This Garlic Butter Ramen Noodles is so simple and easy, yet crazy good and ready in under 10 minutes. It's the perfect dish that both kids and adults will devour!
If you are looking for more ways to use instant ramen noodles, then try our easy ramen recipes like honey walnut shrimp ramen noodles or bbq ramen noodles.
A Quick Look at the Recipe
✅ Recipe Name: Garlic Butter Ramen Noodles
🕒 Ready In: 10 minutes
👪 Makes: 2 servings
🧑🍳 Main Ingredients: Instant ramen noodles, butter, garlic and chicken stock.
📖 Dietary Info: Meatless with vegetarian option
📌 Difficulty: Quick and easy
Why you’ll love this garlic butter ramen noodles recipe?
This garlic butter noodles recipe has been a reader and family favorite ever since I first shared it back in 2019. There's something so comforting about a bowl of buttery noodles, and when you add fresh garlic and a sprinkle of parsley, it turns into a simple meal that's unbelievably delicious.
The best part is how quick and easy it is. It comes together in under 10 minutes with just 5 simple ingredients, one pan, and almost no prep beyond chopping a couple of garlic cloves. It's one of those recipes that tastes far more indulgent than the effort it takes to make. Even picky eaters can't resist it!
While it's perfect for a quick weeknight dinner, we also love it as an after-school snack, an easy lunch, or a simple side dish. It's such a reliable recipe that I even included it in one of my weekly meal plan because it's exactly the kind of meal you need on those extra busy days.
- maria doss
Featured comments
One reader Mari writes, "It was really good, didn’t have any parsley so I just didn’t add any." ★★★★★
One reader Gaby writes, "This was amazing and super easy! Took the advice from another review and used only 2 tablespoon of butter! Definitely deserves it name “crazy good garlic butter noodles” ★★★★★
One reader Jessica writes, "This is SO good! Thank you." ★★★★★
Here are some photos shared by our readers who’ve tried the recipe!
Jump to:
- A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Why you’ll love this garlic butter ramen noodles recipe?
- Featured comments
- Why Chicken Stock Makes Instant Ramen Taste So Much Better?
- Ingredients you'll need
- How to make garlic butter noodles using instant ramen?
- Should You Break the Ramen Noodles Before Cooking?
- What should you serve with it?
- Love garlic? More garlic recipes
- Garlic butter Ramen Noodles
Why Chicken Stock Makes Instant Ramen Taste So Much Better?
One of my favorite instant ramen hacks is to cook the noodles in chicken stock instead of plain water. As the noodles cook, they absorb all that savory flavor, so every bite is delicious, similar to our instant pot spaghetti aglio e olio—not just the outside that's coated with seasoning. It's such a simple swap, but it makes the noodles taste so much more homemade.
I also skip the seasoning packet altogether. Most packets are loaded with sodium and artificial flavors, and honestly, you don't need them here. Between the fresh garlic, butter, and flavorful chicken stock, there's plenty of rich, savory flavor without it.
Ingredients you'll need
- Ramen - Feel free to use any flavored Top Ramen noodles, as we won’t be using the seasoning packet.
- Butter - I highly recommend using unsalted butter, as both the chicken stock and ramen noodles already have plenty of salt.
- Garlic - As in all garlic recipes, a genrous amount of finely minced garlic adds a garlicky punch.
- Stock - I used 33% reduced sodium chicken stock. If using regular sodium or no sodium chicken stock then adjust salt accordingly.
- Seasoning - Salt, pepper and fresh or dried parsley.
How to make garlic butter noodles using instant ramen?
Should You Break the Ramen Noodles Before Cooking?
I get this question all the time! The short answer is it's completely up to you.
I usually leave the noodle block whole because I love long, buttery noodles. Even though the noodles come in a firm block, they're already pre-cooked, so they soften in just a few minutes once they hit the hot broth. If you're serving young kids or simply prefer shorter noodles, go ahead and break the block in half before cooking. The recipe works perfectly either way.
Want To Save This Recipe?
Enter your email below, and we’ll send the link straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get more creative recipe ideas every Sunday!
What should you serve with it?
Side dish: These noodles with butter and garlic pair perfectly with so many main courses. Think of them as a versatile side dish, just like mashed potatoes—great with baked chicken cutlets, or seafood. They’re an easy way to elevate almost any meal!
Main dish: It is delicious enjoyed on it's own. You can pair it with some roasted veggies like quick air fryer brussel sprouts or a side salad. It is one of the best ways to use ramen noodles.
Love garlic? More garlic recipes
Garlic butter Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced (or use 4 medium)
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock I used 33% less sodium
- ⅛ teaspoon salt refer notes
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper powder
- 2 ( 3 ounces ) package instant ramen noodles flavor packets discarded
- 1 tablepsoon minced fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon dried
Instructions
- Add 2 tablespoons butter and minced garlic into a cold medium sized skillet or pan. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic turns a light golden color (be careful not to let it brown).
- Add chicken stock, salt and pepper and let it come to a gentle boil.
- Place the ramen noodles and cook, stirring every 20-30 seconds to loosen the noodles. Cook until most of the moisture has evaporated and only a small amount of stock remains. Remove the pan from heat, then stir in the remaining butter and chopped parsley. Enjoy hot!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information, based on third-party calculations, should be seen as estimates, not guarantees, as various factors like product types, brands, processing methods, and more can alter the nutritional content in recipes.
Can’t get enough garlic butter? Try my garlic butter shrimp or air fryer garlic bread next!
