Instant Noodle Soups Healthy?

Global Noodles + Soups 4: Looking at what is actually in the instant noodles + soups packages in terms of health, diets, toxicity, and how to improve the soup’s nutrition. Followed by my tasting and review of more Asian and Southeast Asian noodle + soup packages.

Instant Food, Healthy Food?

In General? Not Really.

Well, we all know that these noodles + soups are processed, “instant” food packages that are made for a long shelf-life. So we should expect that this fact alone, means that there will be nutritional issues.

• Most of the packages will have added MSG (or natural occurring MSG) which will help provide umami flavor. While this is FDA approved and I am not affected by MSG, others with MSG sensitivities will.
• Most use palm oil (used throughout Southeast Asia) which I normally avoid for health, environmental, and wildlife reasons.
• Of concern is that most, but not all, will have TBHQ which I normally try to avoid, but have consumed for this series. This too is FDA approved, but I consider dangerous.
• Most use meat-flavors for their broth base; however, some veggie broth or seafood-based broths are also available. Keep an eye out for the verbiage, is the broth actual beef (chicken, shrimp, etc.), or beef-flavored.
• Many have added sugar, synthetic coloring, and a heck of a lot of salt.

But some packages are healthier and aim for the health-food, gluten free, vegan and vegetarian markets.

Diet Concerns or Allergies?

So, more specifically, from allergies to sensitivities here are some diet specific notes. But bottom line, if you have allergies or sensitivities you must read these labels carefully.

• Gluten free? Most of the noodles or broth contain wheat, unless clearly stated otherwise.
• Allergies? Many of the packages warn that they were made in factories with wheat, tree nuts, peanuts, egg, shellfish, dairy, and soy contaminates.
• Purine free? A handful of the packages are made with seafood broth that contain shrimp bits or shrimp powder, some may have fish sauce or oyster sauce.
• MSG Sensitivity? Avoid these packages, some contain naturally occurring MSG, but others add synthetic MSG powder.
• Lactose Intolerant? Check ingredients, some have milk powders.

Toxic Ingredients?

Alkaline Solutions

Some instant noodles + soups contain the phrase wood-ash in their ingredient list. This is a term for a food additive that contains potassium carbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, and potassium or sodium in the phosphate group. Some indicate this is a toxic addition (1). So far, in this series, there has been only one package that indicated it used wood ash.

Kansui, is a term that shows up more frequently, and is similar to “wood ash” as it is an alkaline solution consisting usually of a ratio of sodium carbonate to potassium carbonate. This ingredient aids gluten development, promotes gelainization, and thus provides a chewiness to the noodles. It also provides some yellow coloring through modification of some flavonoids native to wheat flour. Real instant “ramen” noodles use this flavor and color enhancement.

When ”kansui” is used, I cannot really tell if they mean the actual root or the alkaline components that are found in the root. As a result, I am unsure how safe the Kansui used in the ramen process is or how it is produce.

• The kansui root is considered toxic at certain levels of consumption. What I could find is that while the root is considered toxic, there are ways to reduce its toxicity (3).
• At the same time, the alkaline solution itself may not be toxic, as OmnivoresCookbook reports If you feel reluctant to use an alkaline solution in your food, just consider that corn tortillas, hot chocolate, Oreo cookies, cured olives, and pretzels all have alkaline solutions introduced during their cooking processes to form their distinctive flavors and colors.

I also know you can make an alkaline solution yourself that does not use the root, the ingredients are baked, baking soda and water (4). In fact, I use this homemade version myself when making pretzels. So I cannot advise on this ingredient, although I can say using lye, or any other alkaline solution, has long been a part of the cooking process.

TBHQ

TBHQ is a synthetic anti-oxidant additive that is added to most veggie oils used in processed foods, like Palm Oil (1, 2). But it is an additive that comes with medical warnings. It is used to extend shelf life and prevent rancidity of a product.

• The Centers for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), conducted a study that found that this additive increased the incidence of tumors in rats.
• The National Library of Medicine (NLM), found cases of human vision disturbances, liver enlargement, neurotoxic effects, convulsions, and paralysis in laboratory animals.

TBHQ is banned in some countries but not the USA. The European Food Safety Authority and the United States Food and Drug Administration have evaluated TBHQ, and determined that it is safe to consume at an upper limit of 0.02% of the oil or fat content in foods.

• Some packages will say TBHQ on the back, next to nutrition.
• If not clear, look for these ingredient listings: tert-butylhydroquinone, tertiary butylhydroquinone, TBHQ, or butylated hydroxyanisol.

