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This beef ramen noodles recipe is super comforting and comes together fast! You’ll love the tender ground beef with an addictive sweet and savory peanut sauce. Ready in only 30 minutes!
I love making Asian-inspired recipes. My ground beef bowls (with rice), beef and broccoli, and my beef and noodles (made with ramen and sirloin) are very popular whenever I feature them on Instagram, so I decided to create a sort of hybrid of the two. In my opinion, you can never have too many quick and easy beef recipes. 🙂
This one’s a bit different because I used peanut butter. I looove a good peanut sauce! I also added some soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce (it’s not too spicy mixed in with the other ingredients – don’t worry, but also feel free to add more if you do want it spicy!), garlic, and ginger.
This is the perfect recipe for a busy weeknight. It’s cheaper and faster than getting takeout. I seriously had troubles stopping eating this when the photos were done!
How to make this beef noodle bowl (overview):
Brown the beef in a skillet. Meanwhile, boil the water to cook the ramen. Drain the beef of any excess fat and stir in the sauce ingredients, then add the red bell pepper to the skillet and cook for a few minutes until tender-crisp. Add the noodles to the skillet along with a splash of the water they were cooked in, then season with salt & pepper if needed and garnish with chopped scallions. (Full ingredients and instructions are in the recipe card below)
If you’re not a fan of red bell peppers, feel free to leave them out. I just added it for a bit of color, crunch, and freshness. You could sub for another veggie if you prefer!
If you love ramen, try my chicken ramen noodle stir-fry, or you might like this easy chicken ramen recipe (soup).
Will you make this ground beef and ramen noodles recipe?
Questions? Let me know in the comments!
Beef Ramen Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef
- 1/2 red bell pepper chopped
- 3 heaping tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon sriracha sauce or to taste
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 packages ramen noodles seasoning packets discarded
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Scallions chopped (optional)
Instructions
- Add the beef to a skillet over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned (about 8 minutes). If there's a lot of excess fat, spoon most of it out.
- Meanwhile, boil a pot of water for the ramen noodles.
- Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the sauce ingredients (peanut butter, hoisin sauce, sriracha sauce, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic).
- Return the skillet to the heat and add in the red pepper (you will probably need to turn the heat down a bit). Continue cooking for a few more minutes, stirring often, until the pepper is tender-crisp.
- The noodles only take about 3 minutes to cook, so I recommend adding the noodles to the boiling water just as you add the red pepper into the skillet.
- Once the noodles are done, add 4 tablespoons (or so) of the cooking water into the skillet prior to draining them. Drain the noodles and add them to the skillet.
- Toss well and season with extra salt & pepper if needed. Top with scallions if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- I like to keep a piece of fresh ginger in the freezer (just in a ZipLoc bag or Tupperware container) so that I always have some on hand. It's also much easier to grate when frozen. I use my Microplane grater to grate it (thanks to my friend Meghan for the life-changing tip!).
- Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only and should be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. Ingredients can vary and Salt & Lavender makes no guarantees to the accuracy of this information.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Is there anyway to replace the hoisin sauce?
Hi! It has a very unique flavor and is a large part of the sauce overall, so I would say no unless you happen to have a bottle of pre-made teriyaki sauce or something similar (sweet) in your fridge. That wouldn’t be the same, mind you, but it’s the closest sub I can think of that could possibly still work in a pinch.
I made this today and used a wok, which was probably not the best idea. I used chunky peanut butter, coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, and only two packages of ramen noodles. It looks and smells good. I still need to chop some scallions for garnish. Thanks for this and other recipes!
You’re welcome! Yes, I have not tested this in a wok… was the heat too high?
This is so GOOD! My husband said this was the best thing he had ever eaten. We loved the flavors without all of the sodium from take out. This is in our favorites list! One note: I was able to find plain, organic ramen noodles to use at our H‑E‑B. ❤️
That’s awesome!! 🙂 Thank you, Kerri!
I thought this was very good but even better after a couple of tweaks. I added in some steamed broccoli and a handful of peanuts on top to give it some extra color and crunch. So good!
Love those ideas, Karen!
Our household is trying to lower overall carb content right now, so instead of the ramen noodles, we served it over stir fry veggies. DELICIOUS. I’ll probably add more Sriracha next time because I love spicy food. This was so quick to throw together with minimal ingredients and tasted fantastic. Thank you for a keeper!
That’s great!! So happy it worked out and you enjoyed it!
Delicious! I made this tonight and the whole family loved it. Thank you again for all of your amazing recipes!
Fantastic!! You’re very welcome. 😀
I was just thinking “what can I make tonight… I have ground beef and green onions” and this popped up on Instagram! Thank you! I will add bok choy to it, too. I never thought of having ramen noodles, such a good reminder to use them instead of always just rice.
I hope you enjoy it, Cindy!! 🙂 I think bok choy would go great.
We have a nut allergy in our house what do you suggest a substitute peanut butter with
Hi Deena, unfortunately it’s a huge sauce component, so I can’t really say without testing. You may want to read thru the comments to see if anyone else has made the sub.
Hi Deena,
I used sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) as a sub due to an allergy and I thought it still tasted really good!
Love this recipe,! Perfect for busy families. Very flexible…you can substitue for other ground meats and/or different vegetables. Can’t beat dinner (home cooked) in 20 minutes!
So glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂
Never cooked with sriracha before and was a bit concerned about the heat but it was really well balanced flavour.
I would add more pasta water to make it saucier and probably break the noodles before boiling to make it easier to toss together. But I think we will make it again.
I’m so glad you decided to give it a try! Yup, definitely tweak it a bit next time. Thanks for the tips!