Less Salty Instant Ramen?

I love instant ramen. There’s something about the bouncy, springy noodles that just feels so comforting in my mouth. What I have come to love less about instant ramen is how salty they are, no matter the brand or flavor, at least of those I’ve tried. Is there such a thing as a low-sodium (or lower sodium) ramen? What brands or flavors don’t come across as a salt lick? I know I can not use the entire seasoning packet, but I feel like I’d be missing out on the rest of the flavor. Thoughts? Ideas? Recommendations?

When I do not want the salt, I use : dashi, chicken broth. I know making my own broth doesn’t make it a connivence food.

In addition, I cook ramen noodles not from the top ramen package.

I was introduced to ramen instant noodles from Japan in the 60’s. My folks were financially challenged and we migrated to top ramen.

In the mid 2020’s I found ramen and udon noodles in Japanese markets. I seldom eat Safeway Top Ramen today. I have a ichi ramen in the pantry, but would rather cook noodles and prepare broth from scratch.

This week, I plan to prepare dried noodles from Japan, komaboko, Napa cabbage, shiitake (braised in shoyu, sake, mirin). Dashi will be hon dashi and kombu.

Yeah, I have a big ol’ jar of hondashi granules, and I guess I could make my own. I’m hoping that some manufacturer is packaging ramen for low-sodium diets. Maybe I’m asking too much!

Your local Asian markets have scores of packaged, seasoned ramen.

Maybe you could try some and make recommendations, in my experience…I am unable to read the packaging, nor find the same things on a repeat visit.

I was in shopping in Silicon Valley. Lately, the “crunchy” market in Vacaville.

There’s an SF Supermarket about a mile away from me with an entire aisle - both sides - of different kinds of instant noodles. Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Korean, others whose packaging I have no idea what language it’s in. There’s literally hundreds of varieties if you break it down into brand and flavors. I don’t have the patience to sample every single one of them. And that’s just the brick/puck style of noodles, not counting the cup/bowl style. I buy bulk packages of ramen bricks without seasoning packets to make yakisoba. I may have to start using them for my soup-style cravings, too.

I have no recommendations. I want to know if OTHER Onions have any recommendations!

I tried, and my recommendation is make your own.

Same thing with dumplings…

The foods are labelled in foreign languages and are not always there next month.

Your, my aunts who I would have relied on for recommendations are gone.

‘Crunchy” Market. Vacaville, about 5 hours away.

If you do a google search for low sodium instant ramen, you will get results. Some mainstream or known brands.

Just use less of the seasoning packet.

Try Mike’s Mighty Good if you haven’t already. They’re less salty than most. Not a favorite brand for me but not bad.

If you read my post, I said using less than the full packet was not really the answer I sought.

Non-instant dried ramen noodles don’t take a long time to cook. Fresh ramen noodles take about two minutes, after the water boils back up. Each also has the advantage of not being fried in advance, so much less saturated fat and fewer calories. And they have bonce!

Look for the frozen ramen meals that come with the packets of concentrated broth rather than the dehydrated ones with the foil salt packs. Takes marginally longer to cook but much better.

Looks like Mike’s Mighty Good has changed some things and added varieties since I last had theirs. I may have to give them another try.

Curious if anyone has tried any of these Western brands that try to fill this niche in the market. My personal experience with Western branded instant ramen vs Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese/Thai instant noodles is not good. It’s either extremely bland, or downright gross (sorry, Trader Joe). They’re bland yet not even the low sodium! It’s not so much of the lack of saltiness, but the broth or the sauces don’t taste that good.

If I can’t have to moderate the sodium, I do tend to default to making my own soup or broth that you can keep in the fridge or freeze. And then a quick meal would be just cooking the noodles I have and reheating the broth. If you don’t want to make a simple broth, there are cheats with mixes, concentrates, and pastes. At least you can dilute those broths to reduce the sodium per bowl.

I know you’re worried about missing out on getting all the flavor if you don’t use the entire packet (where the majority of the sodium is), but have you experimented with using a portion (1/3 or so) and augmenting with something like mushroom powder (or soaking liquid from shiitakes) or another low sodium broth base (BTB makes a few)? You could also make a kombu broth and put additional flavorings in the bottom of the bowl like a tare to provide additional boost. I often skip the seasoning packet entirely and cook the brick in just one cup of water until everything is mostly absorbed and then stir in peanut butter, red curry paste, a healthy squirt of fish sauce or low sodium soy sauce, and some lime juice (all to taste). Loosen it up with more water depending on how saucy I want it.

Some of those instant noodles look delicious but I cringe when I read the sodium content. They probably don’t make low sodium because they figure you could just use less. I read that low sodium soy sauce or low fat coconut milk are just diluted with more water. They sell it anyway for people who are insecure improvising. Anyway, when I cave in and buy the too salty noodles sometimes I just don’t drink the broth. Other times I dilute it with unsalted chicken broth and add dehydrated mushroom powder (dried mushrooms put through a spice grinder). Sometimes I’ll save the broth and add my own noodles the next day. Or I’ll stretch it out over several days so that I’m consuming 1/3 or 1/4 the amount of sodium each day.

I love the texture of instant ramen as well, but don’t like having a lot of salty broth. I make the noodles and then drain most of the broth out as I prefer dryish noodles anyway.

I also keep an eye out for packages of plain dry noodle nests without seasoning where the noodles are the instant ramen type. I then use these noodle nests to make my own ramen bowls.