Chicken Ramen with Zucchini Noodles! Made in the instant pot and using zucchini noodles, this is fast, delicious and low carb! We hope you enjoy!
If I could eat ramen every single day, I would. Ramen is like the ultimate comfort food. I love the broth, the noodles, the eggs, the toppings, everything! Sometimes, I try to eat a little healthier and skip the ramen noodles and replace them with vegetables.
Some people are ramen purists and are questioning why I am even calling this ramen. This is still a chicken ramen broth and, as shown here, can easily be adapted into a low carb version. Yes, I’m sure ramen restaurants would frown upon this but sometimes your girl needs to eat low carb.
If you try the recipe, please let me know what you think! Click here for more zucchini recipes and here for my Zucchini Noodles with Puttanesca Sauce recipe!
DON’T HAVE AN INSTANT POT?
This recipe can also be made on the stovetop. You’ll see lots of ramen recipes online that will only cook the broth for 20 minutes. I think, in order to get really good tasting chicken broth, you need to let it simmer for longer. I also recommend using chicken thigh meat and more broth mixture as you will see noted below.
Chicken Ramen with Zucchini Noodles
In a heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, warm the sesame oil. Pat down your chicken with a paper towel and season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place chicken into the hot pot and brown the chicken for about 4 to 6 minutes, flipping it halfway through.
Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Pour in the chicken stock and mushroom broth (use 10 cups! You need more because as you are cooking the broth, it’s going to cook down so you need to start with more OR the Miso Ginger Broth from Trader Joe’s) and add the soy sauce, and the rice wine vinegar. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the ramen broth for about 1 hour*, or until the chicken is cooked through and fork tender. Taste, season with more salt and/or soy sauce if needed and mix together.
Remove all of the chicken and shred using two forks. Place some zucchini noodles into your bowl for serving and ladle some broth into your bowl. The broth is hot so will soften the zucchini noodles right away. I personally like my zucchini noodles with a little bite so I don’t let them cook for too long. Zucchini noodles that get too soft don’t taste that great in my opinion. Alternatively, you can add the zucchini noodles into the pot and let them soften in the broth just for a minute or two.
Top with some chicken any toppings, your eggs, scallions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
*I think that chicken thigh meat works better if you make the ramen this way. Sometimes, the chicken breast meat will get over cooked and not taste as great. So, I recommend bone-in, skin-on chicken thigh meat for the stovetop method.
Chicken Ramen with Zucchini Noodles
Equipment
- Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 lb. bone-in, skin-on chicken breast or chicken thigh meat
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups (or 1 quart) chicken stock
- 4 cups (1 quart) miso ginger broth or mushroom broth
- 3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 4 cups zucchini noodles
- 4 large eggs
- dried nori for garnish
- freshly diced scallions for garnish
- sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Turn on your Instant Pot and set to the sauté function for 7 minutes. While it's heating up, pat chicken breasts with paper towels and season with salt and pepper, on both sides. Add the sesame oil to the Instant Pot and then place the chicken breast in, skin side down.
- Let the chicken breast cook for about 7 minutes, flipping the chicken halfway through.
- Add in the garlic and ginger. Mix around and let cook for about 30 seconds. Your instant pot will be turned off by this point but don't worry, it is still very hot. Pour in the chicken stock and mushroom broth (or miso ginger broth) and the soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.
- Place the lid back on and lock and set the timer to manual high pressure for 20 minutes. Make sure the valve is placed in the sealed position. While your instant pot is cooking, make your eggs.
- To make the jammy eggs: Bring water to a medium boil in a medium saucepan. Slowly add or lower the eggs into the gentle to medium boiling water, leave for 7 minutes and then immediately remove the eggs and into an ice bath. Wait 3 minutes. To peel: After the eggs have been in the ice bath for a few minutes, lightly tap them on your countertop or a hard surface and peel gently under cold running water. Alternatively, if you have another instant pot, you can make the eggs in your instant pot.
- Back to the ramen: After 20 minutes, (make sure all of the pressure has been released before trying to remove the lid.) remove the lid and remove the chicken from the pot and set on a plate or cutting board and shred the chicken using two forks.
- Place some zucchini noodles into bowls for serving and ladle some broth into your bowl. The broth is still very hot so will soften the zucchini noodles right away. I personally like my zucchini noodles with a little bite so I don't let them cook for too long. Zucchini noodles that get too soft don't taste that great in my opinion. Alternatively, you can add the zucchini noodles directly into the instant pot insert and let them soften in the broth just for a minute or two.
- Top bowls with the cooked shredded chicken, shredded nori, the eggs sliced in half, garnish with scallions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
Click here for my regular ramen recipe using ramen noodles.
