Creamy Tom Yum Ramen

Homemade creamy Tom Yum Ramen loaded with tons of tender shrimp, veggies, and a cream tom yum broth base. Add lots of noodles and enjoy this ramen bowl all year long!

You guys asked for this!

So here it is, my creamy Tom Yum Ramen. I’ve made this recipe three times now in just one short month. The first was when I wanted a quick something I could slurp on one chilly spring evening. The second because it was so good I wanted to finish recipe testing it to save in my back pocket for cooler months where I would then share this recipe with you.

I often share the things I’m testing on Instagram to gauge your current food interests. You guys really help make my recipe calendar for the month so much easier by telling me exactly what you want to see! So I took a quick pic and polled to see how many of you guys make ramen in spring and summer and if you’d like to see this recipe now or later. I figured you’d tell me to save it for later. But what a surprise! You guys wanted the recipe, and you wanted it NOW. It makes me so happy that you guys are enthusiastic about ramen, no joke.

So here it is! Swirl, slurp and gulp bowls of Tom Yum ramen to your heart’s content.

Before we jump into this recipe, I want to tell you about the inspiration behind today’s Tom Yum Ramen. Have you guys ever had creamy tom yum soup? I think it’s called Tom Yum Goong if I’m not mistaken. My local Thai joint calls it a Hot and Milky Soup which I never bothered to try because, wow, does that sound so not appetizing! It just so happened that we were dining with a group of friends that are so obviously more adventurous than the two of us that convinced us to give it a go. And since that say, we haven’t looked back. Hot and Milk soup is the perfect balance of umami, tangy-limey flavor, and so comforting.

It may sound weird as heck, but man it is soo good!

They add a ton of mushrooms, tomatoes, and red bell peppers to the tom yum soup so I did the same thing here. Feel free to swap them for other veggies you enjoy. So many people LOVE corn in ramen (I’m possibly the only weirdo who doesn’t) but feel free to make this your own.

A soft boiled egg wouldn’t be a bad idea either.

I claim zero percent authenticity here. This is seriously just the kind of stuff I make for us. I don’t even know if there is such a thing as tom yum ramen, but all I know is when you add a handful of ramen noodles to a warm bowl of creamy tom yum soup, it is a hearty filling bowl of yum.

The base of any good ramen bowl is high quality ramen noodles. So for today’s ramen soup, I opted for the not-curly kind. You know the kind that college students make in an electric water kettle. These are long, straight and the most delicious chewy noodles to come out of a packet. I purchase them here (affiliate link) and boil them for a quick 4 minutes before adding them to individual bowls.

I want to talk about the ingredients we’re using in our tom yum ramen for a second. You’ll see things like Kaffir lime leaves (affiliate link), tom yum paste (affiliate link), lemongrass paste or the stems just cut into a few pieces, and most importantly roasted Thai chili paste (affiliate link). I want you to know that yes these ingredients aren’t always simple to find in a traditional grocery store but if you’ve got access to an Asian market, shouldn’t have any trouble at all locating these ingredients. I’ve also linked them here for those of us that prefer to do one-click shopping online.

Seriously, I love the web.

One more thing regarding the Tom Yum paste/Kaffir lime leaves/lemongrass. It’s great if you use all three, but it’s okay if you decide to use just the tom yum paste or just the lime leaves and lemongrass. Tom yum paste usually contains ingredients like ground up lime leaves, garlic, lemongrass, shallots, galangal, etc. So if you’re not someone that cooks Thai too often, the paste may be better for you because I have a feeling it’ll get used up quickly when you have your first taste of tom yum ramen.

For your convenience, I’ll leave all the ingredients linked here if you want to quickly order them and have them sent right to your door. If you’re part of the prime crew, you can make this before the weekend arrives.

That makes me so excited for you; you have no idea.

Tom Yum Paste| Kaffir Lime Leaves| Fish Sauce| Thai Chili Paste| Ramen Noodles

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Yield: 3 servings

Creamy Tom Yum Ramen

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Homemade creamy Tom Yum Ramen loaded with tons of tender shrimp, veggies, and a cream tom yum broth base. Add lots of noodles and enjoy this ramen bowl all year long!

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Ingredients

Broth:

• 3 - 3 ½ cups shrimp, chicken, or vegetable broth
• 2-inch piece of ginger (sliced into 6 pieces)
• 2 tablespoons tom yum paste
• 6-8 Kaffir lime leaves (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons lemongrass paste (see notes)

Tom yum ramen:

• 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced (see notes)
• 3 tablespoons EACH roasted Thai chili paste AND fish sauce
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• ½ red bell pepper, diced
• 12 ounces raw shrimp, cleaned
• ½- ⅔ cup evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2-4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 6 ounces ramen noodles, cooked

Instructions

1. Simmer: Add the broth ingredients along with 1/2 cup water to a pot and let simmer over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes. At this point, you can fish the lime leaves and ginger out or just serve around them later.
2. Finish: Add the mushrooms, Thai chili paste, tomatoes, red bell peppers, and fish sauce. Let it cook for 5 minutes before adding the shrimp. Add the shrimp then slowly pour in the ½ cup of evaporated milk and let it heat for about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust with more if you want it creamier. The soup shouldn't come to a simmer at all now, you just want everything to heat through without bubbling. Turn the stove off when you see that the shrimp have cooked and the broth is warm. Stir in the cilantro and start with 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Taste and adjust with more as desired!
3. Serve: Add noodles to your bowl and top with prepared tom yum soup. Top with soft boiled eggs, sliced lime wedges, sliced red peppers, more cilantro and anything else you like in your ramen bowl!

Notes

• If you can't find kaffir lime leaves or lemongrass paste, you can up the amount of tom yum paste to 3 tablespoons. If you can't find tom yum paste, you can up the Thai chili paste (Nam Prik Pao) to ¼ cup and add a ¼ teaspoon each of onion powder and garlic powder. Be sure to use the kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and ginger if you don't use tom yum paste.
• You can use any kind of mushrooms you like here! Oyster, baby Bella, shitake, and buttons are all great options.

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