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?
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I made this last night and it was very good. Even my picky eater liked it. I followed the recipe just as printed with 2 minor exceptions. I don’t do Sriracha so used some Mae Ploy sweet chili sauce along with a few drops of hot sauce in its place. And I added broccoli florets as called for in your chicken version of this recipe. I will be making this again. I think I might try Lo Mein noodles next time? Thanks for sharing an EZ and delicious recipe.
This turned out really good. Next time I will double the beef broth mixture and add a few more veggies.
Yes, we doubled the sauce but I only added the original half of it TO the noodles/beef mixture and saved the rest for people to add to individual servings. The one time I doubled the sauce and added it all to the mixture, it was far too salty and overdone. So, for us, doubling the sauce but divvying it up works GREAT. This is a fantastic dish and super-easy and fast. I use Ozzie plain Ramen Noodles that I score off of Amazon.
Another home run recipe! Loved it!! Doubled everything except the ground beef, and added sliced zucchini and baby bella mushrooms. I forgot the sesame seeds at the end, but it was still outstanding!
I have made this once a week for the last three months haha. I’m obsessed! I also sauté some mushrooms and add them in with the noodles at the end.
What could I use instead of oyster sauce?
Put some oysters in a juicer
LOL
Fish sauce preferably or soy sauce
This was delicious! Made it vegetarian by replacing the ground beef with meatless burgers crumbled. Added peppers + broccoli! This is going into regular meal rotation! Thanks!
So great! Used ground turkey instead of beef and added sliced red pepper and broccoli florets so we’d be getting our daily veggies…Fabulous taste! Never would have thought to do a stir fry with ground meat but this worked out great! Husband from the other room: “This is incredible; you have to make this a part of the rotation!”. Thanks for a fabulous recipe .
Oh, I love ramen noodles! I’ll certainly try this one very soon. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is super delicious thanks for providing this receipe. Made it for lunch with a few added veggies for crunch and can safely say this is going to be added to my rotation of super good things.
Thanks again!
Very good. I add small mixed veggies or chopped up broccoli to get some extra vitamins. I’ve also made it with ground chicken and chicken broth instead.
Wow, tried it today and everyone in the family totally loved it. Added some crushed chilli as we love spice and the flavour was amazing
Picky eater approved—every person in my family (including 4 kids) asked for seconds! The 8-yr-old asked if I could make this every night!!
I was unable to use oyster sauce due to allergies, so I mixed soy sauce and coconut aminos and I felt that the flavor was a little bit lacking– I actually added a bit of sugar since the rice wine vinegar needed to be balanced. I would love to try with ground pork as well.
Is there a good substitute noodle you would suggest? While I love ramen noodles, I am trying to get away from things that aren’t good for me (ie fried, dried noodles).
Use Moroheiya noodles. They’re made from plants, so they are green color, and really yummy and healthy. You can get them on Amazon!
spring cabbage cut very fine, can be a good substitute for noodles or replace 50% of the noodles with the cabbage.
FYI, Momofoku sells ramen noodles that have not been fried!
Is rice wine vinegar the same as rice vinegar? and/or is there a substition for rice wine vinegar? Thanks,
I ended up using white wine vinegar instead of the rice wine vinegar. Everything else the same. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you!
I made a few substitutes according to what was on hand. Added som broccoli and perfection
I made this for dinner the other night, and just inhaled the leftovers for lunch! I didn’t have any oyster sauce (I can’t eat any seafood/fish), so subbed soy sauce. I could’ve eaten the entire pot by myself. 🙂
I made it today but used chicken in place of beef, it was a fantastic. You can feel the texture of toasted sesame seeds.
Thanks for sharing such delicious recipes following mores recipe
This was delicious! Made it vegetarian by replacing the ground beef with meatless burgers crumbled. Added peppers + broccoli! This is going into regular meal rotation! Thanks!
Every recipe I made from this site is “damn delicious”, thank-you Chungah!❤