Improve the Nutrition

Keep in mind that eating a package here or there is not going to cause health problems, but eating 3 packages a week over the course of one year can lead to higher cholesterol, high blood pressure, and higher blood sugars (3, 4, 5). Some women, but not men, who consume more than 2 packages a week over a year have shown metabolic syndrome.

• Do not rely on these packages for your main meals, limit the number you eat each week.
• Read the labels and pick the packages that contain limited amounts of the ingredients you do not want to consume. These packages are not equal, some are clearly more healthy than others.
• Use the noodles, but consider not using their palm oil packets, by adding your own sesame, or chili oil to the soup.
• Use all the provided dehydrated veggies, but always add additional fresh veggies. I tend to add cabbage, edamame, bok choy, broccoli, chilies, scallions, carrots, mushrooms, and the like.
• If the basic broth is chicken, pork, beef, or seafood, consider using your own homemade broth over powdered and flavored broth. Use your own dashi broth and add shrimp if it is a shrimp-based broth.
• Always add in extra protein and fiber. I add sesame seeds, peanuts, and actual meat, tofu or eggs; and I add 1T of psyllium husk for fiber as all of the packages are low fiber products.

Finally, consider buying only the noodles and make your own soup, or buy only the most healthy packaged noodles + soups you can find.

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√ Korean Noodles + Spicy Soy Sauce

Paldo’s Stir-Fried Chicken Noodle with Spicey Soy Sauce is a dry noodle pack, not a soup. It comes with a medium sized puck of wheat ramen noodles, a packet of 1t dried veggies (scallions, onions, cabbage, and carrots), and a packet of spicy soy sauce. What makes this so good is that the sauce is smooth enough to cover the noodles well, which makes slurping the noodles up really easy. However, it really needs more veggies, more than the mushrooms I added.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: 480c, 84k, 10p, 8f and 1280mg sodium.
• Total time, including washing and slicing the veggies, was ~9 minutes.
• Contains a large puck of noodles, dried veggie packet, and a soy sauce packet.
• Heat: Medium heat, that lingers after you are done eating.

Cooking: Heat ~20oz water to a boil, and once boiling add the puck of noodles and dried veggies. Cook for ~4 minutes then reserve 5T of the water, and drain the rest. Add the reserved cooking water into the pot, re-add the veggies and noodles, add the sauce and mix well.

The front of the package shows shredded seaweed, while I added shiitake mushrooms. I should have added more of the veggies that came with the package to up its nutrition.

Contains artificial beef + chicken flavor, palm oil, and MSG,

√ Thai Pad Thai Instant Noodles

Mama’s Pad Thai instant noodles is a good approximation of what you can get in the restaurants flavor-wise. The package has a bundle of flat rice noodles, and 3 packets containing broth, palm oil, and seasoning. However, it is a rather light sauce, and I prefer a heartier and redder sauce for my Pad Thai. The noodles were great and chewy, the heat was mild and could be easily “heated up” with some chili oil. Overall, it is a good, cheap ($1.19 USD) noodle pack.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: 270c, 54k, 4p, <1f and 1060mg sodium.
• Total time, including washing and slicing the veggies, was ~8 minutes.
• Contains a medium bundle of noodles, and packets of broth, oil, seasonings.
• Heat: Very mild.

Cooking: This is a rice noodle dish, so boil ~2-3C water for cooking the noodles. Once boiling, add the noodles, turn off the heat and cover for ~4 minutes to soften. Drain the water but keep the noodles a bit wet, and add back to the pot. Then pour the packets on top and mix well.

The cover shows lemon slices, shrimp, peanuts, scallions, and chilies. What I did was to chop up salted peanuts and added to the pot before serving. But you could also add bean sprouts and tofu.

This does contain some shrimp and milk powders, soy, and artificial chicken broth.

√ Myojo Chukazanmai

Imported Japanese noodles and soy bean paste soup. The package has two packets of soup base and seasoning oil. This was a good, chewy noodle soup that needed to have added umami richness as the broth is light tasting. The package shows lettuce, meat chunks chili, and thin bamboo strips I think. I added some mushroom btoth.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: 400c, 67k, 10p, 3f and 2580mg sodium.
• Total time, including washing and slicing the veggies, was ~8 minutes.
• Contains a medium bundle of noodles, and packets of broth and oil.
• Heat: Very mild to none

Cooking: Boil 2C water, and once boiling add the noodles, cooking for ~4 minutes. Then add the packets and mix well. I added brocolli stems and bock choy in the water to cook, before it started boiling.

