Make Ramen Broth Richer With Just One Egg — But Always Do This First

Meals don't get much simpler than a packet of instant ramen. If you let that packet of noodles serve as the base of a meal — rather than the meal itself — that's a whole different story. One of the easiest ways to do this is by swirling a raw egg into the broth to add silky richness. You can't just drop it straight into the boiling broth, however. Make sure you temper the egg first.

Adding an egg is a way to seriously upgrade a packet of instant ramen because it not only improves the texture and flavor, but also adds a welcome protein boost. When heated quickly, the proteins in the egg will clump, turning it into little bits of curdled scrambled egg. The protein will still be there, but you won't get the desired silkiness. Fortunately, tempering an egg is actually quite simple.

The goal of tempering is to slowly cook the proteins in the eggs, so that they dissolve into the broth. To do this, beat the egg in a small bowl, then spoon the hot broth from the ramen into the bowl while whisking. This process slowly heats the egg, allowing the proteins to cook without curdling. After one or two ladlefuls of broth, the egg mixture can be added to the ramen pot without concern.

Of course, as delightful as that rich, tempered egg broth is, there's more than one way to improve your ramen bowl with an egg, and each adds 6 grams or so of protein to the meal. Another simple addition is a boiled egg. Sliced in half, it looks nice floating atop the noodles, and gives you a bit more variety in your bites. If you want to get more creative and punch up the flavor further, you can try marinating the boiled eggs, à la Chinese tea eggs.

Hard-boiled eggs are lovely, but the best eggs in soup might be those with a nice runny yolk that dissolves into the broth once it's broken. You can simply poach eggs in another pot on the side, or try carefully cooking them in the ramen broth itself. Alternatively, if you want to skip the whites and focus on that rich orange center, consider making soy-sauce-cured egg yolks to add a decadent pop of color to your ramen.

Finally, there is one more way that you can use an egg with these noodles, and it is eschewing the tempering technique to make something more akin to egg drop soup. To get those delightful ribbons, you want to thicken the broth with a bit of cornstarch, then beat an egg and slowly pour it into swirling broth. The speed of the swirl decides the size of the egg ribbons, so the slower you stir, the larger the ribbons.