French Onion Ramen

Name: French Onion Ramen
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Tanzanian
Ingredients: ¼ cup (½ stick/55 g) unsalted butter; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 large yellow onions (2 pounds/905 g), very thinly sliced on a mandoline; 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more as needed; ¼ teaspoon sugar, optional; ¼ cup (60 g) white miso paste; 4 ounces (115 g) shiitake mushrooms, sliced; 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, plus more for finishing; 8 to 10 thyme sprigs; 12 ounces (340 g) Dried wheat noodles, such as ramen; Toasted sesame oil, for serving; 2 heads baby bok choy, halved lengthwise; 2 heads baby bok choy, halved lengthwise; Soft-boiled eggs, for serving, optional; finely grated Parmesan cheese, for serving; Rice vinegar, use a splash of sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar; Rice vinegar, use a splash of sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar; Rice vinegar, use a splash of sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar; Beef broth, use chicken broth or good vegetarian broth; Beef broth, use chicken broth or good vegetarian broth; Beef broth, use chicken broth or good vegetarian broth

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Medium
Ready in
1 hr 30

Appears in

Third Culture Cooking

By Zaynab Issa

Published 2025

About

The idea of cheesy ramen is not novel, and after watching endless Tik-Tok videos featuring the same, I was reminded of another familiar cheesy brothy soup: French onion. This combination of two iconic comforting dishes—ramen and French onion soup—is all about the broth; it’s caramelized-onion-forward with lots of miso and mushrooms to add umami and depth.

As always, starting with a good broth will dramatically improve the flavor of this dish, so I’ll usually use homemade beef broth

Ingredients

Sub-Saharan Africa
Tanzania
Main course

Ingredients

Method