill (microwave) my food it is great to pre make single servings and store in the pantry. I too love Avery labels on everything!

For noddles is it ok if you use organic or will it mess up the dish

Organic is fine!

You may not be aware, but many folks on low sodium diets also require low potassium because of kidney failure issues. Herb-ox mixes have an exorbitant about of potassium.

Could you just use the noodles in the ramen pkg and discard the flavor pkg. then proceed with salt free boullion and vegetables

Sure!

I know this is an old post but this is exactly what I have been looking for! I grew up on Ramen from the Japanese real version from growing up in Hawaii to the non traditional sodium laced commercial kind. I kept thinking there has got to be a better way and you found it! Thank you so much, I cannot wait to try this!

What a great idea. Thanks for the recipe!

I have a question about the dried chow mein noodles. The only one I know of is LaChoy chow mein noodles. I know those are not the ones you are referring to. Please give me a link or recipe on making these noodles. Thank you.

I apologize for the confusion- that was an error! I have fixed it. You want to use dried ramen noodles.

Your nutrition info says it has over 800 mg of sodium. But earlier it says less than 200 mg. Which is it?

200mg is correct- we have fixed the nutritional information!
!