Trader Joe’s Chicken and Miso Instant Ramen: A Tale of Two Cups

Trader Joe’s Chicken and Miso Instant Ramen: A Tale of Two Cups

Every adult I know has a Top Ramen story. Mine involves a dorm room, a hot pot that was definitely against the rules, and a rotation of exactly three meals: scrambled eggs, turkey sandwiches, and Top Ramen. We tried every trick in the book to dress those noodles up. Frozen peas, a cracked egg, a slice of American cheese melted on top (don’t knock it). It was cheap, it was plentiful, and at 19 that was the whole ball of wax.

Then I grew up and got picky. Like, really picky. Not because I became a picky person because I tasted real ramen. I can now tell you the difference between miso, tonkatsu, and shoyu ramen without looking at the menu. I’ve been to Tokyo and eaten more bowls of ramen than I’d like to admit to my doctor. And ramen shops are popping up all over North America right now for good reason. When it’s done right, it’s an experience.

Here’s how I think about it. Top Ramen compared to real ramen is like a grilled cheese made with Wonder bread, American “cheese” and margarine, next to a proper Croque Monsieur with real bread, good French cheese and top notch butter. Both are technically sandwiches. Only one makes you close your eyes.

But sometimes you don’t need the Croque Monsieur. Sometimes it’s Tuesday, it’s raining sideways, and you have 10 minutes between meetings or school pickup. That’s the gap Trader Joe’s is trying to fill here, and at $1.87 a cup, I wanted to know if it actually does.

Before we go any further, the dietary stuff

I know a lot of you shop around allergies and preferences, so let’s get this out of the way.

• Gluten free? Nope. These are wheat noodles. If you’re celiac or avoiding gluten, keep walking.
• Vegan? The chicken one, I wouldn’t count on it. The miso one might be closer is label Vegan
• Kosher? I did not find a Kosher symbol

Why I grabbed these

Trader Joe’s rolled these out years ago, I want to say 7 or 8, and honestly they’ve stood the test of time, which is more than I can say for a lot of TJ’s products (RIP to so many good ones). Before these, they had some kind of instant cup o’ soup ramen situation on the shelves for ages.

The weather’s been turning colder and I was craving something to send me back to my college days, minus the bad decisions. So I picked up both the chicken and the miso for a weekend lunch.

And yes, I made both. For one lunch. Before you judge me, each cup is 180 calories. That’s barely a snack! Trader Joe’s sells snack bars with more calories than that. So I felt fine about it.

Making it (easy, but not foolproof)

The directions are about as simple as it gets. Peel the lid back, pull out the flavor packet and the oil packet, tear them open and dump them in. Pour boiling water over the noodles, stir, cover it back up, and wait. Stir again and eat.

I got a little fancy after the six minutes were up and tossed in some Trader Joe’s frozen vegetables and half a hard boiled egg in each cup. Old habits.

The smell test

This is where things started to split. The chicken one smelled like a lot of the decent ramen I’ve had over the years. Savory, brothy, promising. The miso smelled a little off. Kind of like stale cardboard? Not a great first impression.

The noodle problem

When I started digging in, the noodles in both cups had clumped together into a little brick. I stirred for a while and got them loose, which worked fine. But then I took a bite and they were underdone. In both cups.

Now, I poured the water straight from a boil and I waited. Maybe I needed a few more minutes. Maybe the move is to skip the cup entirely and cook the noodles in a small pot. Either way, this is not a bulletproof process, and if you’re counting on it for a quick lunch you might want to plan for a couple extra minutes.

OK, how did they taste?

The chicken ramen, I really liked. The broth had a nice chicken stock kind of flavor with real richness to it. Not restaurant ramen, obviously, but way better than the Top Ramen of my youth. With the veggies and the egg it actually felt like a meal, sort of.

The miso ramen tasted odd. Stale, like the smell promised. I kept waiting for the flavor to come around and it just didn’t. I didn’t really care for it and I won’t be buying it again.

Portion reality check

Let me save you some disappointment. One cup is not enough for a grown adult who’s actually hungry. It’s 180 calories of noodles and broth. If this is lunch, buy at least two per person. If you have teenagers, buy a case and hide some.

Here’s what I’d do next time: grab two chicken cups, dump both into a small pot, cook the noodles properly with some veggies, green onions and an soft boiled egg, then pour it all into a real bowl. That fixes the underdone noodle problem, fixes the portion problem, and makes it feel less like a dorm room.

Is it worth the money?

At $1.87 a cup, you’re still paying more than those multipacks of Top Ramen at the regular grocery store. But the chicken one tastes noticeably better, and if you’re feeding a family on a cold weeknight, two cups per person plus whatever vegetables are dying in your crisper drawer is a pretty cheap dinner. It’s not going to replace your favorite ramen shop. It’s not trying to. It’s trying to beat a gas station cup of noodles, and the chicken one does that easily.

The miso? Save your $1.87. Put it toward the good ramen shop instead.

The verdict

Best for: busy parents who need a warm lunch fast, anyone chasing a little college nostalgia, and people who like to doctor up cheap noodles with whatever’s in the freezer.

Skip if: you’re gluten free, you want something that tastes like actual ramen shop ramen, or you only have time for exactly the minutes on the package.

Trader Joe’s Chicken Instant Ramen: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆

Trader Joe’s Miso Instant Ramen: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆

Price: $1.87 per cup