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If you’ve wondered how to make Homemade Ramen Noodles, you have to try this! Through trial and error, I’ve developed a reliable recipe for making ramen noodles from scratch that works every time. And they freeze beautifully, so make a big batch to use in all of your favorite Ramen Noodle Recipes!
There’s a simple reason why it took me several tries to perfect this recipe: I’m terrible at scooping flour from a bag accurately. I learned this about myself long ago when it came to baking cookies, cakes, and bread. But it took me a few failed attempts at ramen noodles to realize that I needed the flour weight to have a reliable recipe.
The first recipe I tried was from my friend, Lorraine, of Not Quite Nigella. Her recipes are reliably excellent and the ramen was no exception – the noodles tasted delicious! But sometimes the dough would come out of the pasta cutter as separate noodles, other times as a blob. Not a recipe problem, a flour scooping problem.
Then I came across a ramen noodle recipe from Lucky Peach and was excited because it had ingredient weights and a bonus science project of soda baked in the oven to create an alkaline salt, i.e., changing sodium bicarbonate to sodium carbonate. This sounded very official, so I tried it.
There was good news and bad news: the good news was that the ramen dough flowed easily through my pasta cutter; the bad news was that, when cooked, the noodles had such a strong alkaline flavor that we threw them away. If you’ve had cookies or rolls made with too much baking soda, you know the flavor I’m talking about.
Since the texture of the Lucky Peach ramen worked, but I loved the flavor of Lorraine’s noodles, I decided to try a combination. This is a true hybrid with elements of both recipes. I used all-purpose flour as recommended by Lucky Peach, but did away with the baked soda and used Lorraine’s combination of baking soda and egg to give the noodles that essential springy ramen noodle texture. A few tries gave me a reliable formula of flour weight to liquid volume.
As you’ll see in the video below, I used my stand mixer to stir and knead the dough. Let me warn you that this is a fairly dry dough and you’ll be giving your stand mixer a workout. You may even need to steady the mixing bowl as it kneads, i.e., don’t leave the room or you may end up with the mixer running and the bowl on the floor.
Of course you can knead the dough by hand, but know that you’ll break a sweat: knead for 5 minutes, let the dough rest for 20 minutes and then knead it again before refrigerating. Either way the noodle payoff will be worth it, I promise.
Once your dough is ready, you’ll roll it through a manual pasta machine – this is the one I have. Then use the same machine to cut the ramen noodles. You can either cook them immediately or freeze them for later.
To freeze ramen noodles, place them on a floured baking sheet in loose mounds that are about 2-servings each, as pictured above. Cover and freeze until solid. Once frozen, carefully transfer to a gallon-size freezer bag or other lidded freezer safe container. No need to thaw before cooking.
This batch makes 8 to 12 servings, depending on how you use them (10-12 if you’re making soup, 8 to 10 for stir fry). I recommend trying them in this Pork Belly Ramen, Birria Ramen, Homemade Ramen (my easiest version) or with Miso Ramen Broth or Shoyu Ramen Broth topped with crisped slices of pork belly or Chashu Pork and Soy Sauce Eggs.
How to Make Homemade Ramen Noodles
Step 1: Combine whisked dry ingredients and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attached. Mix until combined; continue mixing to knead dough, 5 minutes or until dough is smooth.
Step 2: Wrap dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (but not more than overnight – see recipe note #3.).
Step 3: Dust baking sheet with flour and divide dough into 6 equal pieces.
Step 3: Run one piece through the thickest setting on a manual pasta machine. Repeat three more times, turning the dial to a thinner setting each time. Cut dough in half crosswise. Attach finest cutter to pasta machine and run dough through to cut. Dust with flour to coat and gently separate noodles and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Step 4: Cook noodles for 1 to 2 minutes in water or broth until cooked through. Note that you can also freeze the noodles – just add to boiling liquid directly from the freezer and cook about 30 seconds longer than when fresh.
Homemade Ramen Noodles
Video
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour 408g
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup warm water
Instructions
- Whisk together flour, salt and baking soda in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs and warm water.
- Set bowl in place on a stand mixer and attach dough hook. Mix at the lowest speed until all ingredients are moistened. Increase speed one or two clicks and mix until dough comes together. Once a dough ball has formed, continue to knead with dough hook for 5 minutes, until dough is smooth. (Recipe Note #2)
- Turn dough out on to a floured surface and shape into a rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (but not more than overnight – see recipe note #3).
- Dust a rimmed baking sheet generously with flour.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and divide into 6 equal pieces on floured work surface and cover loosely with plastic wrap. With your palm, flatten one piece into a rough rectangle about 1/2-inch thick; rub all over with flour. Feed one end through a manual pasta machine, beginning at the thickest setting (1). Turn dial to the next setting (2) and run dough through again. Repeat at the next two settings (3 and 4). (For a shorter ramen noodle, cut the dough in half crosswise before running through the pasta cutter.)
- Attach pasta cutting attachment and dust the blades lightly with flour. Run dough through finest cutter (spaghetti-sized ideally). (Recipe Note #4) Dust noodles with flour to coat and separate and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.
- Cook noodles for 1 to 2 minutes in a generous amount of water or broth until cooked through. You can also freeze the noodles. They can be added to boiling liquid directly from the freezer and cook about 30 seconds longer than when fresh.
- Use noodles in your favorite soups and stir-frys!
Notes
- To knead the dough by hand: once you’ve stirred the ingredients together, turn out onto a floured surface; knead for 5 minutes, cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes; then knead again for 5 minutes then refrigerate.
- If dough seems to be taking too long to form a ball, don’t add more liquid. Instead, turn off the mixer and use your hands to press it into a ball then continue with recipe.
- As with all fresh pasta, the dough will start to oxidize and turn a green / gray if left in the refrigerator for 18 or more hours. So be sure to make the noodles and use or freeze before then, as directed in the post.
- If your noodles start to clump when cutting, check the attachment underneath to make sure that dough isn’t building up between the teeth. If dough is building up, use the dry brush that comes with manual pasta makers (or a dry pastry brush) to wipe away any residual dough. Be sure to coat each section of dough with flour before running through cutter to avoid this issue.
- This recipe serves 10-12 if you’re making ramen noodle soup. If you’re making a noodle stir-fry or other dish where noodles are the bulk of the dish, it will serve 8 to 10.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
First time making ramen noodles with my son who spent a summer in Japan and was jonesing for “authentic” Ramen soup. used this recipe and they turned out great!
That’s fantastic, Mary! So glad you and your son enjoyed these!
You are amazing and thorough. I love your recipes because I can find the ingredients right away, they’re organized, easy to follow, and well structured. And, hey, your recipes are fabulous tasting! You make everything less daunting and complex. Pork Belly & Ramen excellent. Thanks
Thank you so much for your kind words, Donna! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
I don’t have a stand mixer, can I use my food processor?
Hi Jane! Yes you can. In fact, I’ve made this dough a few times – you’ll need a large food processor to do a full batch at once – if yours is smaller (7 to 9 cups) do a half batch at a time. Have a look at this food processor pasta dough recipe for the basic method. I hope that helps!