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Spicy Short Rib Peanut Ramen, our favorite winter ramen! Enjoy this on nights when you’re craving your favorite bowl of carry-out ramen, but want something simple and homemade. This ramen is flavored with warm spices, peanut butter, and chili paste. It’s creamy, spicy, and filled with plenty of ramen noodles. Each bowl is topped with kimchi, fresh herbs, nori, and lots of toasted sesame seeds. And best of all, it’s all cooked in one pot – either the crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove. One of our favorite bowls of ramen – even better than a restaurant! Best enjoyed on cold days, because there’s nothing better than a steaming bowl of ramen on a cold winter’s night.
Soup is the name of the game these days, it’s all we’ve been wanting. With the snow falling pretty consistently and many people battling colds, I’ve been making soup after soup. Everything from classic chicken noodle soup to my creamy potato, chili, and then so much ramen. Which I think might be the all-around family favorite.
I’ve made more variations on ramen than I can remember, but if you take a family poll, I think everyone will say that this is their favorite. My brothers especially love this one since I finally used short ribs.
It’s simple as can be to make and so warmingly delicious. Pretty hard to pass up a bowl of this ramen.
The inspiration for this ramen, however, came from my younger brother, Red. He was in Hawaii for Christmas with his girlfriend’s family. He sent me a ton of photos of food from the restaurant they ate at on Christmas Eve. It was a Korean place and it looked absolutely incredible.
The thing about Red is that he doesn’t go into much detail, if any. He sent the photos and said, “this was really good”. I tried to get more out of him, but then he disappeared for the night.
It was obvious from the photo that they enjoyed Korean-style BBQ with kimchi on the side. And that’s when I dreamt up this soup. A ramen with Korean-inspired short ribs in a spicy but creamy broth with lots of kimchi on top.
Different, but it sounded really dish!
The details
You can make this easily on the stove, in the crockpot, or super fast in the instant pot. I’ve made this all 3 ways and each yields the same outcome. I think the crockpot is easiest, but use the cooking method that works best for you.
For the crockpot, layer in the short ribs, then pretty much every other ingredient goes in. The broth, tamari, coconut milk, peanut butter (the not so secret, secret to this ramen), chili paste (I love to use Gochujang – Korean chili paste), shallots, garlic, ginger, a couple of bay leaves, and a cinnamon stick.
Cover and cook low and slow until the ribs are falling apart.
When the soup has finished cooking, preheat the broiler to high, broil the ribs with some of the sauce until caramelized.
While the short ribs broil, add the spinach and ramen noodles to the broth.
As always, I use Brown Rice and Millet Ramen noodles (which you can find at Whole Foods and in many grocery stores). These taste just like real-deal ramen noodles, but they’re much healthier, gluten-free, and vegan.
For toppings, I kept things easy and simple. Lots of kimchi, cilantro, green onion, and sesame seeds. You can add some chili oil too if you like.
This ramen is perfect for any night of the week, whether it’s a snowy night, pouring rain, or simply a night where you just need a warming soup.
I’m so thankful for easy dinners like this!
Looking for more warming winter soups? Here are a few to try:
Salsa Verde Chicken and Rice Tortilla Soup.
30 Minute Thai Peanut Chicken Ramen
Better For You Chicken and Spinach Ramen
Healthier Italian Wedding Soup with Lemon and Garlic
Lemony Garlic Chicken and Orzo Soup
Creamy Gnocchi Soup with Rosemary Bacon
Lastly, if you make this Spicy Short Rib Peanut Ramen be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Spicy Short Rib Peanut Ramen
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 570 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 3-5 pounds beef short ribs, bone-in or out, fat trimmed
- 8 cups low sodium beef or chicken broth
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk
- 1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 2-4 tablespoons chili paste, to taste (I use Gochujang)
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 6 shallots, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 cups baby spinach
- 4-6 squares dry ramen noodles
- kimichi, cilantro, and green onion, for serving
- chili oil, nori sheets, and sesame seeds, for serving
Instructions
crockpot
- 1. In the bowl of the crockpot, season the short ribs with pepper. Pour over the broth, coconut milk, and tamari. Add the chili paste, peanut butter, shallots, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.2. Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the short ribs from the crockpot and place onto a baking sheet. Break into a few chunks and discard any bones. Broil until caramelized on top, about 3-5 minutes, but watch closely.3. Meanwhile, crank the heat on the slow cooker to high. Stir in the spinach and noodles and let cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the short ribs.4. Ladle the broth, short ribs, spinach, and noodles into bowls. Top as desired with kimchi, cilantro, green onions, chili oil, and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Instant Pot
- 1. In the bowl of the instant pot, season the short ribs with pepper. Pour over the broth, coconut milk, and tamari. Add the chili paste, peanut butter, shallots, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 60-70 minutes. Quick release the steam.2. Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the short ribs from the instant pot and place onto a baking sheet. Break into a few chunks and discard any bones. Broil until caramelized on top, about 3-5 minutes, but watch closely.3. Switch the instant pot to sautè. Add the spinach and noodles and let cook, uncovered, for about 3-5 minutes. Stir in the short ribs.4. Ladle the broth, short ribs, spinach, and noodles into bowls. Top as desired with kimchi, cilantro, green onions, chili oil, and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Stove
- 1. In a large soup pot set over medium heat, season the short ribs with pepper. Pour over the broth, coconut milk, and tamari. Add the chili paste, peanut butter, shallots, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook over low heat for 3-5 hours or up to all day, adding water if needed to keep the short ribs covered.2. Preheat the broiler to high. Remove the short ribs from the pot and place onto a baking sheet. Break into a few chunks and discard any bones. Broil until caramelized on top, about 3-5 minutes, but watch closely.3. To the soup, add the spinach and noodles and let cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the short ribs.4. Ladle the broth, short ribs, spinach, and noodles into bowls. Top as desired with kimchi, cilantro, green onions, chili oil, and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
The flavors of this dish were so delicious and it was super easy in the crockpot!
