The Best Easy Miso Ramen with Salmon

Miso ramen is a savory dish that combines the flavors of miso, onion, and salmon for a savory, tangy, delightful bowl of goodness.

Serves: 4 Time: 35 minutes Cookbook: Ramen Obsession

My wife absolutely adores a good bowl of ramen. Her love for ramen began during summer breaks when she and her mom enjoyed a lunchtime ritual of instant ramen. Those instant packets of warmth and goodness still bring her happy memories and she cherishes them with each bowl.

When I got a cookbook solely dedicated to making the Japanese noodle soup, she was just a little bit excited. Thus, the quest to make miso ramen soup was born. This miso ramen recipe has several steps but the cooking process is not difficult and you’ll soon have a bowl of goodness that can rival ramen restaurants.

Let’s get cooking!

Jump Ahead:

• ❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• 🍜 Ingredients Needed to Make Miso Ramen with Salmon
• 🍴 Equipment You’ll Need in the Kitchen
• 🥄 How to Make Miso Ramen with Salmon
• ♾️ Variations on Miso Ramen with Salmon
• ❓ Miso Ramen with Salmon: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Comforting: There’s nothing quite like a bowl of miso ramen on a cold winter day. It’s steaming hot, savory, deeply flavorful, and alltogether comforting.

Flavorful: This ramen is packed with the flavors of sesame, miso, green onions, and salmon. It’s savory, tangy, and rich all at once.

Unique: If you’ve never had miso ramen before, it’s time to try it! It is a unique dish that you might just fall in love with like we did!

Ingredients Needed to Make Miso Ramen with Salmon

• White Miso Paste: Two different types of miso paste are traditionally used in this recipe. White paste is a sweeter miso and has a more mild flavor. Red miso paste has a much more distinctive flavor and is not enjoyed by everyone. You can use all white, all red, or half and half according to the recipe. Your local Asian grocery store should carry the paste needed for the miso broth, a key ingredient in many Japanese recipes.
• Salt: This recipe calls for Kosher or sea salt.
• Sesame Paste: You can use either Japanese sesame paste or tahini. Both work well and tahini is an excellent substitute for harder-to-find Japanese paste.
• Sesame Oil: This oil lends a rich flavor to the soup that you would miss if it wasn’t included.
• Rice Wine Vinegar: Rice wine vinegar helps even out all the flavors and is a perfect addition to an Asian pantry if you don’t already have a bottle.
• Salmon Filets: Wild-caught salmon filets are not only the healthiest you can get, but are visually beautiful, an important aspect when serving ramen.
• Chicken Broth: This calls for homemade chicken stock, but if you don’t have the time or can’t collect enough bones for broth, then you can substitute store-bought.
• Spinach: Fresh spinach is a delightful part of this dish and is not to be left out. Regular spinach or baby spinach both work well.
• Ramen Noodles: You can use fresh noodles for this or dried. Fresh ramen noodles can be purchased at ramen shops, while dried noodles are carried in most any supermarket. If you’re gluten-free, use GF ramen noodles, like rice noodles.
• Green Onions: Green onions (aka spring onion) are used to garnish each bowl of soup. They are present to contribute both color and flavor.

Equipment Needed In the Kitchen

Mixing Bowls

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12-Inch Skillet

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3-Quart Saucepan

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Stock Pot

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Spider

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• Mixing Bowl: A medium-size mixing bowl is needed for mixing up a batch of soup base.
• Skillet: You want a skillet that can hold 3 salmon filets.
• Medium Pot: A 3-quart pot is perfect for cooking up your ramen noodles.
• Large Pot: The large pot will be used to heat your chicken broth and wilt the spinach. It should be large enough so that using a spider to remove the spinach isn’t difficult.
• Spider: This is a slotted strainer used in much Asian cooking that makes removing cooked food from liquid a simple task.

How to Make Miso Ramen with Salmon

Miso ramen has a number of steps to complete, but the end product is more than worth it!

Make the miso tare

First up, miso tare.

Take out a mixing bowl and add salt, miso paste, sesame paste, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar.

Mix well until the entire mixture is completely combined. Set aside.

Cook the salmon

Next, salt and pepper both sides of the salmon. Then take out a medium-sized saucepan and heat it over medium-high heat with sesame oil.

When the pan is hot, lay the salmon skin-side down. This allows the skin to get crispy while the salmon cooks through. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or skin-side down for 7-8 minutes until fish reaches an internal temperature of 125 degrees F.

Remove from the skillet and let rest on a plate.

Cook the ramen noodles

Bring a pot of cold water to a boil. Once the water has reached a rolling boil, add the noodles and cook according to package instructions.

Once the noodles are cooked, drain them into a colander.

Cook broth and spinach

Add your chicken broth to a large stock pot and heat over medium heat. Allow the broth to almost reach a simmer.

Once the broth nearly starts to simmer, add the spinach and allow to wilt for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Use a spider to remove the spinach from the broth and set to the side.

Assemble the ramen

First, add 2 tablespoons of miso tare into each bowl.

Next, ladle the chicken broth over the miso.

Add a quarter of the noodles into each bowl.

Stir and lift the noodles into the soup and miso to mix the ingredients together.

Add a quarter of the spinach to each bowl.

Finally, add a fourth of the salmon to each bowl.

Add scallions to the top of each bowl and serve!

Variations on Miso Ramen with Salmon

Miso ramen is absolutely delicious as-is, but if you feel like playing around with mix-ins or flavor profiles, try these ideas.

Optional Topping Choices: Add different toppings such as a ramen egg (a soft boiled egg), bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, stir-fried bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, and sesame seeds. Load on the veggies for an extra healthy ramen recipe. Most of these items can be found at a local Asian market or grocery stores in highly populated areas.

Flavor Mix-Ins: For a different flavor profile, add some chili bean paste or hot chili oil for spicy miso ramen or soy sauce for a different type of umami flavor.

Broth Options: Try making your miso soup with a different ramen broth including beef stock or vegetable stock. If you have pork bones, you could also make pork bone broth for this ramen. Any flavorful broth will work very well.

Miso Ramen with Salmon: Tips, Tricks, and FAQs

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