This Short Rib Ramen is made by sautéing garlic, shallots, and ginger to make a richly flavored and aromatic broth along with slowly cooked short ribs. It's topped with fresh vegetables and eggs over ramen noodles.
Great for a cold winter day. The piping hot broth is poured over the noodles and vegetables, warming the bowl and your hands around it. There's something about a good bowl of Ramen that makes you feel like it is bottomless and you can just keep on eating and eating and eating.
Recipe Inspiration: New York City
When I lived in New York, my roommate would take me all around the city to get ramen. Sometimes the restaurant would be unmarked in the basement of an office building or on the fourth floor of a walkup or some other non-obvious, unmarked location. I got a craving for ramen last winter when we were all cooped up after not having it for years. After talking with a couple of friends including my old roommate for thoughts/ideas on making ramen, I tried my hand at it.
I wrote down the recipe on an index card and thought I’d get back to it at some point. Then last weekend (a year later) a friend made short rib ramen for us all to eat outside around a campfire on a cold night. It made me want to try my old recipe again. I took out my old index card recipe and swapped chicken for short ribs. It turned out fantastic. I'll certainly be using the short rib version again and again.
Short Rib Ramen Broth
Making ramen is all about the broth. In this case, the broth is made with shallots, ginger, and garlic, and then by slow cooking short ribs. Short ribs are fatty pieces of meat and that fat lends a lot of flavor to the dish. Skim excess fat off the top.
Ramen Noodles
- Look for packaged ramen noodles at Whole Foods (I've seen them at different Whole Foods markets around the country), and I've also seen the Ocean's Halo brand at a Kroger.
- I've heard of other people buying pre-packaged ramen noodles (the instant kind that you pour hot water over) and discarded the seasoning but used the noodles. I haven't tried this, but it definitely would be less expensive.
- One box of Ocean's Halo Ramen Noodles is enough for one meal for a family of 4.
Making it Spicy
This recipe calls for 1 tsp sriracha. This is a pretty small amount compared to the amount of broth so it doesn't make it spicy at all. It is still perfectly suitable for little kids. For a spicier dish add more sriracha or add it to your individual bowl. Or skip it all together if this is not something you normally keep in your pantry.
Short Ribs
Short ribs are a very tricky piece of meat to cook. Ultimately it all comes down to quality of the meat. Depending on the quality of the meat you can end up with a meal that totally blows you away, or is very subpar.
Choose the highest quality version of short ribs available. Select ribs that are marbled, with fat incorporated throughout the meat, BUT choose ones that have more meat and less fat overall. Steer clear of ones that have big chunks of fat.
Short ribs are so incredible when cooked low and slow. Rendering the fat gives you just the savory meat to add back to the broth.
If you're looking for other Ramen or Soup recipes, you may love these:
Duck Fat Ramen: Ramen made with duck fat (easy to find at the grocery store) and lots of vegetables. It comes together quickly.
Creamy Vegetable Soup with White Cheddar and Orecchiette: A white cheddar broth, with peas, carrots, celery and orecchiette pasta.
Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Ginger: Super healthy, chicken, vegetables, a comforting broth made with ginger, onions, and garlic.
If you make this Short Rib Ramen, I'd love to hear from you and learn how it went. Leave a rating and a comment down below and let me know how it turns out. Your feedback means a lot!
Short Rib Ramen
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil +more if needed
- 1 ping-pong-ball-sized piece of ginger, sliced (not minced)
- 5 cloves garlic, sliced (not minced)
- 1 shallot, sliced (not minced)
- 1½ lbs short ribs
- 8 cups chicken stock
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 2 bulbs baby bok choy, diced
- 1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 4 eggs (to be hard/soft boiled)
- ~15oz ramen noodles + more for leftovers (Ocean's Halo brand can be found at Whole Foods)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot or Dutch oven to medium heat. Add 2 tbsps olive oil and allow to warm through for 1 minute. Add the short ribs and sear, turning after 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.
- Reduce the temperature to medium low and add another tablespoon of olive oil. Sauté the ginger and shallot for 3-5 minutes. Next, add the garlic and sauté for another minute.
- Add the short ribs, chicken stock, soy sauce, and sriracha. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 1 ½ hours or until the meat starts to fall off the bone.
- Separately, hard or soft boil eggs to your preference. To hard boil: bring a pot of water to a boil, add the eggs and cook for 11 minutes. Then plunge the eggs into a bowl of ice water. Peel and slice the eggs. For soft boiled eggs cook for 6 minutes. Then strain, place in ice water, peel and slice.
- Cook the ramen according to the package directions in a separate pot. I’ve used Ocean’s Halo ramen noodles, which comes in a 10.5 oz package at Whole Foods. The whole package is enough for one dinner for 4, but you may need more to use with any leftovers.
- Once the short ribs are cooked, remove them from the Dutch oven/pot and shred the meat.
- Skim any extra fat/gunk from the pot. Using a fine mesh strainer remove and discard all of the ginger, shallots, and garlic so that you are left with only broth.
- To serve, place ramen noodles in bowls. Top with short ribs, bell peppers, bok choy, jalapeño, green onions, and sliced eggs. While still piping hot, ladle the broth over the noodles and vegetables. The broth will start to cook the peppers and bok choy making them slightly soft.
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