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This crockpot crispy caramelized pork ramen noodle soup with curry roasted acorn squash is some real deal Ramen. The mixture of flavors and broth – oh my!! Ramen has always been one of my favorite things to eat and now it’s one that I love to make AND eat – YUM.
Growing up I pretty much lived on Ramen Noodle Soup. Especially during the cold fall and winter months. If you live in northeast Ohio, especially along the lake, like I used to, you know that those months can be brutal. Comforting soup is the best cure-all. The rain, the freezing rain, the snow, the ice, the bitter cold – with no sunshine for days.
UGH.
Ramen, and maybe a roaring wood burning fire, can restore sanity. I would come home from school, boil the water, add the noodles + seasoning and cuddle up on the couch with a big blanket (if I was lucky, the fire was going too), my hot bowl of ramen and either a re-run episode of Gilmore Girls or 7th Heaven.
Ok, that was my ideal day. I cannot say how often that truly happened because I had five other brothers living in the house as well. Getting the TV all to myself meant that I was probably still in grade three, four or five because for some reason those grades got out at 2:45pm. The rest of the grades got out at 3:15 (middle school + high school) and 3:55 (lower elementary school). For the record, Kensington (my upper elementary school) was by far my favorite school, for the sole reason that while attending, I got out earlier than all my siblings. This meant that I had at least an hour alone with my mom after school. With five other siblings + my dad all fighting for her attention, this was obviously the best thing ever to me. It was rare that it was just us girls in the house so I always loved that time after school. Unless of course I had a boatload of homework. Then I was stressed to the max and HAD to get it done right-away (issues).
It’s probably clear I was a total freak. No denying it. I mean what kid does their homework literally right after school? I wouldn’t eat or do anything till it was all done. Mental issues? Yes, yes, yes, I had them and still do, but now they are in different forms…
I have not actually had Ramen Noodle Soup, with the seasoning pack and all, in years because my mom and I sadly found out (at way too young of an age) that Ramen was basically a bunch of processed junk that we did not want to be putting into our bodies. I still remember the day my aunt Alyssa called and broke the news that our beloved Ramen probably wasn’t the best thing to be eating. Daily. And yes, even as a kid I never wanted to eat junk food unless my mom made it from scratch, meaning all her cookies, cakes, K-bars and pies where fair game. I didn’t even like chips. See, total freak.
Last year I made this Thai peanut chicken ramen that I still love and make all the time with angel hair pasta, but this fall it was time for a new Ramen. And um, I have to say that I have totally upped my Ramen making game.
The caramelized pork does the trick. It’s pretty awesome, but I still think the egg… or maybe the curry roasted acorn squash (can’t decide) are my favorites. Together they honestly make the most perfect bowl of ramen.
Bonus, the pork gets cooked all day in the crockpot too. It’s the best way to make this because not only does it make dinner easy, but the pork gets cooked low and slow and creates an incredible broth. Seriously, the broth is out of this world good. There is a little work to do before dinner, you have to roast the acorn squash and get the pork all crispy + caramelized in the skillet, but I promise the extra efforts will be so worth it. You do not HAVE to make the pork all caramelized and crispy. It’s still going to be good if you don’t, but I highly recommend taking the extra ten minutes to do so. It takes the meal to a whole new level. Plus, it totally makes this a Bahn Mi Ramen Noodle Soup.
And the squash, well it’s the perfect fall topping to add to Ramen. I wouldn’t do it any other way. So good.
And those noodles, while nothing will ever compare to real deal Ramen noodles.
Crockpot Caramelized Pork Ramen Noodle Soup w/Curry Roasted Acorn Squash.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories Per Serving: 2018 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Soup
- 2-3 pounds pork shoulder roast or butt
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth plus more of needed
- 1/4-1/2 cup + 2-4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce <--Use low sodium
- 1/4 cup + 2-4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce optional
- 2 tablespoons thai red curry paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon sambal oelek chili paste, or to taste
- The juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon Chinese five spice
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 cups wild mushrooms left whole - or button mushrooms, sliced
- 4 packs Ramen noodles seasoning packets discarded
- 4 soft boiled or fried eggs for serving
- Chopped carrots sliced jalapenos, cilantro + green onions, for serving
Curry Roasted Acorn Squash
- 1 medium acorn squash seeded + diced
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 1 tablespoon curry powder I use spicy curry
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the pork to the bowl of a crockpot. Pour the chicken broth, 1/4-1/2 cup soy sauce (depending on your taste), 1/4 cup rice vinegar and fish sauce over the pork. Add the thai red curry paste, ginger, sambal oelek, juice of 1 lime, Chinese five spice powder, black pepper and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Cover the crockpot and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours (I recommend going low and slow).
- About 40 minutes before you are ready to eat, roast the squash. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a small bowl mix together the melted coconut oil, curry powder, miso, brown sugar and a good pinch of pepper. Add the cubed squash to a greased baking sheet and pour the curry mixture over the squash. Toss well. Bake for 30-40 minutes, tossing a couple of times during cooking. You want the squash to be lightly browned and crisp.
