Garlic Chicken Ramen: Three Ways with Garlic, One Bowl

⏱ Prep: 15 min 🔥Cook: 45 min 👤Serves: 4 🍜Shoyu style

Garlic chicken ramen uses garlic three ways in a single bowl: roasted garlic squeezed into the broth for deep, sweet, caramelised depth; sautéed garlic in the base for aromatic backbone; and fried garlic chips scattered on top for crunch and nuttiness. Each preparation tastes completely different. Together they produce a layered garlic flavour that is warm and complex rather than raw and sharp, the difference between eating garlic and tasting it properly.

The structure is shoyu ramen: a chicken broth seasoned with a soy-mirin tare, noodles cooked separately and added to the bowl, finished with whatever toppings you have. The tare goes into the bowl first, broth poured on top. Noodles never cooked in the broth. Bowl preheated before everything goes in. These three details take two extra minutes and the difference in the finished bowl is not small.

Ingredients

For the roasted garlic

• 1 whole head of garlic, top sliced off to expose the cloves, drizzled with oil, wrapped in foil, roasted at 200°C / 400°F for 40 minutes until completely soft and golden. The cloves squeeze out like paste. Start this first, it roasts while everything else is prepared.
• 1 teaspoon olive or neutral oil

For the fried garlic chips

• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, as thin and even as possible. A mandoline is ideal. Uneven slices mean some burn while others are still raw.
• 3 tablespoons neutral oil, the garlic-infused oil left after frying is used to finish the broth, don’t discard it

For the broth

• 1.5 litres (6 cups) good quality chicken stock, this is the foundation. The better the stock, the better the ramen. Homemade is best; store-bought works, choose a low-sodium version so you control the salt through the tare.
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly smashed, the sautéed garlic that goes directly into the broth
• 3cm piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 3 green onions, whites only, greens reserved for topping
• 1 piece kombu (dried kelp), about 10cm, optional but adds clean umami depth. Available at Japanese and Asian grocery stores. Steep in the cold stock for 30 minutes before heating, remove before boiling or it turns bitter.
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

For the shoyu tare (seasoning concentrate)

• 60ml (¼ cup) Japanese soy sauce, Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman, Yamasa) over Chinese soy sauce, lighter, cleaner, less sweet. The tare is the primary seasoning of the entire bowl; quality here matters more than anywhere else.
• 2 tablespoons mirin, sweet rice wine. Adds sweetness and rounds the sharp edge of the soy sauce.
• 1 tablespoon sake, or dry sherry. Adds depth. Can be omitted.
• 2 cloves garlic, finely grated, raw garlic in the tare for a third layer of garlic flavour, sharp and direct, different from roasted or fried
• 1 teaspoon sugar

For the ramen egg (optional but worth making)

• 4 eggs, at room temperature, room temperature eggs cook more evenly than cold eggs
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce + 2 tablespoons mirin + 2 tablespoons water, the marinade. The eggs soak in this overnight. The whites turn mahogany-brown; the yolks go jammy and custardy. Make these the night before.

For the bowl

• 320g fresh ramen noodles, or dried ramen noodles. Cook separately, never in the broth. Ramen noodles release starch that thickens and clouds the broth.
• Toppings: sliced chicken (poached or roasted), green onion greens, sesame seeds, nori sheets, sliced bamboo shoots (menma), corn kernels, bean sprouts, use what you have. The garlic and broth carry the bowl regardless of toppings.

