Buldak Ramen: The Spiciest Ramen On The Market

Looking for some ramen with heat? Korean instant noodles packed with a punch? The spiciest Korean ramen on the market? Whether you’re just trying it for fun or partaking in the spicy ramen challenge, Buldak Ramen is the Korean ramen you need to look for.

We recently got a fun subscription box from Daebak box with two kinds of Buldak Ramen inside: the original Buldak Ramen and the Habanero Lime Buldak Ramen. I had seen the viral ramen challenges online, aka the Fire Noodle Challenge, but hadn’t gone out of my way to spice up my life. Receiving it at the door meant my husband and I were ready even if we weren’t trying to be. We were prepared for this Buldak Ramen spicy level? Had to be.

Buldak Ramen, Fire Noodle Challenge, Korean ramen

How did my Korean husband and I find Buldak Ramen? You’ll see:

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What to know about Buldak Ramen

Buldak ramen isn’t new. The famous instant noodles made their debut in 2012 and are considered one of the spiciest Korean instant noodles in the market and are Samyang’s best selling product.

To understand what Buldak ramen is, it’s best to start with what buldak is. The word bul (불) means ‘fire’ and dak (닭) means chicken. The popular “fire chicken” dish involves covering grilled chicken in Korean red pepper powder and gochujang, a red pepper paste.

Once the chicken is all good and fiery, it’s topped with mozzarella cheese and broiled until the cheese is good and melted. The sweet and spicy dish is best enjoyed with a cold glass of beer. If you’re like me, your nose will run. If you’re like my husband, the sweat will drip. Either way, it’s a spicy kick in your ass.

Back to the ramen now; with buldak as the ultimate inspiration, Samyang created Buldak Ramen.

What is the Fire Noodle Challenge?

You’ve probably seen Buldak Ramen if you got sucked into the videos of the Fire Noodle Challenge on TikTok and YouTube. The challenge requires eating an entire package of cooked Buldak Ramen without taking a sip of water.

To be honest, Koreans don’t usually drink water with their meal. It’s more of a one gulp after the meal sort of thing, so I’ve gotten used to eating without sips of water already. While American tables are usually set with large glasses of water, Korean tables have small cups that are really for the end of the meal.

That said, there are always side dishes and other ways to take a break from a meal, so I found the challenge a bit funny because Koreans just wouldn’t have a glass of water lying around anyway. On top of that, haven’t we all heard that you’re not supposed to drink water if you’ve had something spicy? Okay, the premise is all wrong to me, but it’s clearly more about the reaction to the noodles than the premise that has led to the popularity of the viral ramen challenge.

Where to buy Buldak Ramen

You can find Buldak Ramen in every store in Korea that sells ramen. If you’re abroad, you can sometime find it on grocery shop shelves. But, if you cant, there are plenty of Buldak Ramen options on Amazon.

How to make Buldak Ramen

Boil the ramen noodles for 5 minutes.
Pour out the water leaving just a few ounces left in the pot.
Put the pot back on the burner, add the sauce and stir fry the noodles for 30 seconds.
Add the flakes in the packet.
Add any toppings and then enjoy.

What toppings to add to Buldak Ramen

Though a pack of ramen comes pretty simply and seemingly straightforward with noodles, sauces, and flakes, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you how to amp up your Buldak Ramen. My sisters quickly realized when my husband made them ramen that it was way better than the sweet and simple way they had been prepping it for years. Where’d these vegetables come from? An egg? Yes, ramen doesn’t have to be just what’s in the bag. Expand the meal and you’ll see, it’s even better.

What is usually inside of a Korean instant noodles packet:

Freeze dried vegetables
Free dried meat
Flavor Packet
Oil

What you can and should add to amp up your Korean ramen:

Don’t be afraid to add something to your ramen to make it even better.

Egg: A hardboiled egg is a great addition to ramen, especially spicy ramen. Some people recommend a fried egg instead. That’s a good option too!
Vegetables: Leeks, carrots, cucumbers… these are all common toppings to ramen. Leeks are better when it’s brothy ramen. Carrots and cucumbers are better for non-broth ramen. My personal favorite is cucumbers for a bit of crunch and it helps with the spice again.
Cheese: As mentioned above, Buldak usually comes with cheese on top so you’ll find that Buldak Ramen is often recommended with a bit of cheese as well.
Shredded Chicken: Since Buldak Ramen is a chicken based ramen, we decided to add some shredded chicken to amp it up and it was gooooood.

Buldak Ramen review

Once I started eating, I couldn’t stop. My husband will be the first to tell you that his level of spicy and my level of spicy are very different. While I absolutely had to take breaks, he slurped the whole bowl down before I could even say ‘go’.

Thick noodles: The noodles are thicker than your average ramen and even if you eat them slower than say my husband, they remained in tact and didn’t get squishy or soft in the process. If you’ve eaten enough ramen, you’ll notice that you can’t just slow-eat it because the noodles will absorb the broth and then be very unappetizing. These thick noodles were quite forgiving in that respect.

Hot and spicy: Quite the spicy kick clearly from the photos above. But it’s not all spice. There is a sweet undertone which I often find in Korean spicy sauces. That’s not to say it takes away from the spice in any way though. The burn builds and it just seems to get spicier and spicier and though I knew it was going to build, I just kept eating.

How spicy is it? Well the ingredients include chili pepper powder, red pepper powder, red pepper seed oil, garlic, chili extract, paprika extract, and black pepper powder.
Is it too spicy? No. While my husband eats spicy ramen and often amps up our meals to make them spicier, I don’t so for me, it was pretty spicy. But, if you’re used to spicy meals, I don’t think this is too spicy at all. I certainly wanted a spicy kick and I finished the entire bowl. Worth it! If you think the original ones are easy though, they’ve got 2X spicy and more so start at level 1 and see how far you can get on the Samyang Buldak Ramen spice scale.

Customizable: Like I said, you should definitely add something to your ramen to amp it up. From veggies to proteins, there’s plenty of ways to make this ramen dish more hearty and even better.

FAQ

Who makes Buldak Ramen?

Samyang Foods Co., Ltd. Since its foundation in 1961, Samyang has dedicated itself to the food business. Samyang Ramen, Korea’s first instant noodle, has established ramen as a staple in the Korean food industry and is leading the K-FOOD craze through Buldak Ramen.

What is the Buldak Ramen spicy level?

As I mentioned above, my husband’s idea of spicy and my idea of spicy can be quite different. So how can I tell you what the spicy level is? There’s a test for that Actually.

The Scoville Scale, which has been around since 1912, is a scale that determines the precise measurement of spiciness or heat in hot peppers. The value is based on the concentrated capsaicinoids in the hot peppers. Original Buldak Ramen has a Scoville rating of 4,404SHU which is pretty high as the Buldak Ramen Carbonara Hot Chicken has 2600SHU and the Cheese Hot Chicken has 2323SHU.

The Original Buldak Ramen, while spicy, is not the spiciest option provided by Samyang, but it high. The 2X Spicy Buldak Ramen is even spicier with a 10,000SHU.

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