Your Instant Ramen Needs This DIY Sesame Sauce Immediately

Instant ramen is the king of the lazy dinner, but you don't have to eat it exactly as the packaging instructs. Sometimes, the flavor packet contents are a little too salty, a little too bland, or simply not what you're in the mood for. Instead, elevate your instant ramen with a quick and easy sesame sauce.

TikTok is a hotbed of all kinds of short-form content, but its inventive tips on how to make cooking quick, delicious meals an even shorter process is one our favorite parts of the app. TikTok user eatsbyrachel's recipe for an umami-rich sesame sauce whipped up from common fridge and pantry ingredients perfectly encapsulates this. Made with soy sauce, minced ginger and garlic, chili oil, tahini, sesame oil, and black vinegar, it has a nutty, yet fiery taste that coats any run-of-the-mill instant ramen noodles with a creamy finish.

Loosened with starchy hot water from the pot of noodles, the sauce comes together quite seamlessly while tasting like something that requires much more effort. Besides its deeply savory flavor, it's also highly customizable. Almond or peanut butter work as an alternative for tahini, a splash of balsamic and rice vinegar can substitute black vinegar, and gochujang or sriracha make a sweet stand-in for chili oil.

While the sesame sauce is enough to bring flavor to any pack of instant ramen, you can always elevate the dish with the right pick of toppings. Alongside the sauce, using a sprinkle of furikake is an impactful way to spice up your instant ramen. Made with dried seaweed, toasted sesame seeds, salt, sugar, and dried bonito fish flakes, the Japanese seasoning delivers an umami punch to the ramen. The perfect blend of sweet, nutty, and mouth-watering, the spice works with whatever you put in your sesame sauce.

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For a savory, meat-free addition to ramen, use mushrooms. With their smoky, earthy flavor, adding sauteed shiitake mushrooms is a delicious way to seriously upgrade your instant ramen, but the meatiness of oyster mushrooms work too. They're great as a topping, but to take things to the next level, simmer dried mushrooms in water for a few minutes before adding the noodles inside. Not only will the ramen get an umami punch from the plants, but the broth added to the sauce ties the tahini, ginger, chili oil, and garlic together for a savory finish.

If you like your ramen to be a little on the sweeter side, use hot honey instead of chili oil. While it still brings the heat, the condiment tempers the earthiness of the sesame oil and tahini. To balance the sweetness and lift the nutty sauce slightly more, finish off the ramen with cilantro and a squeeze of lime.