Red Onion

Sometimes you need a bite to your ramen. Not the spicy kind, but the mild peppery taste of red onion. I never really thought of this as a ramen topping until we prepared it in ramen school. And now I like to add a bit of it to my noodles if I have it in the fridge!

Leveling Up Your Noodles with Red Onion

Red onion is a great topping because it offers a significant crunch factor and a sharp onion flavor that instantly brightens up heavy or savory ramen. I also like the pop up white and purple that it adds to a bowl.

How to Add Red Onion to Your Instant Ramen

You can prepare and use red onion in several ways, depending on the intensity you prefer:

• Raw and Crisp: This is the easiest and most impactful method. Simply slice or mince the raw onion and add it directly to your hot ramen. The raw sharpness cuts through richness and provides maximum crunch.
• Quick Soak (To Mellow): If you find the raw bite too intense, try soaking the thinly sliced onion in cold water for 5-10 minutes before adding it to your ramen.
• In Broth: Just add it to your broth as your heating it up so some of the flavor is distributed.
• Sautéed or Caramelized: Sauté the sliced red onion until soft and sweet, or even caramelize it fully.

Above, you can see a couple of ramen bowls from my time in ramen school where we used red onion. It was added to both light and heavy broths.

My Instant Ramen Suggestions

I can’t really think of a type of ramen that it wouldn’t complement. If you like red onion, just add it to your noodles to see how it enhances the ramen bowl.

Have you tried adding red onion to your instant ramen? What’s your favorite way to balance its sharpness? Leave a comment below!