No-Cook Ramen. How Long to Soak?

I found a number of references online to people re-hydrating instant ramen noodles by soaking in cold water and not cooking. What everyone failed to mention though, is how long to soak them. Has anyone tried this? How long before they were acceptably soft? Did they continue to soften into mush, even in cold water, or was the texture fairly stable?

I’ve never tried cold-soak; I actually can’t imagine ramen tasting very good if not hot (same as oatmeal - can’t imagine eating it cold, except in a cookie.)

Not a ramen fan myself, but the stuff is cheap enough that you could run experiments at home with small batches! I'm sure some readers here would like know the results!

I'm not allowed to make it at home. My wife got deathly ill as a kid right after eating it. The illness was unrelated to the ramen, but she still can't even smell it without feeling nauseous.

So, I consider ramen a rare (and much loved) treat and only eat it when I'm camping.

...maybe in the back yard.

I can relate--I very much dislike the stuff myself!

Maybe a solo overnight trip, devoted to ways of preparing ramen?

I’m not much of a ramen fan anymore; just lost my taste for it I guess. But, back in the days when I was doing a lot of climbing I would just take the ramen block out of the wrapper and eat it dry with a water chaser. It isn’t like eating dried pasta, more like really crunchy potato chips; not too bad really. I don’t like thinking about cold, slimy, soaked ramen; sort of like soaked Fritos in my mind.

Yow! That sounds unappetizing...

We buy ramen at an Asian grocery store. They have an entire aisle dedicated to different types of ramen, from Indonesian and spicy Malaysian to Japanese and Korean. Wildly different flavors, styles, and even types of noodles. Great fun.

I have soaked the ramen for 30-40 minutes. I have made a pasta salad by putting the noodles in a quart zip lock freezer bag with some freeze dried vegetables. While hiking a added water to the bag about 30 or 40 minutes before a lunch break. When I stopped for lunch I poured off the water and added salad dressing from a packet. Worked well. Experiment at home. You could also add tuna. This idea came from a Boy Scout Leader training I attended years ago.

Sounds good.

I just tested this out. The noodles weren't ready at 5 or 10 minutes, but they were acceptably soft at 20 minutes. They absorbed 108 grams of water, which according to an online calculator I found, is 3.65 fluid ounces. They could have been a bit softer, so 4 ounces would probably be fine. I figure, if I want just noodles and not soup, I can add just the right amount of water in a bag with the noodles and knead it from time to time.

I also tried it with the seasoning packet, but since I had drained off the water, it was too salty. It would probably be fine with other added ingredients, maybe some dehydrated carrots, corn, celery, maybe even some tuna or chicken.

Yeah, the seasoning packet makes it way too salty. I usually add in foil packs of tuna, the ones with flavoring added, I find that filling and better tasting. Also, I started picking up flavor packets from fast food joints, like Taco Bell, Arby's, etc. Usually one packet is all that's needed to add flavor (and without all the salt).

I really like the idea of adding tuna. I'm sure once you add dressing they will taste better than most think.

Forget the sauces, they sell it with enough variety (garlic/lemon, siracha, jalapeño, etc.) that you can save the additional weight and just pick the taste you want.

I've never tried to soak ramen noodles in cold water and I think that it doesn't taste good even going soft after 10-20 minutes.

I actually did this in the field over the weekend for dinner one night. I had cooked (canned), dehydrated corn and carrots in a bag, along with some celery flakes from the seasonings aisle. I put 7 ounces of water in the bag at approximately 2-3 hours before dinner. At 30 minutes before dinner, I added the ramen seasoning packet and the noodles. I broke up the noodles and kneaded it all around to mix and rehydrate faster. Last, I mixed in the tuna packet and ate it. Honestly, I really didn't care for the celery much with this particular mix. If I did it again, I'd probably leave it out. But, it was filling and good trail nutrition.

And, on a side note, I also made GORP + M&Ms for this trip, and man, did I ever over-estimate how much of that stuff I would eat! I came home with over half of it.

So, 1/2 hr works?

It worked beautifully for the noodles, except that it probably could have used just a touch more water. They were ever so slightly al dente. When I tried it at home with more water (and then drained), they came out a better texture. I was up a mountain with no potable water except what I carried, so I didn't want to use any more than absolutely necessary. I suppose I could have used more and then drank off whatever didn't soak in, but that didn't sound very appetizing. Plus, if you put in your seasoning just before the noodles while there's still plenty of water and shake up the bag, it makes it easier to mix it in. If I was drinking off extra water, I would have to wait until after that to season it (or drink off some of the seasoning and have less for the food).

I like the instant ramen bowls better.

Cold Ramen noodles seem very unappetizing. For me, Ramen is supposed to be hot- even kind of hurt your mouth a little too

They'll do that if you eat them dry!

I have found that 30 minutes is a good amount of time for the noodles to become fully soft. Sometimes I might wait up to an hour. The length of time can vary depending on the temperature of the water. If it is extremely cold, it will take longer than if it is lukewarm