However advice for others – if you plan on reheating for leftovers, only add enough noodles for the first serving and then add new ones each time you reheat. When I did all the noodles at once, they got soggy and broken up when reheating and it made the leftovers much less appealing.
However great flavors and still an amazing dish! Just learn from my lesson 🙂 Thanks Tieghan as always for a great meal.
Hey Sophie,
Happy Monday!! 💘 Thanks so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
I have loved almost every recipe I’ve had on this blog but this one didn’t do it for me. The broth was a little odd and the short rib was a bad choice for the meat. I won’t be making it again but my advice to others is to use a different beef that’s better for soups. Also cook noodles separately!
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed! xT
Made in the instant pot, was delectable. To zhuzh the recipe up added dark soy sauce, gochugaru flakes, bonito flakes, fish sauce, Thai chilis, and sambal! Only thing I would do different next time is a little more peanut butter.
Hey Gigi,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and appreciate you giving it a try! Have a great weekend! 🏈
Hi Tieghan! loooove your recipes
Tried this one out and the milk curdled.. do you know why that could be?
Hey Stefania,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, sorry to hear about your milk!! Was it canned coconut milk at room temp? Let me know how I can help! xT
Thanks for the reply!! and yes it was
Delicious! I’m not the brightest and it said add noodles so I cooked the noodles in the broth. It turned into a pasta with very little broth. That’s my error but the flavor is perfect!
Hey Cameron,
Happy Wednesday!! Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was tasty! xx
I didn’t love this one. The chili flavors overwhelmed and the rest of the flavors were just kind of blah. Definitely needs some salt.
Hi Sue,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy this one! Let me know if there is anything that I can help with! xT
Not terrible, but not knock it out of the park like some of the other recipes here! I think it could have used another component to brighten the heavy broth. Unfortunately, don’t have any suggestions besides definitely don’t skip the kimchi!
Hey Katie,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear it wasn’t enjoyed! xT
No worries! I’m still back for more recipes!
Family pleaser. I used 1 tablespoon of chili paste and 5 tablespoons of concentrated tomato paste bc I have a non spicy loving son. Followed cooking directions and it was delicious. I did skim grease off of top before adding spinach and ramen. Was able to find both mild and spicy kimchi so all were happy. For more texture we sprinkled sriracha ranch peanuts on top (plain roasted for son), too. Both boys took leftovers home with them which is a win!
Hey Tiffany,
Wonderful! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and sharing your comment, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
Noodles turned to mush, absorbed all the broth. We followed the directions!
Hi Julia,
Sorry to hear this! What kind of noodles did you use? Let me know how I can help! xx
This short rib ramen was AMAZING!!!!! Thanks for the recipe Tieghan!!! So much flavorful healthy ingredients 🙂 this will be on repeat at my house.
Hey Kimberly,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was tasty and thanks a lot for trying it out! xT
Currently cooking this for the second time in 2 weeks! Such a rich delicious broth. I think it would be great even without meat! It holds up well as leftovers, and is a great way to mix up your typical winter soup rotation. 10/10
Hey Regan,
Happy Monday!! I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad it turned out well for you:)
This was kind of a miss for me. The broth was pretty good but the short ribs made it so greasy. I don’t know that they’re really the best cut of meat to use in a broth. Might try again with beef chuck.
Hey Elizabeth,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry about the grease! Let me know if you try the recipe again with beef chuck! xT
Yum… making right now but definitely can’t fit 8 cups of broth in. Hoping it works out!!!
I hope you love the recipe Joeleen!! Thanks for trying it! xx
So good and so easy! Will definitely be making this again!
Hey Mallory,
Happy Friday!! I appreciate you making this recipe and your comment, so glad to hear it was delish! xx
I’d like to make this for my family but don’t want to make a mess in their kitchen! Is this a meal that I can make ahead of time? Any pro-tips??
Hey Emily,
You could have everything prepped and ready to go in the pot, whether that be that crockpot or dutch oven and then allow the dish to cook at their kitchen. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xx
Flavors were good. Recipe made SO MUCH food. If you have a family of four, I would cut the recipe in half. Or, you could put half of the noodles in and then cook more for leftovers. Putting them all in was too much and they went soggy. I also didn’t think that much meat was necessary.
Hey Kelsey,
Perfect!! I am delighted to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and thanks so much for trying it out! xx