Instant Pot Ramen

Instant Pot ramen? You bet. You can use a pressure cooker to make steaming bowls of umami-packed noodles! It’s total comfort food.

Want the best ever comfort food? Steaming bowls of slurpable ramen is where it’s at. Authentic ramen from a Japanese restaurant is the absolute best. But the next best thing is trying it homemade! This recipe was born out of a challenge: can you use your pressure cooker to make ramen? (Spoiler alert: you can.) This Instant Pot ramen features a savory broth flavored with umami-laden miso and soy sauce, tender noodles, and runny soft boiled eggs. Ready to get cooking?

What’s in this Instant Pot ramen?

Ramen is a traditional Japanese dish of broth and wheat noodles (here’s a Ramen Guide for more). Alex and I love seeking out incredible ramen at restaurants. We love making it at home, too! You’ll need a few special ingredients to make ramen at home, but it’s not hard to put together:

• Eggs to soft-boil
• Miso paste of any type
• Onion, garlic and green onion for aromatics
• Spinach, carrots, mushrooms, and Napa cabbage for the veggies
• Ramen noodles (more below!)
• Vegetable broth
• Sesame oil, soy sauce, and mirin
• Coconut milk for creaminess

Is it faster to make ramen in a pressure cooker?

Actually, not necessarily! This Instant Pot ramen recipe is based on our Easy Miso Ramen, which takes just 30 minutes to make on the stovetop. This recipe takes about 35 minutes, and more if you want to soft boil your eggs in the Instant Pot. Why?

• Preheat time! The Instant Pot needs to come up to pressure before it cooks food. While it has incredibly short cook times, the time to “preheat” gets tacked on to that every time you use it. The time varies based on the volume of food in the pressure cooker.
• What’s the timing breakdown? This Instant Pot ramen takes about 10 to 15 minutes to preheat, so add that to everything else and it’s a little longer than the stovetop version. If you want to soft boil eggs in the Instant Pot, that tacks on another 10 minutes.

While it’s not faster: it’s still valuable to have an Instant Pot version of ramen! It’s helpful for when you don’t have access to a full kitchen. It’s amazing all the food you can make in this relatively small pot with just access to 1 outlet.

Want more ramen recipes? See 6 Ramen Ideas to Try at Home.

Two ways to cook the noodles

Can you cook the ramen noodles in the Instant Pot too? There are varying methods for making ramen noodles in a pressure cooker. The main challenge is that cooking the noodles right in the broth causes them to soak it up, resulting in less broth. Here’s what we recommend to avoid this:

• If serving the ramen away, you can cook the noodles in the Instant Pot. Once you’ve finished the broth, you can switch back to Saute mode and cook the noodles right in the broth. But eat them right away! If you have leftovers sitting in the pot, you may even want to separate the noodles from the broth in two containers so that they don’t soak up too much broth.
• If you might have leftovers or you’re making it in advance, cook the noodles on the stovetop. Yes, it’s not quite as Instant Pot-reliant of a recipe that way, but this avoids the soggy noodle problem!

What is miso paste?

Miso is a Japanese fermented soybean paste that’s full of nutrients and savory flavor. It’s full of umami, the so-called fifth flavor that is the definition of savory. You’ll find umami in meats, mushrooms, cheese…and of course, miso! You can find miso at most major grocery stores near the other Japanese ingredients. There are many different types of miso: red, yellow, and brown. You can use any type for this ramen recipe!

Where to find noodles for Instant Pot ramen

Where to find ramen noodles for this Instant Pot ramen? Here are a few tips on types of noodles and where to find them:

• Standard grocery vs Japanese or Asian grocery: Most grocery stores give you 1 or 2 options for ramen noodles: usually you’ll find them dried. You can also can go to your local Japanese or Asian grocery; they will have a wider variety including fresh and frozen.
• Fresh vs dried: You can use either fresh or dried noodles here. Fresh are our favorite, but dried are easier to find.
• Curly vs straight: You’ll find noodles packaged with the word “ramen” that are curly or straight. Ramen is basically a wheat noodle served in broth, so there’s a lot of variation. You can use either! Here we used a straight noodle, which works just as well as a curly like in our Mushroom Ramen.

Want to learn more about noodle types? Here’s a review of 6 different packaged ramen noodles.

Is there a plant-based or vegan variation?

This Instant Pot ramen recipe is vegetarian. But of you prefer not using eggs, you can use tofu instead to make it vegan or plant based! The easiest option is to make our Marinated Tofu, which doesn’t require a stovetop! Or, use the tofu preparation in Tofu Ramen or Vegan Mushroom Ramen. The first has seasoned, crispy tofu cubes, and the second is lightly seasoned and quicker to prepare.

What kind of Instant Pot to use?

The pressure cooker we used to test this recipe is the Instant Pot 6 Qt Pressure Cooker. But there are lots of great brands out there! If you’re using a different brand, you may find that the cook times are slightly different.

This Instant Pot ramen recipe is…

Vegetarian. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, use Marinated Tofu.

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More Instant Pot soups

A pressure cooker is so versatile, you can use it for so many things! Here are some of our favorite Instant Pot soups:

• Instant Pot Potato Soup It’s insanely creamy, a healthy spin with no heavy cream and no blender needed.
• Instant Pot Wild Rice Soup Fan favorite! Creamy, cozy and plant-based.
• Instant Pot Minestrone Chunky vegetables, pasta, and a hearty broth: top with pesto or Parmesan for a tasty healthy meal!