Step by step

1. Roast the garlic, start first. Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F. Slice the top off the garlic head to expose the cloves. Drizzle with oil, wrap tightly in foil. Roast for 40 minutes until the cloves are completely soft, golden and caramelised. Set aside to cool slightly, the cloves will be squeezed out just before serving.
2. Make the ramen eggs (if using). Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. Lower eggs gently into the water. Boil exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds. Transfer immediately to a bowl of ice water and leave for 5 minutes. Peel carefully, the whites are set but the yolk is still very soft. Mix soy sauce, mirin and water in a zip-lock bag or container. Add the peeled eggs. Marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. The longer they marinate, the deeper the colour and flavour. 6 minutes 30 seconds produces a jammy yolk that holds its shape when halved. Under 6 minutes and the yolk runs. Over 7 minutes and it starts to set fully. The ice bath stops the cooking immediately, skip it and the residual heat continues cooking the yolk past jammy.
3. Make the shoyu tare. Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, grated garlic and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool and store in a jar in the fridge. The tare keeps for 2 weeks and gets better with time. Add 3–4 tablespoons per bowl, taste and adjust to your salt preference. The tare is added to the bowl, not the broth. This means each person can season their own bowl to their taste, and the same broth can produce different flavour intensities. It also means the broth stays clean and unsalted until service.
4. Make the fried garlic chips. Add the thinly sliced garlic to a cold pan with the neutral oil. Turn the heat to medium-low. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until the garlic slices turn evenly golden, about 8–10 minutes. The garlic must go into cold oil and heat slowly, adding it to hot oil burns the outside before the inside cooks. When golden, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. They will crisp further as they cool. Reserve the garlic-infused oil in the pan. Cold oil start is essential. Garlic in hot oil goes from raw to burnt in about 30 seconds. Cold oil allows the moisture in the garlic to evaporate gradually, producing evenly golden, crispy chips rather than unevenly burnt ones.
5. Build the broth. In the same pan with the garlic-infused oil, add the smashed garlic cloves, ginger slices and green onion whites. Sauté over medium heat for 2 minutes until fragrant. Pour in the chicken stock. If using kombu, add it now (it should have been soaking in the stock already, remove it before the stock boils). Bring to a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil, which clouds the broth. Simmer for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve. Stir in the sesame oil. Keep hot.
6. Prepare the bowls, preheat them. Fill each serving bowl with boiling water from the kettle. Let sit for 30 seconds, then discard the water. The warm bowl keeps the ramen hot while you eat, a cold bowl drops the broth temperature within minutes.
7. Cook the noodles, separately. Bring a large pot of water to a vigorous boil. Cook the ramen noodles according to the packet instructions until just tender, usually 2–3 minutes for fresh noodles, 4–5 minutes for dried. Drain. Do not rinse fresh ramen noodles, the surface starch helps the broth cling to them. Rinse if using instant or dried noodles to remove excess starch.
8. Assemble each bowl. Add 3–4 tablespoons of the shoyu tare to the bottom of each preheated bowl. Ladle in the hot broth, about 350ml per bowl and stir once to combine with the tare. Add the noodles. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves (from the foil-wrapped head) directly into the broth, 3–4 cloves per bowl. Arrange toppings: sliced chicken, halved marinated egg, green onion greens, sesame seeds, nori. Scatter the fried garlic chips over the top. Drizzle a teaspoon of the reserved garlic-infused oil over the surface. Serve immediately. Speed matters at assembly. Ramen cools quickly and noodles absorb broth and swell. Have everything prepped and within reach before the noodles go into the water. The bowl should go from assembled to the table in under 3 minutes.

Claire’s note, the black garlic oil (mayu)

If you want to take this bowl somewhere beyond excellent: make mayu. Take 6 garlic cloves and char them completely black in a dry pan over high heat, genuinely black, not just dark brown. Blend the charred cloves with 3 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil until smooth. It smells alarming during cooking and then afterwards transforms into something smoky, deep and slightly bitter. A teaspoon drizzled over each bowl, just on the surface, not stirred in, gives the garlic chicken ramen a Kumamoto ramen quality that stops people mid-bite. Make extra. It keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks and goes on almost everything.

Serve with

Garlic chicken ramen is a complete meal in a bowl. A small plate of gyoza alongside is the classic ramen restaurant pairing. For more Japanese cooking: chicken yakitori, no-cook salmon rice balls, and the full Japanese recipes collection. The broader Asian recipes hub has everything alongside.

Add garlic chicken ramen to your weekly meal planner, make the tare and ramen eggs on Sunday, then the actual bowls come together in 25 minutes on any weeknight. And for more recipes, follow us on Pinterest.

Garlic Chicken Ramen

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• Author: Claire Bennett
• Total Time: 60 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Diet: Non-Vegetarian

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Description

A rich and flavorful shoyu ramen infused with garlic in three distinct ways, offering a warm and complex flavor profile.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 whole head of garlic
• 1 teaspoon olive or neutral oil
• 8 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons neutral oil
• 1.5 litres (6 cups) chicken stock
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly smashed
• 3cm piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 3 green onions, whites only
• 1 piece kombu (optional)
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 60ml (¼ cup) Japanese soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon sake (or dry sherry)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce + 2 tablespoons mirin + 2 tablespoons water
• 320g fresh ramen noodles
• Toppings: sliced chicken, green onion greens, sesame seeds, nori sheets, sliced bamboo shoots, corn kernels, bean sprouts

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F. Roast garlic for 40 minutes.
2. Boil eggs gently for 6 minutes 30 seconds, then transfer to ice water.
3. Mix soy sauce, mirin, sake, grated garlic, and sugar; simmer for 2 minutes.
4. Fry the sliced garlic in cold oil until golden, about 8–10 minutes.
5. Sauté garlic, ginger, and green onion whites in reserved oil.
6. Pour in chicken stock; if using kombu, add it now.
7. Simmer for 20 minutes, strain, and stir in sesame oil.
8. Preheat serving bowls by filling them with boiling water.
9. Cook ramen noodles separately per package instructions.
10. Assemble each bowl with shoyu tare, broth, noodles, roasted garlic, and toppings.

Notes

For added depth, try making mayu, a black garlic oil to drizzle over the finished bowl.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes
• Category: Main Course
• Method: Baking, Boiling, Frying, Sautéing
• Cuisine: Japanese

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 serving
• Calories: 600
• Sugar: 6g
• Sodium: 800mg
• Fat: 20g
• Saturated Fat: 3g
• Unsaturated Fat: 15g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 80g
• Fiber: 5g
• Protein: 30g
• Cholesterol: 370mg