If you’re into Italian food, and especially pasta, you know perfectly well that cooking pasta in unsalted water is nothing short of a sin. The salt — a non-negotiable — seasons the pasta from within as it absorbs water and softens during the cooking process.
So if you come into Japanese food with this knowledge, you’ll be forgiven to think that you also salt the water when cooking ramen noodles. But the question is, do you really? It’s a good reason — and, for the reasons that we’re about to discuss, a consequential one, so I invite you keep reading.
True, pasta and ramen are both noodles. With that said, the distance between Rome and Tokyo is 6,000 miles (for those of you using the metric system, that’s 10,000 kilometers). In other words, you can expect there to be a few differences in the way that the Italians and Japanese cook their noodles.
And as a matter of fact, there are.
Do You Salt the Water for Ramen Noodles?
Don’t salt the water when boiling ramen noodles. Unlike pasta noodles, ramen noodles are supposed to be cooked in unsalted water.
There’s a simple, logical explanation for all of this.
Ramen noodles don’t need to be salty because they’re dipped in a savory liquid, like dashi, pork broth, or mushroom broth, upon serving. The noodles should even taste somewhat bland because they’re patly there to balance out the broth’s saltiness.
Italian pasta needs the added flavor of salt water because it’s served with sauces that aren’t as salty as ramen broth (at least when properly cooked). If you cook pasta in unsalted water, the final dish will taste bland and insipid.
Do You Cook Ramen Noodles in Broth?
No, you shouldn’t cook ramen noodles in broth. They’re supposed to be served in hot broth, but they’re also supposed to be cooked in rapidly boiling unsalted water.
To cook ramen noodles, fill a pot three-quarters full with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. When the water is boiling vigorously, reduce the heat to medium-high and add the noodles.
Boil fresh ramen noodles for 1 minute and dry ramen noodles for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the water when they’re no longer frail and crunchy, but they still have some firmness to them and offer a little bit of resistance when bitten into.
Italian chefs call this level of doneness al dente, which literally means “to the tooth.”
The same applies to ramen noodles: they ought to be removed from the cooking water when they aren’t too mushy, and they still stick to the teeth when eaten.
Are You Supposed to Rinse Ramen Noodles?
Okay, here’s another step in which pasta cooking differs from ramen cooking.
You never, ever rinse Italian pasta after it’s cooked. But you do rinse ramen noodles under a stream of cold water after they’re done cooking. The main reason is to stop the cooking process before you put them in the bowl and pour the broth over them.
Of course, that doesn’t apply if you use instant ramen noodles. They may not taste as good as fresh or even dried ramen noodles, but they’re a blessing when you’re craving Japanese ramen and you’re running low on time and/or energy.
If you’re using instant ramen noodles, just mix them in with the hot broth and add the toppings.
Psst! Check out our list of 49 things to add to your ramen bowl right now. (You can thank us later.)
Final Words
So there you have it!
To recap, the right way to cook your ramen noodles is:
- In unsalted water
- Until they’re tender but still firm
- Rinsing them under cold running water when done.
It turns out that the way to cook ramen noodles is exactly the opposite of the way to cook pasta noodles. And yet both taste their best when cooked to tender, but still firm, a.k.a. al dente. So ramen and pasta noodles share a similarity after all.