Here’s a lazy meal prep idea inspired by a fever dream: use instant ramen seasoning packets as a spice rub for chicken thighs.

Time: 3/5
Prep is done in a flash, then the oven does the rest of the work

Effort: 2/5
I wouldn’t even need to use the cutting board, if it weren’t for the vegetables 

Highway to Hell

Chicken and rice is my specialty, if I had one. Over the 10+ years of meal prepping, I have yet to find a better combination for supporting my fitness goals in a budget-friendly way.

And it’s hard to get tired of the basic template when there are so many variations to make: from a home-style Canto chicken wing and potato stew, to Taiwanese three-cup chicken in a caramel sauce infused with Thai basil, to garlicky and tangy chicken bites in a yogurt based marinade. I’ve been around the block.

Or so I thought, until I found a deli container full of unused instant ramen seasoning packets in my kitchen. You know, the sachet of powder for making the soup base, which has like half of your recommended daily intake of sodium in a single portion.

I never use the entire packet – if I wanted a stronger broth, I just use less water. Which is why I’ve slowly accumulated a small stockpile of unused ramen seasoning, taking up space in my drawer.

I don’t know what planted the evil thought into my mind when I laid eyes on them, but I started to wonder what would happen if I used the ramen powder to marinade some chicken thighs and roast them in the oven. Since I was going to culinary hell anyway for merely having such an impure thought, I might as well try it out.

I don’t know if I should be surprised. The seasoning packet is mostly salt with a healthy amount of MSG, so there’s no reason to doubt its efficacy as a marinade. The chicken tasted like instant ramen soup. It was a reasonably good chicken and rice, and very little work for a week’s worth of lunches.

There were several things I didn’t expect. The fat rendered off the chicken beautifully, and the drippings created a wonderful sauce in the sheet pan along with the run-off seasoning. The skin got very well browned and super crispy. It was almost like crackling, fresh out of the oven.

Perhaps leaving the ramen seasoning sitting on the thighs overnight had a drying, almost curing effect on the skin. It might just be the copious amount of salt, or it might be something particular to the seasoning mix.

In any case, I would call this experiment a success. I found an easy way to make some great chicken, while upcycling leftover ramen seasoning packets. I would certainly be doing this again until I’ve cleared up the backlog. Except, I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve committed an unspeakable atrocity that warrants the eternal damnation of my soul.

Dramatis Personae

Served 6.

Chicken thighs – 1kg

Boneless and skin on, for the greatest efficiency and taste. Bones take up space in the oven, and reduce the edible yield of meat from a sheet pan’s worth of ingredients.

Instant ramen powder – 3 packets

This is the brand of ramen I had growing up. Early experiences count for a lot, and Demae Iccho remains the instant ramen of choice whenever I crave something hot, soupy and savoury.

The fact that one of these soup packets have like 1800mg of sodium is normally a cause for concern, but in this context that’s exactly what I need.

3 packets over 6 meals gives me just under 1000mg a portion, which is enough for the chicken to taste bold (especially given the MSG, it tastes more savoury than the same amount of sodium if it was purely salt) without going completely overboard.

Vegetables – 4 zucchini, 3 cups of fresh shiitake mushrooms, and a couple cloves of minced garlic

Always eat your veggies! Especially considering the dietary sin we’re about to commit, there better be some means of absolution to balance things out. My trusty Shiitake and Zucchini stir fry fits the bill well.

I like to add the garlic right at the end to keep it fresh and sharp, and add a drizzle of olive oil only after the heat is shut off to preserve the floral fruity notes.

Executive summary

1. The day before cooking, marinade chicken thighs in the ramen seasoning powder. Refrigerate overnight.
2. Start the rice cooker, and preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and foil.
3. Lay chicken thighs skin side up on the lined baking sheet, and roast at 200C/400F for 30 minutes.
4. Clean, cut and cook the vegetables in the meantime.
5. Assemble and serve.

Play by Play

Last things first. Ramen seasoning goes into the bag of defrosted thighs, and the chicken gets massages through the plastic. No mess.

The next day. The oven has been preheating while I set up the rice cooker, and now it’s ready to serve it’s duty.

I can leave the rice cooker and oven alone now, so on to the shiitake mushrooms. Chop them up, and leave them in the pan with some salt and a small splash of water. They’ll reduce, the water will boil off, and we can brown them off later using much less oil than if we sautéed them raw.

The shiitake are going to take a while, so there’s plenty of time to chop up the zucchini.

The mushrooms have reduced down enough at this point that they were ready for the olive oil. They browned just fine!

Zucchini, salt and pepper at this stage. Stir every once in a while, and mince the garlic in the meantime.

The chicken is almost done, and you can see the minced garlic ready to go in the reflection of the oven door. The reddish hue seems to be telling me that I’m going to culinary hell for this.

Garlic in the pan at the very last instant. It will cook a tiny bit in the residual heat and stay nice and spicy.

Not bad! Let’s plate it up and serve. Don’t forget to spoon some of the drippings over the rice.

Delicious!

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