Just two weeks ago, I ate cup noodles-I still say "Cup'O Noodles" incorrectly. I'm very busy, it's late, I'm in a new city, and I need some snacks. I think this is how many adults experience cup noodles, so it is usually in place. It is not a food that I have been smart or have had a lot of brand loyalty to.
But when there was a chance to taste and arrange the whole line, I caught it. Most of the time, see if the cup noodles move me like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese-I think they are legal, no matter how old you are-or if I no longer eat these things (at least when I am awake) . "My sense of taste is now complicated" (says someone who tested 22 hot dogs recently), can I still enjoy these things?
The answer is "yes". In fact, I found a solid hand that I like. This is a surprise because I think there are only a few flavors of cup noodles. It is shocking to find that there are actually 17 varieties on the market (plus top-notch ramen and various convenient "bowl noodles"). I signed up for a bigger project than I realized.
However, I tested them all. There are some bad smells (including one that tastes like poison), there are a bunch in the middle, and some absolute gems. In fact, the gap between terrible rot and legal delicacy is so great that if you add cup noodles to your rotation, even if it’s just on a drunk night, you definitely want to know which is which. So I think what I am doing here is a public service-if I can prevent a person from buying item 18, I will have done my job.
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This is a terrible idea. I know this is a gimmick. But even as a stunt, it is scary. Edge attack.
Yes, I know that special effects food is not really to be eaten, it is to get free public relations from media companies. When an incoherent #brandspeak expert makes a meaningless explanation and observes it through the correct prism, it theoretically increases overall awareness, so it is a net positive factor for the company that makes it. I even know that when Starbucks makes those stupid neon milkshakes, this technique actually works for them. The food portion of Uproxx directly contributed to this craze. (Help, I was swallowed by my own design of ouroboros!)
But even in all these contexts, this is rotten. The brainchild of a person who hates food, and maybe... the entire human race?
I eat these soups in batches based on how much water my electric kettle has in them, and I have to try this first because the smell makes me tired of all the other five soups I prepare. It's not like a "pumpkin latte with noodles" or even Elf's "candy syrup spaghetti". Although these ideas sound bad, the situation is worse.
I think the biggest problem—beyond the whole concept and the existence of this flavor—is that they have a natural flavor to them. Maybe the noodles and spices are produced in the same factory, which absorbs some of the flavor through osmosis. Frankly speaking, I don't want to see how this particular sausage is made. But the result is like a weak chicken cup noodles, then piled up with sugar and cinnamon, and-most importantly-strange compounds with a distinct chemical taste.
Please note: This will be the subject of this ranking. Nissin’s way of making sugar is completely different from the taste of sugar, and everything is like the toxic, similar sugar invented in the laboratory. They should stick to the saltiness and don't try to achieve sweetness at all.
I can continue discussing all of these. I still have a lot to say. I have jokes and harsh metaphors. Alas, time is advancing. We are only limited lives, and we try our best to taste the short, limited space between "before birth" and "after death." Knowing that our time on this mortal coil is just a flash, let us stop procrastinating for this harmful frivolity.
A 12-year-old kid will be crazy about this way of eating on TikTok, making me look like an asshole. There will be a viral challenge. The person who came up with this concept will become a billionaire and buy Uproxx Life just to fire me.
Nevertheless, I will not regret it: it tastes too bad.
But who knows, maybe I just don't like it because I didn't put whipped cream on it.
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I don't understand why "Chile" is used here instead of "chili" in Cup Noodles, but "e" must stand for "experimental chemical". This has a very unique and weird-very offensive-chemical smell.
It is not spicy, but disturbing.
Note from me: "I... feel upset." This is not the response you want when tasting the soup.
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I generally don't like sweet peppers, and I definitely don't like sweet pepper-flavored packaged consumer goods-it always tastes artificially sweet. This entry comes from Nissin's "Stir Fry" series and is no exception. These noodles have no real spices, but the sweetness is a bit too strong to be enjoyable, and the taste is too chemical to taste at all.
In other words, the noodles of the Stir Fry series are better than the standard cup noodles.
These are not good. Even for sweet lovers, reminding you that you are ingesting severe chemicals can feel too obvious and distracting.
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We are once again troubled by the sweetness chemistry problem. I make curry (India, Thailand, etc.), I eat a lot of curry, I live in a country that depends on various curries as the backbone of cooking, but cup noodle curry does not taste like any curry I have ever tasted. It feels like a chemical 1 As a first-year food engineering student who has passed and failed courses, the task is to make "curry seasonings", but they cannot use any plant-derived spices to complete the task.
According to the label, this is the number one curry-flavored instant noodle in Japan. So... maybe this is an acquired taste? I personally think it is not edible.
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This is OG cup noodles. Not the one in your childhood memory—these noodles are earlier than that. I remember this variety was easily available in the 1980s, but chicken and beef have become the standard. In any case, if you tell me that this flavor has never been updated, I will believe you 100%. Eggs are ugly and taste like plasterboard, beef (or chicken? pork?) is troublesome in shape, color and texture, and shrimp looks almost exactly the same as plastic shrimp in a children's play kitchen.
Taken together, this is obviously not good. Especially that egg is rubbish.
Nissin has shifted from its original taste. You should too.
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I'm excited about this flavor of spice, but... it's not here. This is a taco spice season, not suitable for broth or ramen. This is inconsistent, and more importantly, it is a light condiment.
