Slow Cooker or Stovetop Taco Ramen

I like ramen, though we don’t eat it often at our house because food number one here is anything Mexican.

When I came across this recipe I thought I better try it since I’d never heard of slow cooker ramen, let alone taco ramen!

This is super simple to make, you can jazz it up however you want with substitutions or flavors, and it will feed at least 4 people with a bit left over.

Let’s get into it.

Slow Cooker (Or Stovetop) Taco Ramen

Recipe credit to The Lazy Slow Cooker.

Time commitment:

Prep - 15-20 minutes

Cooking time - 15-30 minutes OR 4-6 hours

Cooling time - 5+ minutes

Ready in 30-60 minutes OR 4.5-6.5 hours!

Equipment list:

• Stirring/serving spoon

• Spatula or other utensil to cook ground meat

• Frying pan OR Dutch oven/larger cooking pot

• 1/3 cup measuring cup

• 1 cup measuring cup

• Knife, cutting board, and storage bowl if making your own pico de gallo or chopping fresh ingredients

• Cheese grater if shredding your own

• Slow cooker (I’ve had this one forever and it’s never let me down) OR stovetop

Ingredients:

• 1 .5 to 2 pounds ground meat (use ground turkey, beef, elk, deer, bison, even ground or shredded chicken!)

• 3 packages / ~7.5 ounces of ramen noodles (I bought the cheap packets of ramen with beef seasoning, but you can also buy fresh noodles or other dried that don’t come with seasoning, just need to have about 7.5 ounces of noodles)

• 15-ounce can of drained corn OR drained and rinsed black beans (can also omit this)

• 15-ounce can diced tomatoes with their liquid OR 4-5 diced fresh roma tomatoes (can also omit this)

• 1 cup salsa OR make your own fresh pico de gallo

• 8-ounce can diced green chilies OR one medium-sized fresh diced jalapeño (can leave out if you don’t like spice)

• 1 cup beef or vegetable broth (grab the powder from the ramen packet and mix it with 1 cup water, buy broth or broth powder to mix with water, OR make your own vegetable broth!)

• 1/3 cup taco seasoning

• Anything else you typically like to add to your tacos (like avocado, pinto beans, etc.)

• Shredded Mexican or other cheese OR block of cheese your grate yourself, the hard way! (optional)

• Sour cream (optional)

• Hot sauce (optional)

Steps to get your taco ramen:

1. Gather all your equipment and ingredients.

   SLOW COOKER METHOD:

2. Get your slow cooker out and turned to low. Preheat your frying pan to medium heat.

3. Brown the 1.5 to 2 pounds of ground meat in your preheated frying pan. If using fresh tomatoes and jalapeño, chop them while the meat cooks OR have them ready because you chopped them before starting cooking.

4. While the meat cooks, add to the slow cooker 15 ounces of drained corn OR drained and rinsed black beans if using, 15 ounces of diced tomatoes with their juices OR freshly chopped roma tomatoes if using, 1 cup salsa if using, 8-ounce can of chopped green chilies with their juices OR freshly chopped jalapeño if using, 1 cup beef OR vegetable broth, and 1/3 cup taco seasoning. Give it a good stirring.

   • TIP: You can do as many or as few add-ins as you want here. Think about what you usually like with tacos and add it to the slow cooker to simmer or as a topping when you eat the ramen. Customization is super easy! You can even have just meat, broth, and noodles. See below for a quicker way to cook this if you’re keeping it simple.

   • TIP 2: The main ingredients you need here are the meet, broth, and noodles. Everything else is up to you.

5. When the meat is finished, add it to the slow cooker (drain the fat before adding to the slow cooker if you want) and give everything a good stirring.

6. Let it sit on low for 4-6 hours for the flavors to develop, and remember that this would be a great time to shred your cheese and get your sour cream, hot sauce, or other toppings ready!

   • TIP: This is a pretty filling meal all on its own, but if you want to serve sides with it, consider refried or seasoned black beans, Mexican rice, taquitos, salad, or even egg rolls (bonus points if you can find Southwest ones).

7. Once you hit the 4-6 hour mark, remove the lid, throw in the 3 “cakes” of ramen, making sure they’re partially or fully submerged in the taco mixture, and then put the lid back on. Let it sit for about 5 minutes or until the noodles are cooked to the softness you prefer.

8. Stir the mix, let cool for a few minutes, and then serve with whatever toppings or sides you like.

   STOVETOP METHOD:

   If you want to use the stovetop instead, brown the meat in a larger pot like a Dutch oven.

   • TIP: This makes A LOT, so you need a large pan if you make this on the stovetop.

   When the meat is browned, drain the fat if you’d like, then add all ingredients but the ramen “cakes.”

   • TIP: If you want to keep this simple and just do meat and noodles, add 1 cup of broth to the meat at this point, then throw in the noodles to soften. Once they’re done, serve and enjoy.

   Let it simmer for 15-30 minutes to develop the flavors.

   Add the noodles to cook for 5 minutes or until they’re done to your liking.

   Once the noodles are cooked enough, cool for a few minutes, then serve and enjoy.