Buldak Ramen: Spicy Korean instant noodles that gained fame from YouTube challenge

If you love noodles, then you should try the popular South Korean instant noodles, Buldak Ramen. Korean noodles are popular for being spicy. But Buldak Ramen stands out.

So…

What is Buldak Ramen?

Buldak Ramen is the Korean name for Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen, which is a brand of instant noodles, produced by Samyang Foods. This brand is considered one of the spiciest instant noodles available in the Korean market.

The original flavour was released in April 2012. It became famous due to the Fire Noodle Challenge, a viral social media challenge where people film themselves eating the sauce pack or bowl of noodles. YouTuber Josh Carrott began the challenge on his YouTube Channel “Korean Englishman” in 2014, where he challenged his friends in the United Kingdom to see who could finish the noodles the fastest without drinking any water or beverage to cool the heat down. The popularity of the video led to other challenges by other YouTubers.

In 2017, Buldak Ramen became Samyang Foods’ most lucrative product, making about 85 per cent of the company’s total exports and 55 per cent of total sales. The spicy noodles also reached four billion cumulative sales in August 2022, with one in two people eating the noodles. Ingredients of the Buldak Ramen consist of wheat noodles, spicy sauce, flakes (vegetable or seaweed) and/or cheese powder. All the packets also contain artificial chicken flavouring, which might or might not be vegetarian-friendly.

Unlike many instant noodles, Buldak Ramen are stir-fried noodles. Preparation is easy as all you need to do is boil the noodles, drain them, add the sauce and toppings/powder, and stir-fry for 30 seconds before eating.

Meanwhile, the mascot of the Hot Ramen series is a chicken named “Hochi”.

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Buldak Ramen flavours

There are nine main flavours of the Chicken Hot Ramen, each one going up the Scoville scale (SHU).

Jjajang (1920 SHU)

Jjajang is the black bean noodles, also known as jjajangmyeon (짜장면). Ingredients include black bean paste, soy sauce, cheese powder and garlic. Jjajang was first released in March 2018.

Carbonara (2600 SHU)

The Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen Carbonara is inspired by a popular Italian pasta dish, with flavourings that include mozzarella cheese powder and garlic powder to create a creamy sauce. The Carbonara is a great dish for binge-watching K-dramas. Meanwhile, the Carbonara flavour was released in December 2017.

 Mala (2700 SHU)

Mala is a sauce made with peppercorns and chilli. The flavour is used in Szechuan cooking. Ingredients for the soup include Chinese pepper concentration, chilli extract, paprika powder and red pepper powder. For the flakes, ingredients include dried oak mushroom, boy choy and cabbage. The Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen Mala is arguably the hottest flavour of the Buldak Ramen. It was released in October 2017.

Curry (3810 SHU)

The Hot Chicken Flavour Ramen Curry is an Indian-inspired noodle. The soup contains ingredients like curry powder, red pepper powder and black pepper powder. The toppings include dried potato fries and carrots with textured vegetable protein. The flavour was released in December 2016.

Stew (4705 SHU)

Korea is known for spicy stews in their delicacies. Hence, the Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen Stew is cooked with extra water, diluting the noodles and turning them into a stew. Ingredients for the soup include red pepper powder, chives powder and onion paprika extract, while the powder has dried red pepper and garlic powder. The Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen Stew was released in August 2016.

Ice (4,404 SHU)

Also known as HOT Chicken Flavor Ramen Cool, this is the cold variety with a spicy sauce. Ingredients include wheat flour, modified tapioca starch, palm oil, wheat flour gluten, salt, emulsifier, a sour taste enhancer, guar gu, Tocopherol mixture and citric acid. This ingredient was released in August 2016.

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Cheese (2323 SHU)

Cheese is a popular toppings for Korean Ramen. Hence the cheese-flavored Buldak soup contains artificial cheese flavoring, while the powder has fat-free dry milk powder, roasted sesame and dried laver (seaweed). This flavour was released in March 2016.

2x Spicy (8808 SHU)

The Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen 2x Spicy is twice the spice of the original Ramen. The sauce is fiery, boasting of ingredients like soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt), red bell pepper powder, soybean oil, sugar, garlic, chilli extract, salt, onion powder, tapioca starch, yeast extract, black pepper and curry powder. Ingredients of the flakes include sesame seeds and seaweed. Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen 2x Spicy was released in January 2016.

Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen (4,404 SHU)

This is the original that became a frontrunner for other Ramen noodles. The soup contains chilli extract and powder, curry powder, paprika extract, and black pepper powder, while the flakes have roasted laver and sesame. If you want to try Ramen noodles, start with this one.

Other flavours include the Hot Chicken Flavor Ramen Mini (12,000 SHU) and 3x Spicy Ramen (13,200 SHU).

How to get Buldak Ramen

To get the Korean Buldak Ramen in Nigeria, visit online stores.

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