6 Highest Quality And 5 Lowest Quality Instant Ramen Brands

Instant ramen isn't just lore from your college days, but a staple in many diets around the world today. Primarily consisting of a dried noodle cake, along with a pack of seasoning or a sauce packet, this quick-fix meal option is meant to satisfy cravings, fill you up, and deliver maximum flavor, all in under a few minutes. What you need to know about ramen (and not necessarily ramyeon, its Korean counterpart) to judge it best is that this dish originated in China, building on flavors from a rich meat broth, hand-cut noodles, and fresh vegetables. The dish only made its way to Japan in the 1900s where it rose to wider fame after World War II.

Despite its much-loved status today, instant ramen isn't inherently a healthy meal option, especially when regularly consumed, as it's typically loaded with sodium, lacks essential nutrients like protein and fiber, and may have controversial additives. However, there are definitely higher-quality options that include more protein and vegetables, less salt, and fewer processed ingredients.

In our search for the highest quality ramens to incorporate in our diets (and the lowest quality ones to leave behind), we examined nutritional labels, flavors, online reviews, and ingredients. From restaurant-quality ramens like Momofuku to the spice extraordinaire Samyang, look for your favorite ramen below and see if it made the cut.

Bringing the flavors of New York's Momofuku Noodle Bar to your bowl is the brand's packaged ramen. If you've never slurped the restaurant's mouthwatering noodles, developed by celebrity chef David Chang, getting the packaged version is about as close as it gets. The ramen is made in collaboration with A-sha, a Taiwanese noodle company. A-sha's 18-hour air-dried noodle technique results in chewy noodles with more protein and fewer calories compared to many other noodle brands. Getting the ramen packs will also likely be much cheaper than eating in-person at the noodle bar, as a 5-pack of noodles retails at $13 on the website.

It currently comes in five variations of spicy, sweet, and savory, each with a sauce packet that builds on ingredients like Sichuan spices, Korean chili paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, and fresh scallions to deliver maximum flavor. America's Test Kitchen rated its Tingly Chili flavor as the best instant noodle of the lot, owing to its chewy texture and spicy kick from the sauce, which adheres well to the noodles. The noodles also pair well with flavors from carbonara, kimchi, and pad Thai by adding contrasting ingredients.

However, a look at the nutritional label reveals sodium levels that are relatively high, from 990 to 1,400 milligrams per serving. These likely come from the ramen's dose of soy sauce, which is naturally salty, but the brand recommends halving the sauce pack or cutting it with water if you're watching your salt intake.

Many people were surely introduced to the flavors of Korean ramen with Samyang, featuring a spicy gochujang and gochugaru sauce base. Its Buldak line has inspired viral trends like the Fire Noodle Challenge owing to its super hot flavors. However, Samyang's products beg the question of whether spice alone should carry a ramen's flavor. Even its original ramen has four peppers in its ingredients including cayenne, chili, black, and red peppers, which pack an intense heat, and few natural ingredients. With thick-cut noodles that absorb sauce well, they're easy to slurp and a darling for ramen eaters tired of broth-heavy noodles.

Taste wise, it's no secret that Samyang is a consumer favorite (there's just something about that eye-popping spice). However, in terms of quality, it is much like many other mass-produced ramen brands. It contains 1,930 milligrams of sodium per pack, which is just a few hundred grams short of your daily recommended maximum (set at 2,300 milligrams a day by the FDA, but the American Heart Association argues that a max of 1,500 milligrams is a better goal). Other ingredients that make it a low-quality meal option include 5 grams of added sugar, which is unusual considering there's little detectable sweetness in this ramen's flavor. Price-wise, this ramen is more costly than many other mainstream brands like Nissin's Top Ramen, at $13.27 for a 5-pack (about $2.65 per pack) on Walmart at the time of writing.

If you were a college student after 1970, chances are your diet consisted heavily of Top Ramen. Although abundant in flavors, the often orange-hued packs were most commonly stacked in dorms, as the reliable flavors, under three-minute cook time, and thin noodles were an easy and palatable meal. Graduating (from college and this ramen) was probably like ending a fever dream as more authentic-tasting and flavorful ramens entered your diet. 