This $3.89 USD package contains MSG, soy, wheat, a variety of fish items, and milk products. Also this is a very high salt food.

√ Ottogi Jinjja Jjolmyeon

Ottogi Jinjja Jjolmyeon is a noodle dish served cold, that has a sweet-hot tomato-based sauce. I added too much water to the dish so it was too much like a soup.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: unknown (not in English)
• Total time, including the stir fry, was ~8 minutes.
• Contains a large bundle of noodles, and packets of veggie + egg, and broth powder.
• Heat: Medium hot and lingering.
• $2.99 USD

Korean Buldak Hot Chicken Ramen

SamYang Buldak Hot Chicken-flavored Ramen wheat noodle dish comes with artificial + mozzarella cheese powder and a hot sauce. It was spicy hot, and the heat lingered, so I drank some milk to lesson the heat a bit. The noodles were okay, but the heat really obliterated any cheesy or chicken flavor the noodle dish may have had. If you like heat, this is for you. But if you like taste, this is not that.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: 550c, 84k, 13p, 4f and 1440mg sodium.
• Total time, including the stir fry, was ~10 minutes.
• Contains a large bundle of noodles, and packets of cheese powder and sauce.
• Heat: Hot and lingering.

Cooking: Boiled 2C water and cooked the noodles. Then saved 6T of the cooking water, drained the rest. Placed the drained noodles and reserved liquid in a heated frying pan to cook for ~3 minutes, added the sauce and mixed well. Then placed the noodles into my bowl, added the powdered cheese packet and mixed.

The cover appeared to show added, and melted, cheese, and sliced scallions. I chose to not add anything, and have to admit, that a pepper-hot bowl of noodles, where the main feature it its heat, does not really satisfy me. Adding some additional cheese, and some protein would good.

The instructions were on the fold of this $2.99 USD package, so it was difficult to read. It stated it was halal. I did not see any of my concerning ingredients listed.

Thai WaiWai Tom Yum Shrimp Noodles

I expected WaiWai Noodles with Tom Yum shrimp flavor to taste really good and found that it did not taste like what I expected. The noodles, even after soaking for ~4 minutes were not chewy, the felt a bit underdone, the broth had a little bit of sour taste to me and was a bit off putting. It was also a bit salty. I know many like this package, but I am one of the few that did not.

• The whole package serves 1.
• Per serving: 260c, 37k, 6p, 1f and 2030mg sodium.
• Total time was ~5 minutes.
• Contains a bundle of noodles, and packets broth powder and seasoning oil.
• Heat: Mild.

Cooking:Boil 1.33C water, place noodles and seasoning in serving bowl. Pour the water over the noodles and let it steam for ~3 minutes. Stir and serve.

Contains wheat noodles, palm oil, iodized salt, and other ingredients, but no preservatives. Allergy Information : Contains wheat, shrimp, soy and may contain eggs, fish, milk.

My Story

Have to say, so far, I am still gung ho on this project. My spouse? Not so much. I have been limited to sharing one of these dishes a week, otherwise I am eating them all. One good thing is that the calories are generally under 500c, so it within my limits.

One thing I noticed is that if there is no English on the package I sometimes screw up and make soups when I should be making noodles. The difference is the noodle-only packages look the same to me but are intended to be “dry” not “wet”. I think I just get into routines and do not often pay attention to the picture on the packs that show soups or not. So if importing the package really take a good look at the picture on front for clues.

I have been thinking about adding some psyllium husks to those soups with low fiber to keep that ingredient up to my daily requirement, and occasionally I add an egg. Also, given the time of year I am doing this, I have only winter veggies to add so it can get monotonous sometimes. Bok choy and young broccoli day in and day out is boring.

—Patty

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Articles in this series.

Global Noodles + Soup 1 Intro on the series + reviews
Global Noodles + Soup 2 History + packages commonalities + reviews
Packaged Instant Noodles 3 Info on noodles + Koyo reviews
Instant Noodles + Soups Healthy 4 Info on health + reviews
Instant Noodles + Soups Feed the World 5 Emergency food + Lotus reviews
Focusing on Instant Phở 6 Discussing this soup + reviews
Making Phở at Home December 13, 2019
Noodles + Soup Etiquette 7 How to eat noodle soup + reviews
Instant Noodle + Soup Makers 8 Info on the manufacturers + reviews
Vita Ramen Noodles + Soup 9 Review on Vita Ramen packages