It is both immature and immature-not a good combination.
not spicy. Not well seasoned. It's a bit like taco seasoned ramen. But it tastes much worse than it sounds.
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Do I have reason to be deeply upset about these shrimps? Are they small? Where can I find such a small shrimp? Of course, they seem to shrink when dehydrated and do not rehydrate well, but they are absolutely weird, right?
As part of my due diligence, I ate the shrimp above and it turned out very well. Small, obviously—I have to try not to swallow it whole—but it tastes okay. It is hard and has the texture of lucky charm marshmallows, but it tastes good and tastes like real shrimp. The problem is that the broth is also shrimp-flavored, which feels significantly more artificial.
The bigger problem: it is one of the brand's lighter broths, so the taste is a bit low.
You can do better. Even if you want the taste of shrimp, you can do better. So why waste time?
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This should be "plenty", I guess the noodles are. But the taste of the broth itself is weaker than that of ordinary chicken-which makes the overall taste better, which does not matter.
If you are not the best original chicken in the instant ramen series, do you have a reason to exist? discuss.
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I'm not exactly a fan of "seafood soup". I like shellfish soup, but I don't like fish soup. But of course I can see its charm. Compared to most cup noodle flavors, it is definitely rich in ingredients, and the taste of crab and clams is salty and moist (I'm sure crab is artificial, but it's still pretty decent). These same elements are also chewy and sticky, which is a bit disturbing for seafood, but I overcame it.
I think it really boils down to preference. I don't like this very much, but it is more suitable for seafood than any other cup noodles, and it is certainly not offensive, like many previous entries. If you are a seafood soup lover, I can see this as your favorite
Fish soup with plenty of equipment, if you think it is delicious, I would recommend this.
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This is actually not a lot of low-grade soup sweetness problems (the sweetness is fake, but not overwhelming). But it has an overall chicken problem-because it is a bit immature. It feels crazy to write something known for its high sodium content, but here we are.
In the end, this is good. But if Korean chicken is the taste of this sister, so much better.
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This is slightly better than Stir Fry Terriyaki Chicken, but not better than regular chicken. The trapped place is terrible! In addition, this is redundant-there are better flavors that can achieve similar flavors, so I can't imagine what motivated you to get this.
beautiful. It's ok. We are all fine. everything is fine.
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This tasted like the classic ramen in the cup I had been drinking since I was a kid, with chicken flavor (or rather, chicken flavor) and some nice hearty. This is not a revelation, but it is definitely still effective as a 3 am snack.
Things have improved significantly from here, so don't get this unless you are nostalgic.
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All the cool kids in my school know that beef cup noodles are better than chicken. But chicken is sold more, and it seems that more families are buying in bulk. So when I was growing up, there was a problem of beef exclusivity.
The weather is getting cooler. Rebellious ramen.
Memories aside, beef tastes more delicious than chicken, so it’s slightly better.
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I openly hate limes in food-which is why I don't go to Chipotle, where they overuse lime seasoning to screw everything up-and expect to hate this. I am really afraid to taste it. But I have to say that it worked. In fact, it works very well.
This has some actual spice and broth depth. The smell is deeper than the actual shrimp. If there is a lot of lime, I certainly won't be put off by it.
Cup noodles are best savory. When I needed snacks, this was the first flavor I saw in a retail store.
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There is a hint of fake sweetness, but not as much as Teriyaki. What it has-which is a literally brilliant name-is cabbage slices. They replenish moisture well and taste authentic and fresh. The freshest vegetables in the whole series. This brightness highlights everything wonderfully.
Adding cabbage to this soup can significantly increase its level. You will notice it and be glad it is there.
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This is chewy rice! And cabbage! And these long carrot shreds, which taste like real carrots! And it's really spicy! There is no false sweetness or strange chemical composition. The broth is deep and fragrant.
This is really a good snack.
This is really easy to use. Great, you must start to speculate why Nissin even has so many other flavors. Because I know that everyone has different tastes, etc., but there is no one on earth who likes the taste of "Chlie" more than this.
Reduce some flavors, Nissin-play hit songs!
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Drunk or hangover, this is a victory. It is the most spicy flavor without any artificial problems. In addition it has... you guessed it, cabbage! The second best Nissin Innovation in my life. If this were in my grocery store, I would buy a dozen today.
this is very good. In fact, it is so many miles better than the bottom entry that it almost feels weird to think that they are from the same company. In fact, everything about the Nissin label—from the spiciness to the spelling of “Chile”—is irregular, and I have reason to suspect that some of them are not made by completely different third-party suppliers.
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This is the best Nissin flavor, no doubt. This is made of roasted garlic. How can you have 17 varieties and only one with this outstanding composition? The brand should do a lot of improvisation on garlic, so much so that it had to buy some garlic farms. The taste of instant ramen is really good. These roasted garlic slices taste both authentic and effective-making the whole soup look fresher and more complex.
In addition to garlic, the chicken is very generous, the large noodles are very springy, and there are actually some spices. Seriously, I don't think there will be a taste that I like so much. This surprised me at how good it was. On the contrary, pumpkin spice surprised me at how bad it was.
Does it compare to any type of ramen restaurant? Do not. But I definitely ordered the late night ramen, it was just slightly better and the cost was 1500% higher. Of course, this can beat some late-night fast food restaurants in a drunken standoff.
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