Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
by Chungah
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This quick ramen noodle stir fry is so easy and budget-friendly using ramen noodles, ground beef and the most flavor-packed stir fry sauce!
Why you’ll love this quick ramen noodle stir fry
- Perfect for busy weeknights. Stir-fries are simply quick cooking meals. And this is the ultimate ultra-fast, weeknight-friendly dinner that requires no more than 30 minutes start to finish by using ground beef and instant ramen noodles.
- Highly customizable. This recipe can easily be adapted to mix in what you have on hand. For example, you can swap in ground turkey for the ground beef or use rice noodles in place of the ramen noodles to make it gluten-free. The possibilities are simply endless.
- Budget-friendly. You can essentially use up anything and everything in your fridge, transforming random veggies and proteins into the best clean-out-the-fridge meal.
How to make ramen noodle stir fry
- Cook the noodles. Cook the ramen noodles until al dente, rinsing with cold water to halt the cooking process.
- Prep the stir fry sauce. Combine the beef stock, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and Sriracha.
- Brown the meat. Crumble the ground beef with the onion in a large skillet over medium heat, draining off any excess fat and grease.
- Sauté the aromatics. Stir in the garlic and ginger until fragrant.
- Deglaze the pan. Add the stir fry sauce, lifting up the browned bits (fond) from the bottom of the pan.
- Add the noodles. Stir in the al dente ramen noodles, tossing until evenly coated.
- Serve. Sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds, and serve warm.
Variations and substitutions
- Ramen noodles: substitute fresh lo mein, chow mein, Yaki-Soba or udon noodles
- Beef stock: substitute unsalted chicken stock
- Sriracha: omit for milder flavors
- Ground beef: substitute ground chicken, ground turkey or ground pork
Tools For This Recipe
Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Cook the ramen noodles just until al dente, then rinse with cold water to prevent the noodles from clumping and becoming gummy.
The seasoning packet included with the ramen noodles should be discarded as the recipe builds a more balanced, authentic stir-fry sauce with a few pantry staples.
Yes! You can substitute ground chicken, ground turkey or ground pork. You can also try this recipe instead using boneless, skinless chicken.
Add quick-cooking vegetables such as broccoli, bell pepper, carrots, mushrooms and snap peas.
Always add the sauce towards the end of cooking time, allowing the sauce to thicken and create a glossy coat.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
Video
Ingredients
- 2 (3.5-ounce) packages instant ramen noodles, flavor packets discarded
- ⅓ cup beef stock
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup diced sweet onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling water, cook ramen noodles until tender, about 3-4 minutes; rinse with cold water and drain well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together beef stock, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar and Sriracha.
- Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and onion, and cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat.
- Stir in garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in beef stock mixture, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Stir in ramen noodles until heated through and evenly coated in sauce, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.
Equipment
Notes
- Prep beforehand. This stir fry recipe comes together quickly. Have all the ingredients and sauce ready to go prior to cooking.
- Cook until al dente. Cook the ramen noodles just until al dente as they will continue to cook when stir-fried.
- Rinse noodles with cold water. This will stop the cooking process to tighten the starches and keep the noodles from clumping.
- Use lean ground beef. Opt for 90% or higher, preventing the dish from being overly greasy or oily.
- Make it mild. Omit the Sriracha for milder flavors, perfect for little ones and toddlers.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
My whole family, 3 teenagers included, love this recipe and ask for it every few weeks!
I can’t I believe I waited so long to try this. Another excellent, delicious recipe.
This recipe is excellent and a family favorite! I sometimes switch it up and use pork sausage in place of the ground beef. Also, double the recipe so you have leftovers for lunch the next day. Amazing and super easy!
Can’t wait to try this!
Copied it andhave to go get a few things that normally I don’t have on hand! I am going to make it probably tomorrow. Thanks for posting it. Sure does look and souncd good!
Sandy Harkcom
Gatesville, Tx.76528
Awesome! Used ground pork and added wild mushrooms & some honey. Just spectacular!
We tried this recipe for dinner and it was awesome.
i tried this recipe for the first time and it was delicious
Wow, this was like Asian-style Hamburger Helper! 😀
So delicious, and so so easy. Didn’t change a thing, but next time I think I’ll sub low-sodium oyster sauce (the brand I used made it a little too salty for me), throw in some mushrooms, maybe some bean sprouts, and double-check the size of my ramen packets (I think I used smaller ones – came out a little meat-heavy – but no big deal, just grab some white rice!). DAEBAK!
This looks FABULOUS (not surprised)! What can I substitute for the Oyster Sauce, as I am allergic to it, but I’d really love to try this recipe!
Your recipes never disappoint! I tripled the Thai meatball recipe from your site and needed a recipe that would use the leftover meatballs. Friends who came for dinner raved about your Quick Ramen Noodle Stir Fry. It’s a keeper!
I used brown rice ramen noodles from Costco, subbed in the meatballs, used Hoisin sauce ( couldn’t find oyster sauce) and added sugar snap peas, slivered carrots and red bell pepper for color and crunch. So good! Sure wish I had leftovers of this!
This was SO good. Increased the ingredients by 50% for my family of four and could have doubled it. No leftovers. Did add a Tbsp of Sambal Olek, 2 c of chopped broccoli and a cup of grated carrot. Yummy!!’
This is easy and delicious, and I will definitely be making again. I didn’t have rice wine vinegar, so I replaced with apple cider vinegar.
This is really damn delicious!
I made this recipe just as it says but added all the packets with ramen. Also cooked 1 cup onions chopped 1 stalk of celery chopped 1 heaping teaspoon od chopped garlic. Once ramen is cooked in microwave I rinsed in cold water and drained well. In sesame oil i fried ramen then added veggies, liquid, chicken it was so good. Will definitely make again.
Fully in love with this recipe, and everyone who has tried it has asked for it, too! I usually double the recipe, triple the sauce, and add stir fried peppers, broccoli, and shiitake to make it a complete meal. I love to use dried shiitake so I can use the rehydration water in the recipe (chef’s kiss). If I have it, I top it off with Trader Joe’s chili onion crunch. Sooo good.
The recipe looks quite delicious, please add a video too it’ll help me a lot while preparing this. Thanks.
I don’t usually leave recipe reviews, but I had to for this one!
The highest food compliment in my house is when my husband has seconds. He had second and thirds!
This is so easy, so flavorful and reheats really well for lunch the next day.
Honestly, I would make it once a week but I don’t want my husband sick of it.
I didn’t use oyster sauce, I used soy sauce. Otherwise I pretty much followed it to the letter.
Delicious!
I wanted something quick and yummy and this was both of those things. I saw some other recipes using Ramen noodles like a chicken Ramen stir fry that I’m going to try.
This recipe is easy, so delicious and on repeat every week at my home!! Thank you!!!