6 Glorious Types Of Ramen You Should Know (2024)

Everyone has had a ramen experience. Whether from your college dorm days to your trip to Tokyo, Ramen has brought pleasure to millions of mouths around the world, possibly billions.

Known best as a delicious Japanese noodle dish, ramen was actually imported there from China. After World War II, Japanese soldiers brought home what became one of their favorite Chinese street food delicacies. Today, most regions in Japan make their own unique variations with different broths, noodles, seasonings, and toppings. The rest is ramen history.

Here are six styles of ramen that you need to try.

1. Shoyu

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Often, you can tell the type of ramen by the color and consistency of the broth. Shoyu broth has a soy sauce base with a clear, brown color. Usually, Shoyu ramen has curly noodles, and the meat or vegetable stock gives it a delicious, tangy flavor. If you’re in Tokyo, Shoyu is the most familiar form of ramen you’ll find.

2. Tonkotsu

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Tonkotsu translates to “pork bone.” This broth is thick and cloudy white in color. The coloring and consistency come from the boiling of pork bones and fat on high heat for many hours (for some places, this means up to 20 hours). Some even say that tonkotsu broth is as creamy as milk. Throw some ginger on this buttery broth and curl up with a good book.

3. Shio

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This salty broth is considered the oldest of the ramen broths. In fact, shio translates to “salt,” and sea salt is considered the oldest form of ramen seasoning.

Typically, a shio broth is made with chicken or pork base. You can identify this broth both by it’s extremely salty flavor, as well as it’s clear yellow coloring. Often, shio ramen contains quite a lot of seaweed. If you have issues with sodium, this would be the ramen to avoid.

4. Miso

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Developed in Hokkaido, Japan in the 1960s, this broth is considered the youngest of the ramen broths. Unlike the others, this nutty, sweet soup is entirely Japanese. You may be able to tell this form of ramen apart from the others by it’s thick, curly and chewy noodles. Miso hungry just thinking about it.

5. Tsukemen

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This form of ramen seems like the most fun. Not only are the noodles separate from the broth, but they’re meant to be dipped. The broth tends to be thicker and more robust, which makes it perfect for dipping. Be careful with this one, however, if you’re not a chopstick genius, start with two or three strands at a time.

6. Instant Ramen Noodles

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What is a list about ramen without our old friend, instant Top Ramen? For many, these noodles (in the form of Justin Timberlake’s *NSYNC-era hair) were their first adventure into the wild world of ramen noodles.

Although it may not be considered as “genuine” to ramen snobs, instant ramen is a true throwback to those days where using the dorm microwave to warm instant noodles was the height of gourmet. Instant ramen is better than no ramen at all, ya’ dig? Just put an egg in it.

6 Glorious Types Of Ramen You Should Know (2024)

FAQs

6 Glorious Types Of Ramen You Should Know? ›

Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup dish with Chinese-style alkaline noodles. It is the harmony of five key elements of ramen: broth, tare (sauce), noodles, toppings, and oil.

What are the 5 essentials of ramen? ›

Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup dish with Chinese-style alkaline noodles. It is the harmony of five key elements of ramen: broth, tare (sauce), noodles, toppings, and oil.

What are the 5 pillars of ramen? ›

Usually varieties of ramen are differentiated by the type of broth and tare used. There are five components to a bowl of ramen: tare, aroma oil, broth, noodles and toppings.

What are the 4 types of ramen? ›

You often see ramen categorized into four classes: shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), miso (fermented bean paste), and tonkotsu (pork), which doesn't make particular sense, as the first three are flavorings, while the fourth is the broth base.

What is the rarest type of ramen? ›

I tried Japan's rarest ramen flavor. It's called the Ice Ramen, and its ingredients are so insane. that only brave people are able to eat it, because you can only get it at the Ice Ramen restaurant, which is completely made of ice.

What ramen did Naruto eat? ›

He gets his favorite ramen from the Ichiraku Ramen shop, which is Miso Chashu, The Miso Chashu Pork ramen served in a bowl or after the fight with Pain his favorite ramen became Naruto Special Ramen.

What are the rules for eating ramen? ›

How to Eat Ramen Properly in Japan
  • Ramen etiquette is not that strict, but let's avoid getting the side-eye from locals!
  • Take a sip from the soup first - and then dig into the noodles.
  • Don't burn yourself - ramen is served piping hot!
  • It might be awkward at first, but slurping is very normal in Japan!
Oct 18, 2022

What is the Uzumaki thing in ramen? ›

Narutomaki, a type of cured fish cake, is a popular ramen topping with a distinctive pink swirl.

What does Tori stand for in ramen? ›

Not only "tori" means. chicken (which is our signature broth), it comes from.

What does Naruto mean ramen? ›

Naruto, by its literal meaning, refers to the fish cake roll in cup noodles or Japanese ramen, which is the favourite food of Naruto (the character) and the author.

What is the most difficult ramen? ›

While there are many good, humble bowls of shio out there, many ramen chefs see this as the most difficult type of ramen to make, since they can't rely on incredibly flavorful miso and soy sauce to provide the dimension their broth might otherwise lack.

What is creamy ramen called? ›

Tonkotsu is a viscous, creamy, and complex ramen made from simmered pork bones. The bones break down and release collagen while cooking, meaning that tonkotsu can be so thick that it coats the back of a spoon.

What is hippie ramen? ›

HIPPIE RAMEN

Curly noodles topped with spinach, and finished with house-made scallion oil, fragrant sweet onion and a hint of ginger. Try with cheese topping like they do in Japan!

Which ramen is black? ›

Nongshim Shin Ramyun Black Spicy Ramen.

What is the No 1 ramen in Korea? ›

Since hitting the Korean market in 1986, Shin ramyun has been one of the most popular ramyun in and out of Korea. One of many reasons this iconic ramyun has remained at the top of the chart is the distinct spicy flavors in the broth.

What are the 4 components that make up a traditional ramen bowl? ›

In our Ramen Guide article, we've talked about the basic components that make up a bowl of ramen, mainly the soup stock, tare (sauce), noodles, and toppings. Today, we're all about ramen toppings! If you are here for delicious ramen topping ideas, you've come to the right place.

What is the most important part of ramen? ›

The broth is the most important part of the ramen — it's where most of the flavor comes from. Typically, ramen broth is a combination of pork or chicken stock and dashi. Dashi is a simple Japanese soup stock containing kombu and bonito flakes.

What is the secret of ramen? ›

Noodle's Secret ~ Kansui lye water. Japanese lye water called kansui is an indispensable auxiliary ingredient for ramen noodles, and it is no exaggeration to say that it produces the exquisite balance between ramen noodles unique koshi firmness and soup flavour.

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