These beef ramen noodles cook up fast and easy with tender slices of beef and broccoli florets in a quick garlic and ginger sauce.
I have another comfort food recipe for you today, one of my personal favorites, beef ramen noodles.
There’s just something about sitting down with a giant bowl of ramen noodles and beef that is so cozy and satisfying.
Best of all, this dish is super easy, and once you have your ingredients assembled, it comes together FAST.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch helps protect the meat while cooking, ensuring that it stays tender, and helps the sauce stick to the meat. If you don’t have cornstarch, you can skip it and just marinate the meat with soy sauce alone, but I recommend picking some up the next time you’re at the store. It’s a good ingredient to keep on hand.
- Top sirloin: I like top sirloin for this recipe because it cooks up nice and tender and has a fantastic beefy flavor. You could also use flap meat or flank steak.
- Instant ramen: Cheap ramen packets work perfectly in this recipe. Any flavor will do since you’ll be discarding the flavor packets.
- Low-sodium soy sauce and beef broth: I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce and beef broth in this dish or it comes out quite salty. I have made it with regular soy sauce and broth, but with full-salt ingredients, it will definitely be too salty for some people.
- Sesame oil: I love the flavor boost toasted sesame oil gives this dish, but untoasted sesame oil works fine. You can also use olive oil.
- Rice vinegar: Rice vinegar (AKA rice wine vinegar) adds a little acidic kick to the ramen. If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can replace it with the same amount of apple cider vinegar or half the amount of white distilled vinegar (white distilled vinegar has a much stronger flavor so you don’t need as much).
- Fresh ginger: The flavor of fresh ginger is so good in this dish, use it if you can, but there are measurements in the recipe card for using ground ginger instead.
Some Quick Ginger Tips & Tricks
- Don’t feel like peeling your ginger? Skip it. You really don’t need to peel ginger for most dishes. Just grate away, peel and all.
- Store extra ginger in your freezer. Ginger freezes extremely well. Pop it in a freezer bag and toss it in your freezer. When you need more ginger, you can grate it right from frozen. No need to defrost.
- Not sure how to grate ginger? It’s really simple, you just need a microplane or the small holes of a box grater or hand-held grater. Check out this video to watch it being done.
How To Make Beef Ramen Noodles
1. Prep the meat: Before you prep any of the rest of your ingredients, slice your meat across the grain into 1/4-inch strips. (Don’t know how or why to slice meat across the grain? Check out this article.) Toss them with a combination of soy sauce and cornstarch, and set aside for a short marinade.
2. Prep the rest of your ingredients: It’s always smart to prep your ingredients in advance when cooking, but especially when making quick-cooking stir frys like this. You won’t have time to run around assembling ingredients once the cooking starts, so pull out and prepare all the rest of your ingredients and line them up in order of use before you start cooking. It will make the whole process go *much* more smoothly.
3. Cook the beef: Once your ingredients are assembled, cook the beef in hot oil. This is all the cooking the beef will get, so make sure it’s cooked to your preferred level of doneness and then transfer it to a large bowl or plate.
4. Make the sauce: Give the pan just a minute to cool and then add sesame oil and heat over medium heat. Cook garlic and ginger until they just begin to turn golden and then add red pepper flakes. Add the rest of your sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook until the sauce is reduced by about a third.
5. Cook broccoli: Add broccoli to the sauce, cover, and cook for 2 minutes. Give the broccoli a stir, replace the cover, and continue to cook until the broccoli is fork-tender. Add beef and toss to coat.
6. Cook the ramen: While the broccoli cooks, cook ramen according to package instructions. Drain and add ramen to the pan with the broccoli and beef. Toss until the noodles are well-coated with sauce.
7. Serve and enjoy: Serve topped with sliced green onions if desired, and enjoy!
FAQ
Where can I buy beef ramen noodles?
You should be able to find instant ramen noodles in the soup aisle at your grocery store. If you’ve never bought packaged ramen before, they usually come in brightly colored rectangular plastic packages.
Is this authentic ramen?
Not even slightly. Japanese ramen is a soup and completely different dish. This recipe just uses ramen noodles as an ingredient.
Can I freeze beef ramen noodles?
I don’t recommend it. Broccoli and ramen don’t freeze well and become mushy when defrosted and reheated.
If you really want to make this dish for the freezer, just cook the beef and the sauce and freeze them together. When you’re ready to serve the ramen, reheat and then toss the beef and sauce with steamed broccoli and freshly made ramen noodles.
More Asian-inspired Recipes
More Comfort Food Faves
Broccoli Beef Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 pound top sirloin steak sliced ¼-inch across the grain
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil preferably toasted*
- 3 garlic cloves crushed or minced
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 cup low-sodium beef broth *
- 2 tablespoons (25g) brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar optional*
- 12 ounces broccoli cut into florets
- 3 3-ounce packages instant ramen noodles discard flavoring packet
- 2 green onions sliced, optional for topping
Instructions
- Whisk together 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce and the cornstarch. Pour over sliced beef and toss to coat. Set aside.
- Prepare and assemble the rest of your ingredients before you begin cooking.
- Set a medium pot of water on to boil for the ramen.
- While the ramen water heats up, in a large skillet with a lid, heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add the sirloin and let it cook undisturbed until the first side is well browned, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir and continue to cook until the steak reaches your desired level of doneness, about 1 to 2 minutes (this is all the cooking it will get).
- Transfer meat and any drippings to a bowl and set aside.
- Allow the pan to cool for just a minute and then add the sesame oil. Heat over medium heat and add garlic and ginger. Cook until the garlic is just beginning to turn golden and aromatic. Add red pepper flakes and cook for 30 more seconds.
- Add the broth, remaining ¼ cup of soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar, and use a spatula to scrape any cooked-on bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook until the sauce is reduced by about a third, around 3 to 6 minutes.
- Add broccoli, place lid on the skillet, and cook for two minutes. Give the broccoli a stir, replace the lid, and continue to cook until it reaches your preferred level of doneness, 1 to 3 minutes more.
- While the broccoli cooks, add ramen to the boiling water and cook according to package instructions.
- Stir cooked beef and any juices in the bowl into the broccoli and sauce. Add cooked and drained ramen noodles and toss until the noodles are well-coated with sauce.
- Serve topped with sliced green onions if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
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Donnette says
Very tasty, the steak was so tender! ( I used rib-eye) will make again.
Ellen says
How do you think it would work with chicken and chicken broth?
Tracy says
I’ve made this with chicken and chicken broth, and it’s good! You really don’t have to make any cooking changes, except to extend the meat cooking time to make sure it’s fully cooked all the way through. I really like using chicken thighs, but you can use chicken breasts as well.
Tamara Peevy says
Can I use frozen cooked beef like fajita meat instead of the fresh sirloin steak?