Macheesmo

Team: Heads up! You can make croutons out of ramen noodles.

First, let’s get this out of the way. This is a fun cooking project. It’s not a Oh-It’s-Tuesday-and-I-Just-Worked-12-Hours recipe. It’s solidly in the Project Delicious category here at Macheesmo which means that if you’re looking to make something fun (and also delicious) then these are those.

I got this idea and the method from the very popular Ramen Burger. Instead of buns it has ramen noodle patties. Sounds weird, but is very delicious. I was curious how they made the patties and after some research I realized that you could probably just keep cutting them into something smaller, crisp them up more, and then put them on everything.

Or just eat them out of a damn bag like little ramen crouton snacks. Whatever works.

Ramen Croutons

Say hello to your new favorite salad topper. These perfectly seasoned, crispy cubes of ramen are so much fun as salad toppers!

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Prep Time 15 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Course Appetizers, Salad, Side Dishes

Servings 10 Servings

Yield About 50 Croutons

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 packages Ramen noodles
• 1 large egg
• 2 spice packets from Ramen
• 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cook ramen according to instructions. Drain ramen and rinse with cold water.
• Stir together egg and 2 spice packets. You can use all three if you want them really salty. Add water.
• Add cooked and rinsed noodles to the egg and stir together well so noodles are lightly coated.
• Spread noodles out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Make a rough rectangle out of the noodles that is about ½-inch thick. Cover with a second piece of parchment paper, add a second sheet pan on top and put something heavy on it for 10 minutes to press the noodles.
• Remove weight and top parchment and bake for 15 minutes.
• Use a sharp knife to cut noodles into squares. Don’t separate them just yet though. Just cut them. Then bake for another 10 minutes.
• Now the noodles should be firm enough to separate. Break up the croutons on the sheet. Bake for another 10-15 minutes to crisp them up.
• Serve ramen croutons on salad once they have cooled slightly. Store any leftover in an airtight container for a few days or in the fridge for longer. They will lose some of their crispiness if you store them in the fridge.

Nutrition

Serving: 5CroutonsCalories: 8kcalCarbohydrates: 0.2gProtein: 1gFat: 0.5gSaturated Fat: 0.2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.2gTrans Fat: 0.002gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 12mgPotassium: 7mgFiber: 0.01gSugar: 0.02gVitamin A: 24IUVitamin C: 0.001mgCalcium: 3mgIron: 0.1mg

Keyword Croutons, Homemade Croutons, Ramen Croutons, Salad Toppers, Salads at home

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How to Make Ramen Croutons

Okay. Let’s dive into these bad boys. This is more of a technique post than a full recipe post. There’s not many ingredients to this.

You’ll need these though!

I used 3 packets of ramen. You need enough to make a block of noodles. Three was about the right amount.

Cook the noodles as you normally would and then drain and rinse them with cold water.

In a separate bowl, whisk together an egg, some water, and TWO of the spice packets from the ramen noodles. Three was a bit too salty for my liking.

Then add the noodles and mix them into the egg mixture really well. The noodles should be very lightly coated with egg.

Press Time

Now for the important part. Pressing the noodles will make them into a mostly solid block which will be easier to work with later. You can do this pretty freeform. All you need is a few sheet pans, some parchment paper, and something heavy.

Spread out the noodles on a piece of parchment. Make a rough rectangle that’s about 1/2-inch thick. Again, you can eyeball it.

Then add a top layer of parchment, a second sheet pan, and something heavy. Press the noodles for about 10 minutes.

Then you can peel off the top layer of parchment. You could still break up the noodles at this point, but they are solid enough to bake.

Baking the Croutons

Okay. Now for the finicky part. There are three baking steps here.

First, bake the noodles as a solid block at 375 degrees F. for 15 minutes. This will evaporate most of the surface liquid and firm them up a bit. After this bake, you should be able to cut the noodles into squares if you use a really sharp chef’s knife.

DON’T try to move the croutons yet. Just slice them so you can easily break them up later.

Then back in the oven for another 15 minutes. This will really firm up the croutons and crisp the edges.

Now you can move them around and they will be really solid. Break up the croutons and flip them a bit. They should be getting crunchy on the outside.

Once they are broken up, stick them back in the oven for 10-15 minutes so they get even crunchier.

The finished croutons will be crunchy on the outside, but still have a slight bite to them on the inside. It’s an awesome texture for croutons!

They go great on any salad, but I really like them on an Asian style salad with some sesame seeds, nori, rice wine vinegar, and radish.

These work. They are delicious. RAMEN CROUTONS, people. RAMEN CROUTONS!