Nutritionally, these packs often include a paragraph of hard-to-pronounce ingredients, relying on preservatives to maintain shelf life, and even potentially harmful ones like TBHQ which has been potentially linked to neurological issues via animal studies, though it's also considered safe in small doses (via Healthline).

One pack also typically contains 1,530 milligrams of sodium and 7 grams of saturated fat, which can increase your cholesterol level and risk of heart disease. All these factors aside, Top Ramen probably isn't the worst instant ramen out there, but as consumers complain about bland flavor, mostly soupy consistency, and cardboard-like noodles here, these aren't anything to write home about. The only saving grace of this ramen is its low price point. Currently, you can pay $6.47 for a 5-pack of the chicken flavor on Amazon, which comes out to about $1.30 per pack.

With Korean brands taking center stage in the instant ramen race, NongShim is a front runner. Its Shin Ramen is an iconic line with flavors like the Shin Black that are a particular favorite of both chefs and everyday customers. However, it's the original flavor that has most fans entranced, with its spicy beef broth made from beef bone extract, dried shiitake mushrooms, and smooth, thin noodles.

It's easy to get lost in the oil-flecked surface of the instant soup while slurping these noodles by the mouthful. But don't forget to inspect what's really in the pack. The ingredients listed here read like an essay on what shouldn't go in your ramen, while also noting that beef flavors make up less than 2% of ingredients. The rest are artificial flavors, preservatives, and processed flours and proteins. Of course, it's generally not going to be damaging to your health if you consume this only occasionally. The nutrients to look out for are the 1,960 milligrams of sodium and 8 grams of saturated fat, which should be especially limited if you're watching your intake of these. Price wise, these are a bang for your buck, as a 4-pack costs $4.66 on Walmart (at the time of writing), and each 120 gram pack falls at about $1.16.

The smiley-faced figure with bangs on the Maruchan logo is no stranger to many people, who enjoyed it as an after-school snack and college meal. This Japanese brand became a household staple in the U.S. in the '80s, with its yellow-gold packaging and familiar comfort flavors like chicken and beef. For many, this was simply the OG ramen. Now, trashing all your childhood memories of instant ramen wasn't on our agenda here, but can you blame us for the subpar quality of most ramen brands? At least this is the case for Maruchan, whose thin noodles are basically a carb cake made from enriched flours and preserved with TBHQ.

Flavors like its creamy chicken rely on a powdered cream substitute made from palm oil, the production of which has been sometimes been deemed harmful to the environment (though palm oil's reputation has been recovering somewhat in recent years) and corn syrup to carry flavor. Other flavors like the classic chicken, pork, and shrimp aren't that appetizing either, and were at the bottom of a Food Republic ranking of every Maruchan flavor from worst to best. On the price front, a 12-pack of chicken ramen costs $8.94 on Walmart (at the time of writing), falling at roughly $0.74 per pack, making it the cheapest ramen on this list.

Rating the highest and lowest quality instant ramen brands came down to a few factors, including taste, ingredients, and nutritional value. We singled out ramens with fewer ingredients overall and fewer artificial add-ins, as well as high-quality flavor as reported by reviewers. Those with processed ingredients, preservatives, and high quantities of sodium and sugar were rated as low quality. We also argue that noodles made from whole grain flours like brown rice and organic wheat are a sign of higher quality ramen, as well as noodle cakes that were air-dried as opposed to deep-fried.

Most ramen brands have relatively high levels of sodium, but when these levels are due to excessive salt and flavor enhancers like MSG in abundance, it lowered the ramen's quality overall. Finally, we compared the prices of instant ramen brands and found that higher quality ramen tended to be costlier (coming in as high as $9 per pack) but also delivered flavor and texture that you may find to be similar to ramen served up by your favorite restaurant.

Static Media owns and operates Mashed and Food Republic.