This easy Slow Cooker Ramen with beef is perfect for those nights when you’re craving your favorite bowl of ramen in the cozy comfort of your home.
Slow Cooker Ramen with Beef
Nothing beats the slow cooker for making homemade ramen when you need an easy dinner idea, especially when you’re craving ramen! It’s slow- cooked in a crock pot with chuck beef (or use pork or chicken thighs), mushrooms, bok choy, a soft-boiled egg, and, of course, ramen noodles. For more Asian noodle soup recipes, try my Shrimp Pho with Vegetables and Asian Beef Zoodle Soup.
Why You’ll Love This Slow Cooker Ramen Recipe
We go out for ramen quite often in the city. Madison is obsessed with Tonchin, which has some of the best ramen in NYC. But since we can’t go as often as she would like, I usually make it for her. She gave this crock pot ramen two thumbs up, and my husband had three bowls! So, I hope you love it.
- Make-Ahead Dinner: I love a slow cooker meal because I can start it before my daughter gets home from school, and then dinner’s ready whenever we are.
- Customizable Toppings: Each bowl can be topped with whatever you love on your ramen. Madison loves it with roasted seaweed, and I like to drizzle mine with a little soy sauce and sriracha and plenty of sesame seeds and scallions.
- Dietary Restrictions: Weight Watchers-friendly, high-protein, dairy-free.
If you make this easy slow cooker ramen recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
Slow Cooker Ramen Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make slow cooker beef ramen. The exact measurements are in the recipe card below.
- Chuck Roast is a large, tough cut of beef that becomes tender when slowly cooked in broth.
- Salt and Pepper to season the beef
- Mushrooms: Using a variety of mushrooms, like shiitake, maitake, or shimeji, gives the best umami flavor.
- Aromatics: Ginger, garlic, scallions
- Broth: I like Pacific’s low-sodium beef broth.
- Soy Sauce adds a salty, umami flavor.
- Ramen Noodles: I used Ocean’s Halo ramen noodles but you could also use 2 instant ramen soup packages and toss the seasoning packets. If you use fresh noodles, you‘ll need to cook them separately and pour the soup over them.
- Baby Bok Choy is smaller and more tender than regular bok choy, but either will work.
- Eggs: Follow my soft-boiled egg recipe, then top your bowl of ramen with a runny egg. If you like it more cooked, use hard boiled eggs.
- Toppings: Sesame seeds, scallions and sesame oil (if desired).
How to Make Slow Cooker Ramen
Browning the beef and mushrooms on the stove before slow cooking them develops a richer flavor. For printable instructions, see the recipe card below.
Start By Browning the Beef: Sprinkle salt and pepper over the chuck roast cubes and brown in a skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.
Next, the Mushrooms: Saute the mushrooms in the skillet for a few minutes, then add the ginger, garlic, and scallions. Cook for 1 minute. Transfer to the crockpot and add the broth and soy sauce. Cook on high for 6 hours.
Add the Noodles and Bok Choy: Add the ramen noodles and baby bok choy in the last 10 minutes of the 6 hours.
How to Serve Ramen: Top each bowl with soft-boiled eggs, scallions, sesame seeds, and sesame oil.
More Optional Toppings For Ramen: Top with chopped kimchi, sweet corn, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, seaweed snacks, edamame, or shredded carrots.
If you like it spicy: Drizzle your bowl with sriracha or top with sliced jalapeños.
Variations
- Meat: You can replace the chuck roast with pork loin or chicken thighs.
- Gluten-free Ramen: Substitute gluten-free noodles and use tamari or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.
- Bok Choy: Swap it for baby spinach.
- Mushrooms: Any mushrooms work here. If you can’t find Asian mushrooms, use portobello mushrooms, baby bellas or white button mushrooms.
- Allergic to eggs? Omit them.
Storage
To Meal Prep or Freeze: Prepare the soup without the noodles and freeze or refrigerate, otherwise they will soak up the broth and get mushy. When heating up later, cook the noodles as directed and add to the soup.
- Refrigerate ramen for up to 4 days.
- Freeze it in airtight containers for 3 months.
- Thaw the ramen in the fridge and reheat it in the microwave. If the noodles absorbed much of the liquid, you may need to add extra broth or water.
More Slow Cooker Recipes You’ll Love
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
- Crock Pot Asian Pork with Mushrooms
- Slow Cooker Banh Mi Bowl
- Crock Pot Bolognese Sauce
- Quick Beef Chili
Slow Cooker Ramen with Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cubed 1-inch
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups mushrooms, sliced (8 oz container) shiitake, maitake or shimeji*
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely minced
- 1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons scallion, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 8 cups low-sodium beef broth, Pacific
- ¼ cup soy sauce, or gluten-free tamari or coconut aminos
- 8 ounces ramen noodles, or two packages without the soup packet (see note bwlow for gluten-free rice ramen)
- 4 baby bok choy, halved
- 3 soft boiled eggs, halved
- sesame seeds, for topping
- sesame oil, optional for drizzling
Instructions
- Toss pot roast cubes with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet oven over medium- high heat, spray with oil and brown the beef on all sides about 4 minutes total. Transfer the beef to the slow cooker, then spray the skillet again.
- Add the mushrooms to the same skillet and brown, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring halfway. Add the ginger, garlic and scallion; cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Transfer mushrooms and aromatics to the slow cooker.
- Add beef broth and soy sauce to the slow cooker; cover and cook on high for 6 hours.
