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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!
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!
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Made the stove top method with a few changes. Browned the short ribs in o/o first, drained all but 1T oil and set short ribs aside. Sautéed shallots in remaining oil for a few minutes then added the garlic and ginger for 1 min, returned short ribs to pan then poured over the broth, coconut milk, and tamari, followed by the chili paste, peanut butter, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick. Cooked for 3 hours on low. Used the recommended ramen noodles. Delicious!
Thank you so much! Always loveee to hear when a recipe is enjoyed! Have a great rest of your week! 🙂 xT
I saw a bit of star anise in the one photo. I don’t see it listed in the ingredients, but it sure does sound like a great add. Thank you for the delish recipe!
Thank you sooo much Tracy! Yes, I used it as a garnish! 🙂 xT
Too many ads!
Loved the soup! Is it freezable?
Hi Cheryl! I haven’t ever frozen this before but that should work just fine! xT
This was SO good. I wasn’t sure about it while it was cooking but then I tasted a spoonful of the broth and Holy Smokes! Delicious! I did have to use my immersion blender bc my coconut milk separated FYI for anyone else who experiences that. This is going to be a regular at our house.
Thank you Kate! 🙂 xT
Do you think you could sub a Chuck roast for the ribs? If so, would I need to alter the cooking instructions?
Hi Christy! I haven’t ever tried that before but that should be fine! xT
I used a chuck roast and it worked out great! This is going in the recipe rotation!
Realized too late that I made a mistake by using instant ramen noodles (I couldn’t find anything else at the time, funny enough, it never actually occurred to me that instant noodles were any different than normal noodles!). While the soup was delicious, by the time I was done eating and went to transfer it to containers for storage, the noodles were total and complete MUSH!
Might want to put a note in your recipe warning folks… DO NOT USE INSTANT NOODLES! 🤣
Hey Daniel! Thank you for the feedback! So glad you enjoyed this recipe! xT
You can totally use instant ramen noodles but I cook mine separately then spoon everything else over them.
oh my god! Where has this recipe been my whole life? WOW! DELICIOUS doesn’t describe this amazing dish! A+++
Wow!! Thank you sooo much Susan! xT
The pictures show star anise in it, but they’re not listed as an ingredient; was this an oversight or should they be added?
Hi Derek! I used it as a garnish, but you can add it if you’d like! xT
Could I skip the broiler step?
Yeah, that should be fine! xT
Loved it ! Only feedback was a bit of oil at top , any suggestions?
Not really a fan of cinnamon. Could you leave it out?
Yes, you definitely can! xT
Any other meat substitutions for the short ribs? I’m having trouble finding them in stores.
Hi! You could use a chuck roast! Or maybe some pork! xT
Hi! I have a friend who’s allergic to nuts. Any substitution recommendations for the peanut butter?
Hi there! I haven’t ever tried this recipe without the peanut butter before, so I can’t say for sure! xT
I know, i know, the spice brings the flavour!! but I really, truly cannot handle a lot of heat. Would this work without the gochujang?? Or just a tiny smidge of it?
Hi there! Yes, you could decrease the omit of gochujang and just add some extra seasonings! xT