Spicy Pulled Pork Ramen

Spicy pulled pork ramen made with homemade bone broth and aromatics like lemongrass and ginger will satisfy your hungry family and cure the cold weather blues. Use your leftover pulled pork and other favorite vegetables to create this soul satisfying bowl of noodle goodness. Find more leftover pulled pork recipes here.

My kids love ramen. They love soup and the love all the noodles they can get in their soup bowl. My husband was the first to introduce ramen to them. And yes, it was the instant totally bad for you ramen bricks and sodium laden soup broth.

I learned to fill their ramen bowls up with vegetables and meat to make them healthy-ish. With a giant Asian market only 10 minutes away, we’ve stocked on all different kinds of noodles and ingredients. And eventually, I learned to make my own ramen broth, including this delicious spicy pulled pork ramen.

What is ramen?

Ramen is popular Japanese soup consisting of wheat noodles. Japanese ramen was inspired by the Chinese and their noodles. It has evolved into a filling and inexpensive meal popular all over the world.

There are many different varieties and flavors of ramen. And for broths, there are 3 basic types. My ramen is not a traditional broth, but inspired by traditional ramen ingredients. If you would like something more traditional, check out this post all about Japanese ramen.

And of course, the ramen toppings are endless. But I’ll go into that later.

How to make pork ramen broth

The base of this pork ramen broth is pork bone broth. If you do not have or cannot find pork broth, you can substitute with chicken or vegetable stock. The higher quality of the stock you use, the better tasting ramen broth you will have.

I start the ramen broth by sautéing lemon grass and onions. I love the aroma and flavor of lemongrass and have a plant in my yard so I can use often. It was a delicious base for my chicken udon noodle soup with lemongrass, so I used it again for my ramen broth.

Once the vegetables are soft and aromatic, you add garlic, ginger, miso and chile paste. When you add the pork broth, stir in soy sauce, sake and dried shiitake mushrooms. Let the broth simmer for about 30 minutes and let all the flavors meld together.

After the broth is simmered and done, just strain out the solids and your broth is ready for noodles!

Best noodles for ramen

Ramen noodles come in all shapes and sizes. You have the squiggly bricks similar to what you find in the very Americanized packaged bricks you find at the grocery store. Japanese ramen noodles can also be found flat and straight. Whatever shape noodles you use, for it be ramen, they do need to be wheat noodles.

To cook the ramen noodles, it is best to cook them separately from the broth. A pot of boiling salted water is all you need to do that. You can add the noodles to the strained ramen broth to cook, but they will soak up more of that delicious broth.

So boil up the noodles, drain them and then serve them with your ramen broth and toppings.

Best toppings for pork ramen

This is by far my family’s favorite part of enjoying ramen. Each person can customize their bowl of pork ramen any way they want to and use their favorite vegetables. Because this is pork ramen, the meat we use is pork – specifically leftover pulled pork (without the barbecue sauce, of course). You can also use slices of pork loin or pork belly.

For the pork ramen pictured below, I used shredded carrots, bean sprouts, soft boiled egg, assorted mushrooms, cilantro and limes. Vietnamese pho is served with fresh herbs and we Persians love our fresh herbs. So it seemed totally natural to serve them with our pork ramen.

If you really want to make this a spicy ramen, feel free to add more chile paste to your soup. Listed below are some of our favorite ramen toppings. Whatever toppings you do use, keep them cut thin so the hot broth will soften them.

• Shredded pork
• Shredded carrots
• Shredded cabbage
• Bean sprouts
• Assorted mushrooms like enoki, oyster, beech and maitake
• Celery
• Bok Choy
• Radish sprouts
• Fresh spinach
• Dried seaweed
• Bamboo shoots
• Corn
• Chile paste
• Chile oil
• Soft boiled egg
• Salmon roe
• Cilantro
• Green onions
• Thai basil
• Lime wedges
• Kimchi

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Yield: serves 4

Spicy Pulled Pork Ramen

Print

Spicy pulled pork ramen made with homemade bone broth and aromatics like lemongrass and ginger will satisfy your hungry family and cure the cold weather blues. Use your leftover pulled pork and other favorite vegetables to create this soul satisfying bowl of noodle goodness.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lemongrass stalk
• ¼ small onion, sliced
• 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1-inch knob of ginger, grated
• 1 ½ TBS sake
• 3 teaspoon miso
• 2 teaspoon chile paste
• 2 teaspoon soy sauce
• 5 slices dried shiitake mushrooms
• 6 cups pork broth
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 12 oz dry ramen noodles
• 4 soft boiled eggs
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1 cup shredded pork
• 1 lime, quartered
• Handful of fresh herbs like cilantro or Thai basil

Instructions

1. Heat a large pot over high heat and add olive oil and sesame oil.
2. When the oil is hot, add the lemongrass and onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, ginger, miso, chile paste and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Pour in the pork broth, sake, soy sauce and dried shiitake mushrooms.
5. Bring the broth to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
6. Using a slotted spoon or pour through a colander, remove and discard the solids and reserve the broth.
7. While the broth is simmering, bring another large pot to boil with kosher salt.
8. When water is boiling, add ramen noodles and cook until done per time on package directions.
9. Drain noodles and divide into 4 large bowls.
10. Ladle in strained ramen broth.
11. Add favorite toppings like soft boiled eggs, shredded carrots, bean sprouts, shredded pork, limes and herbs. Add more chile paste if you like it spicy!

Notes

This serves 4 large bowls or 6 small bowls of ramen soup.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1 bowl
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 456Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 145mgSodium: 2085mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 22g

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