MADE THIS RECIPE AND LOVED IT? 💚 Please leave a ⭐️STAR rating and COMMENT below- I love to hear your feedback! Tag me with your creations on Instagram and find me on Facebook.
Hi, I’m Maria! I share easy, flavor-packed dinners, high-protein meals, and irresistible baking ideas. If you’ve ever asked, “Don’t know what to cook tonight?” you’re in the right place. And yes—there’s plenty here for breakfast, snacks, and dessert too. More about maria ->
Kelly @ Kelly Lynns Sweets and Treats
Mmmm you had me at garlic!! Plus I love it’s made in only one pan. This is a winner for sure 🙂
Kristi L Schipilliti
Also added in a small yellow onion and an egg. It really gave it that extra flavour. Also topped it off with parmesan cheese.
Veronica Wall
I just had this for dinner and it was delicious. I can't wait to make it again.
Maria Doss
That’s so great to hear! Wishing you a very happy new year - Maria ♡
Deb
Excellent! Hubby & I really enjoyed this recipe. Easy, quick & yum!
Maria Doss
That’s so great to hear, so glad your family loved it - Maria ♡
Yolonda Adams
I ended up using angel hair pasta which turned out super good! Simple ingredients and easy to make!
Katherine | Love In My Oven
Pinning!! This is an easy meal my kids would love. I will use those rice ramen noodles that I've been buying!
Twinkle
Wow, a yummy noodles recipe. Can I add here Beans?
Maria Doss
What kind of beans? Green beans / black beans / chickpeas/......?
Nicky
Made this today. This recipe is so simple yet so full of flavor. This is ultimate comfort food. Instead of salt I used powder chicken bouillon. Otherwise I followed the recipe. I’m going to save this recipe. It will be my go to for quick delicious ramen noodles.
Maria Doss
Hi Nicky, That sounds wonderful, glad you loved it 🙂
RandomStar
My kids and I love this recipe! It is simple, easy to make and cost effective for our large family. It works well for a lunch or a dinner side. Instead of discarding the flavour packets we use them to make our broth and skip adding the salt, 1 flavour pack = 2 cups broth. We also enjoy this with beef flavouring instead of chicken.
Sam
Find it calls for just slightly too much butter. Maybe 2 Tbsp instead of 3 next time. Otherwise, it's deeeeeelicious and easy!
Jessica
This is SO good! Thank you.
Gaby
This was amazing and super easy! Took the advice from another review and used only 2 tablespoon of butter! Definitely deserves it name “crazy good garlic butter ramen noodles”
Mark
This is a very simple and tasty recipe. It is very forgiving on ingredients. I get plain ramen from an international market (yes there is such a thing) and tweaked the amount of chicken stock. I also used jar garlic and it worked great. I use a pressure cooker, so after adding the liquid and ramen I pop the lid on, bring to high pressure and cook for 2-3 minutes, depending on the firmness of the noodle preferred. Quick release, let it sit for a short while to thicken and you are all set. Delicious and thank you for sharing.
Tayla
This recipe is delicious! I didn't have any chicken stock though so I ended up dissolving the chicken sachet in some water as a substitute, and it worked great. Also, I'm not a huge fan of really soft ramen. I managed to get my "stock" to reduce maybe 1 cm and my ramen noodles were so soft that they were about to fall apart! I took the soggy noodles out and added a new brick of ramen which I cooked to my liking and it was perfect. No disrespect to the recipe at all as lots of people like very soft ramen and I'm sure it would have worked out better if I used proper chicken stock. Happy cooking!
Maria Doss
Hi Tayla, Glad you loved the ramen, Maria
Elora
First, let me just comment thanks for saying "ramen noodles." Ramen is a two part dish, the noodles *and* the soup. If soup isn't involved, it isn't ramen, it's ramen noodles. See too many people calling soupless noodles "ramen." 😬 Second, I do have one nitpick, though. Seeing as you don't use the flavor packet, there is no reason to list a flavor of ramen. The noodles themselves have zero flavor, so it's redundant to specify "chicken ramen" when they don't become "chicken ramen" until you use the flavor packet. You should have simply written "2 packages ramen, any flavor." 😛
Maria Doss
Hi Elora,
You are absolutely right, we will make the necessary changes! Thanks for the feedback, Maria
Mary E Jacobson
Don't be so picky!!
J
FYI the link for the ramen noodles takes you to dixie cups on Amazon.
Maria Doss
Hi, Thanks for letting us know! Are you referring to a Pinterest pin that redirects you to Amazon? - Maria
Sheila Heinen
This recipe was so very easy and so delicious. I doubled the recipe and I probably could have used more. That was only for three people. Reading the other reviews, I also used the flavor packet. I doubled the recipe so I needed 3 cups of water with two packets of the chicken flavoring that comes in the Ramen noodles. I did not add any other salt. Everything else I followed to the tea. I will be making this again and again and had to share the recipe with two of my daughters.
Maria Doss
Love to hear that - Maria ❤️
Kathy Davis
Absolutely delicious! It reminds me of an Amish recipe I make using any kind of noodles but also adding crushed crackers (we like Club crackers) that have been been crushed and browned with butter, just a bit, in a skillet.
Jennifer
This looks so yummy! Can I substitute garlic powder for the minced garlic? If so, how much garlic powder do you recommend?
Thanks!
Maria Doss
Hi Jennifer, While fresh garlic adds great flavor, garlic powder is a quick and easy substitute when you're short on time. I recommend using 3/4 teaspoon of garlic powder - Maria
Adena
I toss this with chicken bites and it’s a great busy weeknight dinner!