This chicken ramen with vegetables recipe takes your basic college-budget meal and turns it into a balanced lunch or dinner. You can use either regular or gluten-free ramen noodles.

Since I’m sensitive to gluten, I purchase gluten-free ramen noodles from Costco. Even though I don’t have as tight of a budget as I once had in college, I still enjoy a budget-friendly meal.

Even though I add stuff to the ramen, it is still every inexpensive. So if you’re looking for a way to make your grocery budget stretch a bit, give this recipe a try.

Chicken Ramen Soup

Although most people don’t call this soup, it actually is. My mom always focused on having protein and vegetables with lunch and dinner (or supper in my southern home).

Ramen is very similar to the Japanese soba or Hawaiian saimin. In fact, when I lived in Japan, I learned to add things to the soba so my mother would let me have it for lunch. That carried over to the time I lived in Hawaii. 

I have more on the history of Asian noodles below. One of the things I loved about being a military BRAT was having the opportunity to try different foods, and Asian foods are among my favorites.

If you have a favorite chicken noodle or chicken and rice or soup, you can substitute the ramen for the rice or standard noodles. 

If you’re looking for side dishes to serve with your soup, check out these yummy foods to serve with soup. It’s a great starter list that adds so much to a soup meal.

Chicken Ramen Ingredients (with Vegetables)

Once you try this recipe, it will quickly become your go-to food when you need something inexpensive but delicious. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Ramen noodles (regular or gluten-free)
• Chopped cooked chicken
• Frozen vegetables
• Chicken broth
• Water

For exact measurements of each ingredient and full directions, go to the recipe card at the bottom of the page. You can even print out the card by using the “print” button.

If you don’t have chicken broth, you can use all water and drop in a bouillon cube. Or if you want a stronger chicken flavor, use all broth.

Most of the time I use peas and carrots since I love lots of color in my bowl. Green beans are good too. 

Other items you can add are soy sauce, cayenne, black pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. I love soy sauce in mine, but I didn’t have the gluten-free version in my cupboard. So I just added a dash of cayenne.

How to Make Chicken Ramen with Vegetables

Gather all of your ingredients and a pot so everything is conveniently ready to go. That way, if you’re out or running low on anything, you’ll know before you start.

First of all, pour the chicken broth and water into a saucepan. I used a 2-quart pot that seemed to be a good fit. Bring the liquid to a boil on high heat.

Secondly, turn down the heat to medium or medium high. Add the ramen noodles.

The ramen I get comes in clusters about the same size as what’s in a standard single-serving package.

If you use a package with seasonings, you can either use them instead of the broth or set them aside for future use. But keep in mind that most chicken ramen flavor packets are loaded with sodium.

Cook the noodles until they are tender. It’s easy to test by simply lifting some of them out of the liquid with a fork. 

Now add the chopped chicken and frozen vegetables.

If you want to add something else, this is the time to do it. Since I like my chicken ramen spicy, I sprinkled the cayenne pepper into the soup at this time.

Continue cooking until the vegetables and chicken are hot. I test this by tasting it as I cook, but you can pretty much tell by looking at it.

Is Chicken Ramen Vegan?

The way I cook this soup, it is not vegan. However, you can use a chicken substitute or tofu and a 100 percent vegetable broth to make it vegan. It’s still just as delicious, so you’re definitely not sacrificing flavor.

Can You Make Chicken Ramen with Egg?

Yes, you absolutely can. Adding an egg to the broth while it’s boiling gives it a completely different texture. It also adds more protein that’s good for maintaining muscle. The texture of it reminds me of egg drop soup.

Chicken FAQs

Check out these frequently asked questions about chicken for more information. I offer tips on handling, selection, and recipes for chicken.

About Asian Noodles

According to the Japanology website, all of the Asian style noodles have distinguishable differences. I honestly can’t tell much difference in the flavor among the different types of noodles that I’ve tried. However, I can tell the difference in the textures.

As the article states, some are made from wheat and others from buckwheat. They also have varying amounts of egg, which changes the texture. The gluten-free ramen that I get now is a blend of brown rice and millet.

More Delicious Soup Recipes

We love a variety of soups at our house, so I like to make them often. Here are some of our favorites:

Beef and Cabbage Soup – This soup is hearty enough to be filling, but it’s relatively low in calories. Enjoy it with a sandwich or salad.

Homemade Bean Soup – Homemade bean soup was one of the first things I learned how to cook without any help. So you can count on it being quick and easy. Oh, and it’s delicious too.

Instant Pot Lentil Soup – This is one of those soups I used to buy in a can. Then one day I read the list of ingredients and realized it would be easy to make from scratch. So I did. And it was even better than the canned version!

Cream of Tomato Soup – Nothing is better for dunking than tomato soup, so I make this when I want grilled cheese sandwiches. If you’ve never dunked a grilled cheese sandwich into a bowl of tomato soup, you need to give it a try. It is so good!

Taco Soup – The first time I made this was when our granddaughters were here. They both gave it a two-thumbs-up! My cute little taste testers both had seconds!

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