Need to warm up on a chilly day? This gluten-free Gut-Healing Miso Ginger Ramen soup is packed with nutrition, veggies, and serious gut-healing potential thanks to ginger, garlic and bone broth. See recipe notes for paleo, vegetarian and grain-free suggestions.
Get your best bowl, biggest spoon and slurpiest soup-slurping lips ready, because you’re not going to want to leave a drop of this soup behind.
Raise your hand if ramen noodles were a staple in your school lunches as a kid. I’ve got two hands up over here.
From as early as I can remember, my sister and I were responsible for packing our own lunches before going to bed every school night. My mum whipped us into shape quick (she’s a clever one), and in addition to lunches, we also had to make our beds, clean our rooms and our bathroom on the weekend if we didn’t want to lose our weekly allowance. None of these chores were ones I put up much resistance against, and when it came to lunch, I got very good at sneaking a few extra treats into the side compartments of my lunch bag.
When I wasn’t choosing sandwiches or Pizza Pops as my “main course”, I was all about the ramen noodles. Occasionally I’d make them according to the package directions, but for some reason, my friends and I thought it was super cool to eat them uncooked. I remember sitting at “our table” in the lunch room, breaking up the noodles in the bag, sprinkling the seasoning inside (holy MSG) and eating the little noodley clusters out of the bag with my fingers. I have NO idea why we thought this was delicious, but then again, I don’t have good logic to back up a lot of the decisions I made back then.
Fast forward to now, and just the thought of a steamy hot bowl of soup gets me feeling warm and cozy inside. This might sound odd, but everything from the process of chopping the ingredients, right through to drinking the very last drops out of the bowl feels soothing, and if you were to stop in at my house on a weekend, there’s a good chance you’d find a soup of some sort on the stove at this time of year. Soup is officially ON until spring.
My most recent creation, this Gut-Healing Miso Ginger Ramen, is a twist on traditional ramen with plenty of options for those of you who prefer to follow vegetarian, paleo and grain-free diets. As the name suggests, it’s made with a few key ingredients that are great for gut health – specifically ginger, miso and bone broth. Garlic and mushrooms add valuable immune boosting benefits, and you’ll also get some protein and healthy fats thanks to the boiled eggs.
Noodle-wise, ramen (including the ones I ate as a kid) are normally made of wheat and therefore are not gluten free. For this recipe, I’ve included recipe notes for some gluten-free ramen noodles, rice noodles, as well as grain-free options including spiralized veggies and shirataki noodles. No matter what you choose, this soup can be ready to eat in 30 minutes or less – and the leftovers are tasty too!
Gut-Healing Miso Ginger Ramen
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
Need to warm up on a chilly day? This gluten-free ramen soup is packed with nutrition, veggies, and serious gut-healing potential thanks to ginger, garlic and bone broth. See recipe notes for paleo, vegetarian and grain-free suggestions.
Ingredients
- 6oz dry gluten-free ramen* or rice noodles, OR 3 cups veggie noodles of choice (zucchini, daikon, etc), OR 2 packages shirataki noodles (for a paleo version**)
- 2 eggs
- 2–3 baby bok choy, sliced into bite-size pieces
- 2 cups enoki and/or shiitake mushrooms
- 2 small green onions, shaved into ribbons with a veggie peeler
- 2 tsp coconut oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- 4 cups organic chicken bone broth (or vegetable broth, if vegetarian)
- 1 cup water
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 tbsp light/white miso
- coconut aminos + sriracha (optional, to taste)
- to serve: fresh cilantro, mint, lime wedges, sesame seeds, seaweed salad***, pickled ginger
Instructions
Eggs:
- Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil. Carefully lower 2 eggs in with a spoon and cover the pot partially with a lid. Boil on medium heat for 8 minutes.
- Remove eggs from the heat immediately and transfer them into a bowl of ice water. Set aside to chill.
Noodles:
- Cook rice noodles or ramen according to package directions in water. Once they’ve softened (but aren’t mushy), drain well and run under cold water. This will remove the excess starch on the outside which can cause the noodles to clump together.
- If you’re making veggie noodles with daikon or zucchini, simply spiralize them – no cooking required. For shirataki noodles rinse and drain well.
- Divide the noodles between 2 bowls.
Prep the veggies:
- Chop the bok choy and mushrooms (if large). Divide them between the bowls.
- Peel the green onions into ribbons and slice the limes. Set aside with the fresh herbs and other garnishes.
Make the broth:
- Melt the coconut oil in a large saucepan. Stir fry the garlic and ginger over high heat for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add the broth, water and lime juice.
- Let the broth get hot, but not boiling. Whisk in the miso until dissolved, then season to taste with coconut aminos and sriracha. (Note that whisking miso into boiling liquid can destroy some of its gut-friendly benefits.)
- Pour the hot broth over each bowl of noodles and veggies.
Final touches:
- Carefully peel the eggs and slice in half. Arrange the green onion ribbons and eggs on top of each bowl. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve with remaining garnishes/sides.
Notes
* Most ramen noodles are made of wheat, which means they’re not gluten free. However there are a few brands that offer gluten-free ramen noodles made with gluten-free flours, including Lotus Foods. I highly recommend their millet + brown rice ramen, as well as the forbidden rice ramen.
** Shirataki noodles, or ‘miracle noodles’ are a grain-free, low carb alternative to regular ramen. Know that they need a really good rinse in order to get their packaging liquid (which smells and tastes a bit funny) off. Run them under cold water then strain a few times before using.
*** Many store-bought pre-made seaweed salads contain sugar and not-so-heathy oils. Instead, try a dry mix and rehydrate with hot water and a bit of rice vinegar. I like to mix 1 packet of Seasnax SeaVegi with about 2/3 cup hot water until rehydrated, then drain and toss in 1 tbsp rice vinegar, juice of 1/2 lime, a drizzle of sesame oil and sesame seeds.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: soup
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Asian
So tell me… were you a ramen-eating kid, or have you ever gone through a big ramen phase? Am I the only 90s kid who grew up thinking eating the raw noodles was cool?