Cheese and ramen might not seem like a great combination, but they absolutely, 100% are.
Cheese and ramen go together like peanut butter and jelly, togarashi and tuna, or fresh bread and soft butter. Capitalizing on the unique umami flavors in cheese and in classic ramen ingredients, this unique combination of flavors can yield insane results.
Luckily for you, there are a ton of different ways to combine cheese and ramen noodles.
Check out these five ways to hack your favorite Mike's Mighty Good Craft Ramen flavor with a healthy dose of cheesy goodness.
1. Korean Cheese Corn Ramen
This recipe for Korean Cheese Corn Ramen might be one of the most addictive things Mike's Mighty Good has ever created.
For the uninitiated, Korean Cheese Corn is a super special Korean appetizer/side dish made from cheese and corn. It's often served as an addition to Korean Barbecue, and it's a lot like Elote or Street Corn from Mexico.
The combination of buttery corn with rich, flavorful mozzarella sizzled together until they become an ooey, gooey flavor bomb is something that needs to be eaten to be understood.
The recipe for this Ramen hack is pretty straightforward. First, cook ramen noodles and chill them slightly. Then saute corn, noodles, and a ton of cheese with a few teaspoons of the ramen seasoning packet for an added flavor punch.
Once ready, immediately consume the cheesy ramen goodness while hot, and then get started on your second batch!
You can use any corn that's convenient for this recipe, canned, frozen, or fresh if it's in season, but for cheese, you want to stick to whole milk mozzarella if possible.
Alternatively, a nice pepper jack/cheddar blend works well if you want a touch of sharp cheddar and spicy pepper jack flavor with your corn. These cheeses melt well and create a really great texture in the finished bowl!
2. Stupid Easy Ramen Carbonara
Ramen is a dish built from ingredients filled with umami, and so is this Stupid Easy Ramen Carbonara.
Classic Italian Carbonara is a pasta dish that combines pasta, ham/bacon, egg yolk, cheese, and sometimes, but not always, peas. Almost all of them contain the building blocks of umami, the 6th flavor.
Start bycookinghigh-quality ramen noodles and treating them as you would pasta for carbonara. Then, seasoning the combination with cheese, bacon, and the ramen seasoning packet, the result is a pretty serious level of insane umami flavor.
You don't need a ton of special ingredients for this ramen hack. Just a great pack of ramen noodles, a handful of parmesan cheese, a few slices of bacon, three eggs, and a clove of garlic will create a restaurant-worthy entree.
The key to a quality carbonara and ramen carbonara is to carefully add the eggs to the ramen after removing it from the stovetop. You want to cook the eggs slowly and allow them to create a super-rich sauce, not scramble.
This recipe is super easy, and it's really impressive, especially if you're looking for a new go-to "easy meal."
3. Spicy Cheese Ramen
This Spicy Cheese Ramen hack is about as easy as they come. First, cook the instant noodles, heat milk, cheese, sriracha, garlic, and chili flakes, with just a touch of ramen seasoning, then mix with the noodles for the most addictive bowl of Mac and Cheese you've ever had!
The real key to these cheesy ramen noodles is American cheese. While it's not known for its flavor, American cheese can melt really well and creates an amazingly rich sauce. Think about queso and how tasty that is. It's made from "melt" style cheese, which is formulated to melt easily without getting grainy.
This recipe works really well with all of Mike's Mighty Good Ramen Flavors, and the noodles are a big part of that. All of Mike's Mighty Good Noodles are steamed and not fried, creating a lighter, fluffier noodle overall. Also, ones that are a lot less fatty than traditional ramen.
If you happen to make your sauce a little too thick, add some of the water the ramen was cooked in. This adds body while thinning the sauce slightly and keeps the flavor strong without watering it down!
4. Elote Ramen Noodles
Elote or Street Corn is like Cheese Corn, except it's more commonly served on the cob instead of off it.
Usually, when you're enjoying street corn, you're eating a roasted ear of corn topped with a mayo-based dressing, cotija cheese, and Elote seasoning. The spicy, salty, fatty combination on top of the corn makes it a messy, fantastic meal.
For this Elote Ramen Recipe, you're melding the bright, spicy flavors of Street Corn with fluffy, delicious ramen noodles as a base.
You'll cook the noodles and the corn simultaneously to create this recipe. Once the corn, butter, and cream are hot, you remove them from the stove and mix in the ramen noodles, mayo, shredded cheese, and Elote seasoning.
There are a ton of different Elote seasonings on the market, and they can usually be found in the International section of your local supermarket. The classic option is Tajin, a lime-heavy, spicy seasoning that goes on everything from corn to bloody Marys to melon and mango.
Because this recipe includes a secondary seasoning with the Elote spice, you're going to want to make sure you don't overdo it with the ramen seasoning packet. You can always add more seasoning later, but it's impossible to get salt and seasoning out of something you've already added it to. So, proceed with caution as the Mike's Mighty Good ramen seasoning is pretty packed with flavor.
5. Cheesy Beef Ramen
The combination of cheese and beef has a long history of creating some of the tastiest recipes and dishes in the world. From Cheeseburgers to Cheese Steaks to Birria Tacos, the combination of super flavorful beef and rich, fatty cheese will almost always yield something delicious.
While this recipe for Cheesy Beef Ramen might seem a little odd on the surface, once you make it for the first time, it will quickly become apparent why these ingredients go together so very well.
You don't need much to make this ramen recipe a reality. Just a pack of excellent beef ramen noodles like the Savory Beef Flavor from Mike's Mighty Good, a soft-boiled egg, two slices of American cheese, and a handful of scallions.
To build your next bowl of Cheesy Beef Ramen, prepare the ramen as instructed, add a soft boiled egg to the bowl (pro-tip, use a nitamago style egg for more flavor!), then top with green onions and two slices of American cheese.
The cheese will melt as the bowl sits and emulsify into the sauce, creating a beefy, cheesy ramen flavor explosion!
Tips and Tricks for Adding Cheese to Your Ramen.
Adding cheese to your ramen may be simple, but there are always a few steps you can take to make the experience even simpler.
Use the right cheese for the job.
Not all cheeses are meant for all recipes. Some recipes do better with cheddar or cotija cheeses, and as wild as it may sound, some are built for classic yellow American slices.
Beyond that, you should choose cheeses for your ramen that best suits your tastes. If you like it and think it tastes good, go with it!
Control the heat when adding your cheese.
Boiling cheese is never a good idea. The high heat causes the cheese to break and create a less-than-ideal finished product.
When cooking with cheese, it's best to emulsify the cheese and create a smoother, creamier sauce/finished product. Cheese tends to separate as it gets hotter; it gets grainy and gritty when it separates.
If you're cooking a recipe like the cheese corn ramen, this isn't an issue because you'll melt it against the frying pan, creating a crispy but melty texture.
All cheesed out? Try a non-dairy Mike's Mighty Good Recipe:
Pork Belly Ramen
Soondubu Ramen
Spicy Kimchi Noodles
