Spicy cheese ramen

Spicy cheese ramen is a slurpy, and satisfying ramen dish with a delicious spicy, creamy, and cheesy combination. It's a quick comforting meal that gets ready within 20 minutes.

Some days call for meals that are fast, fuss-free, and still delicious. Instant ramen is the most common dish made around the world on such days. In just a few minutes, a simple packet of noodles can be transformed into something warm and comforting.

I make different versions of ramen saved for different moods like one pot vegetable ramen, cabbage ramen, pumpkin ramen soup, tofu ramen soup, or peanut butter ramen.

Today, I am sharing the recipe for one of my favorite ramen recipes called spicy cheese ramen. 

The mix of fiery chili with gooey melted cheese creates a deliciously creamy sauce that coats every noodle beautifully making it hard to resist.

If you also love cheese but have never tried ramen with cheese, this is a must try recipe. 

What's needed to make spicy cheese ramen?

For this spicy cheese ramen recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

Ingredient notes and substitute suggestions

• Instant ramen: Feel free to use your favorite instant ramen.
• Cheese: I have used shredded cheddar, you can use any melting cheese of choice. Different varieties of cheese can be mixed too. You can also use cheese slices.
• Gochujang: Gochujang is a fermented Korean chili paste. You will easily find it in the international section of most grocery stores these days. It's easily available online too. Or, use any other spicy condiment of choice like chili oil or sriracha for a spicy kick. You can also use a spicy variety of ramen and use it's seasoning to make your ramen spicy. However, you won't get the umami flavor that comes from Gochujang, if you use chili oil or sriracha.
• Spring onion (green onions): Adding spring onion is optional. You can skip it or use fresh cilantro too to garnish your ramen.
• Seasonings: I have used seasonings which came along with the instant noodles, black pepper, and garlic powder to flavor the ramen. You can use seasonings of your choice. Ramen seasoning, gochujang paste, and cheddar cheese are salty so don't add additional salt to this dish.

Other ingredient details and nutritional information are shared in the recipe card.

How to make (step by step instructions)?

Step 1: Put water, gochujang paste, instant ramen seasoning, garlic powder, and black pepper in a pot. Mix and let the water boil.

Step 2: Add instant ramen and cook.

Step 3: Once the ramen is cooked turn off the heat. Add shredded cheese and mix.

Step 4: Garnish with chopped spring onion.

Your delicious cheese ramen is ready to be enjoyed!

Ways to serve spicy cheese ramen

Serve your ramen piping hot.

You can add toppings like sesame seeds, chopped chili peppers, fried garlic, fried onion, etc. before serving.

If you want to add a side dish to this ramen, serve it with kimchi, pickled radish, Asian spicy cucumber salad, etc.

Storing tips

It's better if you consume cheese ramen immediately after cooking. However if you have some leftover, allow it reaching room temperature and then transfer to an airtight container. Refrigerate for maximum 4 days.

To reheat microwave in a microwave safe container for around 2 minutes or until evenly heated, stirring in between.

Don't freeze cheese ramen.

Recipe tips, tricks, and variation suggestions

1. The gochujang paste that I used was not very spicy so I have added 2 tablespoons of it. If your paste is very hot and your heat tolerance is low, add less. Taste the gochujang paste before adding to the dish, to determine how spicy it is.
2. Instead of using shredded cheddar cheese, you can also add cheddar cheese slices.
3. Mozzarella cheese can be used too in this recipe.
4. Cook the noodles slightly al dente, as they’ll continue to soften in the cheesy sauce.
5. Add milk or cream to make it creamier and tone down the spice if needed.
6. Don’t overboil after adding cheese, gentle heat helps it stay creamy instead of stringy.
7. Add more water if you want to make soupy ramen. You can add cornstarch slurry to get the soup like consistency.
8. If you don't have gochujang paste, use any hot sauce, red chili flakes, of chili oil to add heat to the ramen.
9. Don't add salt to this cheese ramen as ramen seasoning, gochujang paste, and cheddar cheese are already salty.
10. Toss in sautéed tofu, mushrooms, spinach, corn, or vegetables of choice  for extra flavor and color.

Frequently asked question

More easy ramen recipes

If you enjoyed this cheese ramen and want to try my other quick and easy ramen recipes then don't miss to check out the following recipes:

• Veggie ramen
• Cabbage ramen
• Peanut butter noodles
• Chili oil noodles
• Tofu noodle soup
• Pumpkin noodle soup
• Thai red curry noodle soup

More vegetarian recipes for lazy day cooking

Looking for more lazy day cooking recipes? The following recipes are worth trying out:

• Tomato quinoa
• Peanut butter rice
• Mushroom orzo with green peas
• Creamy vegan tomato pasta
• Cream cheese pasta
• Frozen vegetable soup
• Vegetarian Greek spaghetti
• Mushroom noodles