- Meanwhile, remove the pork from the crockpot and add the mushrooms. Cover the crockpot and crank the heat up to high. Lightly shred the pork with two forks or your hands.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sesame oil. Once hot, add enough pork to cover just the surface of your skillet, do not over crowd the skillet. Sprinkle a little brown sugar over the pork, add 2 tablespoons soy sauce and 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, toss. Allow the pork to caramelize, about 2 minutes. Stir and allow the pork to continue to caramelize, about 3-5 minutes total. Remove the pork from the skillet, repeat with the remaining pork. Keep the pork warm.
- Add the Ramen noodles to the crockpot and allow them to cook 5 minutes. Once the noodles are cooked, stir in only half of the pork. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with extra caramelized pork, curry roasted acorn squash and an egg. Season the egg with salt and pepper, Add the carrots, jalapeños, green onions and cilantro if desired. Happy slurping!
Love this bowl. It’s everything you could ever want in soup.
This post was originally published on September 29, 2014
I made this last week and it was DELICIOUS!!! I added pea shoots along with the carrots at the end and which looked and tasted fantastic. This is definitely my new favorite crockpot recipe.
Would it be possible to be more specific about the curry powder? All the curry powder I have is of an Indian flair, but that seems like the wrong flavor. Is there a Asian curry in powder form or are you using Indian curry?
Thanks!
Hey Tessin,
I just used spicy curry powder, but I am sure the curry powder you already have will work great too. Hope you love this soup and please let me know if you have any other questions.
I was very excited to make this soup. The caramelized pork was yummy. It was time consuming putting it all together. I used low sodium chicken broth and soy sauce and still felt it was too salty. I only put one pack of ramen in the crockpot and it soaked up a lot of the broth – needed more to be called a soup, IMHO. I cooked 2 additional packs separately.
It definitely was a lot of food!
pork ramen recipe to make after fast
I am allergic to Mushrooms, is there a good substitute? or should I just omit it and not worry about it
I would love to make this but am on a very strict budge with 2 kids and a husband and one on the way. How much did all the ingredients cost you??? If it’s over $20 can you tell me how many it served and how long it lasted you?
Pork butt is a very cheap cut of meat…it’s perfect for the slow cooker. I’ve made great slow-cooker pulled pork with it. Obviously ramen is very inexpensive as well. As far as the some of the more “exotic” ingredients (miso powder, sambal oelek, curry paste) while not super expensive, there necessitate an initial layout of cash. But instead of leaving those jars to gather dust, commit to using some of these great spices when you cook meals in the future and you should be fine.
My husband and I made this last night and WOW!! Just WOW!! It was perfect for the cold night we had here. The red curry paste definitely added that ‘kick’ while the added brown sugar to the pork added that nice touch of sweetness. The acorn squash was super delicious and added that soft, but nice caramelized touch. I was afraid the miso paste was going to make it super salty, but once I combined it all…it was great. Next time we make this we will either cut back to only 3 packages of ramen noodles or bump up and add another cup or two of chicken broth. The soft egg was great too! Great recipe!!!!
Hi, I made this today and it is incredible. My husband and I were both blown back back how good it was. We followed your instructions and made no changes. It was perfect. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe 🙂
SO happy you both loved this, THANKS! 🙂
This soup is so good! This is the best recipe I have ever tried off of Pinterest.
SO happy you loved it, thanks!
I made this recipe tonight and it turned out well, but SO SALTY! I added 6 cups of water and the broth was still very strong. I followed the recipe exactly.
Hey Dave, this is honestly just a salt soup. Did you add 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of soy?
Glad you still enjoyed it though. Thanks!
Soooo… I may have gotten a little carried away while adding the ingredients into the crockpot and threw the sesame oil into the broth… It should be ok, right?
It’s gonna be awesome, a little sesame oil can’t hurt it! Hope you love this!
Completely overwhelmed by your talent in both creating recipes (ramen!!), photography and styling…. judging by your picture you looked so young!
Keep cooking!
THANK YOU! That means so much to me! 🙂
Hi! I can’t wait to make this!! But I will be cooking it in a 2.5 qt crock pot and was wondering what size you made yours in? So I can portion down properly!
Thanks!!!
Hey Chelsea! Mine is 7 quarts, let me know if you have any other questions.
Hope you love this!
These Ramen Noodles are AMAZING!!! The broth was so flavorful and delicious, I couldn’t get enough of it. My husband and I both thought this dish was fabulous. Thanks so much for your blog and sharing your recipes. We are loving them!!
SO happy you loved this! THANKS!
The presentation was good, but it has some flaws IMO. The broth was way too salty. you only need 1/2 the mount of soy, if you are using it. I had to dilute it with water. Also, the Acorn squash can be good, but the skin is way too bitter. If you peel it first I’m not sure it how it will roast, maybe becomes too mushy? But the leaving the skin on is a mistake. Also, there are way too many different spices going on here. Definitely no traditional flavors and ingredients of Japanese Ramen. Needs to be tweaked a bit for a more traditional Japanese Ramen, otherwise it just is a hodge podge of spices, with no definition.