Is ramen unhealthy? Coming from someone whos eaten thousands of bowls, the answer may surprise you. Sodium amount, calories – were covering it all!
I (Frank from 5 AM Ramen) literally grew up on ramen and proudly eat it for a living. Therefore you will find a little ramen bias here.
However, I can also provide some insight that only a regular ramen eater could. Ill even talk about ramens effect on my personal health.
CarbohydratesRamen noodles have 75 to 100 grams of carbohydrates.
It depends on the soup. Clear broth has about 5 grams of fat and thick soup has about 15 grams. You can gauge how much oil there is in a bowl by looking at the surface of the soup. For thick soup, some oil is emulsified in the soup. There is about 1 to 2 grams of fat from chashu too. In total there is about 7 to 17 grams of fat in one bowl of ramen. Considering that the suggested fat per meal is about 14 to 25 grams. It is not too much. So, the three major nutrients are fine.
What about the rest of them?
Ramen doesnt have a lot of vegetables.
There are some vegetable such as seaweed, spinach, and green onions, but there is not enough of it in a bowl of ramen. There are some vitamins from meat and flour… …And there are some vitamins in the broth (in the form of water-soluble vitamins). However, ramen contains too little vitamins. Ramen lacks vitamin A, D, E, and K since they are fat-soluble vitamins. Vitamin C is also lacking since it is easily affected by heat.
Calories of ramen is not the problem
As I mentioned, your caloric intake of one bowl of ramen is about 500 to 600 calories.
Is Ramen Unhealthy? Calorie Count
Most ramen from restaurants in Japan are about 450 – 600 calories. This is when you drink all the soup. If youre not drinking all the soup, the total is around 400 – 550 calories (shaving off 50+ calories).
But ramen is extremely diverse. No bowl is the same. The below three ramen styles and their differing calorie count illustrate this.
1. Shio (Salt-Seasoned) Ramen – Lighter
Soup: 150 Calories
Noodles: 225 Calories
Toppings: 75 Calories
TOTAL: 450 Calories
2. Miso Ramen – Heavier
Soup: 200 Calories
Noodles: 280 Calories
Toppings: 100 Calories
TOTAL: 580 Calories
3. Jiro Style Ramen – Even Heavier
Soup: 800 calories
Noodles: 600 calories
Toppings: 200 calories
TOTAL: 1,600+ Calories*
* some Jiro bowls go well past 2,000 calories
In summary, depending on the ramen style, calories can vary a great deal. In terms of soup, light and clear soups (e.g. shio) are not as calorific as murky, fatty soups (e.g. miso or tonkotsu).
A cloudy pork bone soup will naturally have more calories than a transparent chicken bone and vegetable based one. Excluding the third example above, most of the calories in ramen actually come from the noodles!
FAQ
Is ramen healthy for weight loss?
This is one full bowl of ramen with noodles, toppings and soup. Want to see how your favourite ramen ranks in terms of calories? Keep in mind, the suggested daily intake of calories should be around 2000 to 2500 calories (depending on gender, age, metabolism, and many other factors).
Is ramen Noodle fattening?
