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The Myojo Udon Beef Flavor is the artificial beef version of the Myojo Udon line, a fresh-style instant udon that turns up at just about every Asian grocery store I walk into. I picked this one up to see how the beef flavor stacks up against the original.
Produced in the United States.
What’s in the Package
Inside the black and red wrapper, you’ll find a sealed pouch of pre-cooked thick udon noodles and a single seasoning packet. Unlike most instant noodles, the noodles are soft and ready to eat straight out of the bag, not a dried brick.
How to Prepare It
Add the noodles to 1¼ cups (10oz) of boiling water and cook for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the soup base packet just before turning off the heat, then serve.
If you’re going microwave, put the noodles and soup base in a microwavable bowl, pour in 1¼ cups of water, microwave uncovered for 3 minutes, then stir well before eating.
How Does It Taste
The first thing that hit me was how sour the broth was. Not in a hot and sour way. Just a flat, vinegar-leaning sourness sitting over a soy and mushroom base. The smell was light and slightly funky from the maltol and mushroom powder, not what I expected from anything labeled beef.
The broth itself stayed sour all the way through. There’s a faint umami note underneath, almost dashi-adjacent, but I never got a real beef flavor out of it. James said it tastes like the other Myojo Udon we reviewed, just with a little more savory weight stacked on top.
The noodles are the best part. Thick, soft, properly chewy. They’re what you actually want from a fresh udon, and they hold up even after sitting in the broth for a while. James and I both agreed the noodles on their own are the highlight, and I’d happily slurp them with a different broth.
As a complete bowl though, it’s one note. Really one note. There’s no spice. It isn’t trying to be spicy. There’s no layered depth, nothing surprising. If you want a quick, sour-leaning Japanese-style udon, this works. If you’re expecting actual beef flavor, this isn’t that.
How Does It Compare
The Myojo Udon Beef Flavor sits in the same lane as the Myojo Udon Original Flavor. The original is leaner and even more one-dimensional. The Beef version adds a thin layer of savory weight on top of the same sour base, but it’s still mostly the same bowl. The Shrimp Flavor from the same line leans further into that dashi-adjacent direction and is the one to grab if a seafood-leaning broth is what you actually want. If you’d rather skip the soup base entirely, the udon noodles on their own are a solid base for a broth of your own.
How to Level Up Myojo Udon Noodles Beef Flavor
Adding actual beef would be my first move. A few slices of my Spicy Sauteed Beef on top fixes the protein gap and brings some heat the broth is missing. Strip steak works too if you want something cleaner.
Fresh onion is the other one James and I talked about. Thin slices of raw white onion or a small handful of chopped green onion cuts through the sourness and adds a sharper bite to the bowl.
If you’ve got soft boiled eggs in the fridge, drop one in for a little richness. The runny yolk softens the sour edge of the broth in a way that makes the whole bowl easier to eat.
Final Verdict
The Myojo Udon Beef Flavor is a one-note bowl with great noodles and a soup base that doesn’t go anywhere. If you love a sour, dashi-leaning profile and you keep these around for a quick lunch, you’ll be fine here. If you’re after actual beef flavor, you’ll be disappointed. Not one I’ll be reaching for again.
Tasting Notes
How do I rate my ramen? Check out the Ramen Rating Guide.
Related Instant Ramen
- Myojo Udon Noodles Original Flavor
- Myojo Udon Noodles Shrimp Flavor
- Itsuki Nabeyaki Stove Top Udon
- Bob Moos Jajang Udon
- Sapporo Ichiban Beef Flavored Soup
Where to buy Myojo Udon Noodles Beef Flavor
Community Ratings
Udon will forever be my favorite type of noodles! I was so happy to see there was a brand I could experiment with!
The broth itself needed a bit of work but the noodle texture compared to the udon shops I’ve been to was the closest to getting restaurant type udon in an instant:
Picture 1 – I made a fish broth with salmon, veggies and miso when I was sick
Picture 2 – I made a chilli con carne style with steak, chimichurri, pico de gallo, pepper flakes and a little salsa
Picture 2 – I made dinner with grilled chicken, pickled chilli peppers, carrots, fish cakes and chive and sesame seeds to garnish
The chewiness of the udon is what gets me going, it’s like a dumpling in noodle form!