- In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add ramen noodles* and baby bok choy and cook until tender.
- Serve bowls of ramen with halves of soft boiled eggs and top with scallions and sesame seeds and a drizzle of sesame oil, if desired and optional toppings.
This is one of our favorite crockpot recipes. It is simple and so so good. We usually add a little bit of miso paste into the broth and top it with charred corn and marinated soft boiled eggs.
Yum!
How long would you cook it on low? Would need to start before work
I accidentally cooked this on low in my multicooker, so I turned on the pressure cooker for 10 minutes and it made the beef so tender. My family doesn’t love mushrooms, so I left them out and added a splash of fish sauce. My son devoured two bowls. A perfect late winter comfort bowl.
I don’t have low sodium beef broth. Should I dilute with water?
Delicious! I used ground bison instead of the sirloin
Absolutely delicious. Five stars by the whole family. Don’t miss adding the egg.
So I’ve made this several times and our family loves it! I just did all the prep work put everything in the crockpot and the crockpot won’t turn on. Did all the troubleshooting and still nothing. Can I come this on the stove top?
This recipe is amazing! I was so happy with it that it’s hard not to make every week!!! Broth is a bit too much for me so I dilute with water.
Delicious! First time I’ve made Ramen and everyone loved it!
One of my favourites of your recipes! Absolutely perfect.
Thanks Davida!
This was fantastic! So easy to make and so delicious
Can I omit the mushrooms (allergy)? What could/should I add to get good flavor?
Putting this on the menu tonight and am wondering if I sub chicken thighs instead of the beef, should the cook temp/time remain the same? Generally I can do 6hrs low for other chicken recipes in my crockpot.
Love this recipe. The beef was perfect!
For the scallions in the skillet part, is it the white part of the scallion?? and then green part of the scallion for the garnish?
Delicious! I made exactly as the recipe was written but next time would change a few things. The ramen should be cooked separately from the broth because they pretty much disintegrate being cooked in the soup. They also absorbed a lot of the broth so I will have to add some extra beef broth when reheating leftovers. Will definitely make again with those adjustments.
The directions say to add the last 10 minutes. It doesn’t disintegrate at all if you add then.
Absolutely delicious! I made this in the instant pot because I was short on time. I completed steps 1-2 with sauté function then completed on high pressure for 1 hour. Quick release then added the ramen noodles and bok choy and covered until ready to eat. I’ll definitely be making again!
Thanks for leaving instant pot notes! 🙂
Thank you for the IP tips
Just loved this! Made it with beef and my husband and mom can’t wait for me to make it again. So tasty.
Very good broth
This dish was amazing! We both loved it. I halved it because there are just two of us, and it worked out perfectly. Will definitely make this again.
This wasn’t bad – but it tasted more like a standard beef noodle soup than ramen. If I made it again – I’d add more to the broth – maybe sesame oil, fish sauce, and some soy milk.
The whole family thought this was amazing. I would add more broth next time because that is my favorite part
Five star! Used chicken thigh meat and chicken brother. Unbelievable!
Thanks for sharing the chicken thigh meat; I’m thinking of making it with Chicken instead of Beef. 🙂
Did you cook the chicken completely before adding it to the broth? Sounds good!
On high for 6 hours or low for 6 hours?
HIGH
If I want to start this the night before, can I put on low on the slow cooker and just double the time?
The flavor is unbelievable! Everyone loves it. Great umami. I doubled the recipe and 4 cups of the 16 cups did not fit into my slow cooker so when the timer had 10 minutes left, I transferred the slow cooker contents to a larger pot and added the 4 cups of broth and brought it back to a boil. Once gently bubbling, I added the bok choy. I cooked the noodles separately. Lots of stuff to wash but so worth it. Thank you Gina for another great recipe.
Made it following every step and absolutely loved it! Tasted even better after adding the soft boiled egg. Both teenage sons finished off the entire pot.
This was good the day I made it but next time I will keep the noodles separate because they did not hold up for leftovers. The next day it was a mushy mess.
If I I don’t have 6 hours can I make this on the stovetop–and if so, for how long and at what temperature could I cook it?
Would Chantelle mushrooms work in this? They were all I could find at our store.
Have this in the slow cooker now. I have to leave soon and I won’t be home to add the bok choy and noodles ten mins before end time. Should I add bok choy now (2 hours left on high) or when I get back even though it will be on warm? Ty cant wait to try it!
When you get back on warm is fine.
Beef ramen was delicious! Even my husband enjoyed it!
It was delicious. My husband’s comment was “This is so rich and flavorful. Much better than what we have had at a restaurant.”
Followed the recipe but mistakenly cooked on low instead of high. Should this still be good to go in terms of eating/food safety?
Yes its fine, it will just take longer to make the meat tender.
how do you adjust the high to low for time? I’m going to be out 9 hours is it better to cook high and then let it sit at warm or cook for 9 hours on low?
Great flavor. Easy to make. Huge hit with the family.
Delicious! I added some sambal olek for spice, but this was incredibly easy! I’m going to freeze some of the broth into some souper cubes for cold winter days later 😋
Wonderful recipe! My whole family loved it! I doubled it so I would have leftovers but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. Dont skip the soft boiled egg! Was nice to have something so warm and comforting that was also heathy.
Can you make this in the instant pot?
Sure I would say 1 hr high pressure is good.
This is one of my new favorites! It was so good when I made it with leftover prime rib. I may end up making this at least once a month!