Easy Wild Greens Ramen Soup Recipe -- Gluten Free, Allergy Friendly Options

Yummy ramen that got rave reviews

When most people think "ramen" they think cheap instant soups that are not so nutritious, but are delicious. However, ramen really is a style of noodle soup originating from Japan, usually served with many toppings, with as many variations to it as stars in the sky. They even have entire restaurants dedicated to this type of soup.

I created this ramen soup recipe when it was a cold and wintry day and I had to make lunch, serve it, and pack up the family to leave for a trip all within less than an hour, and I had nothing ready. Within that time I was able to prepare this delicious soup that got rave reviews from the entire family, and we devoured it and made it out the door on time. 

It was so delicious that I recreated it so I could write down the recipe to share with you.

While I didn't use official ramen noodles for this, if you eat gluten and want to be more traditional, feel free to use real ramen noodles but if not, rice noodles or other cellophane noodles are wonderful in this recipe.

Some of the wild greens I used for my recipe

I used a mixture of different wild greens for my recipe. The first time I used just sea beet (the wild ancestor of swiss chard) but the second time I used a mix of sea beet, mallow, lambsquarters, and amaranth greens, and it was just as perfect. Feel free to use any non bitter greens that you have available (including but not limited to dethorned milk thistle, nettles, hollyhocks, salsify greens, etc...) 

If you're not a forager, spinach, bok choy, swiss chard, kale, or collard greens would be perfect here.

No, this isn't "instant ramen" but it is so quick to make, not to mention frugal, that it might as well be!

Easy Wild Greens Ramen Soup Recipe -- Gluten Free, Allergy Friendly Options

Ingredients:
2 cups chicken or turkey wings, bones, or necks
Six cups water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 inch knob of ginger, sliced
1/4 cup (gluten free) soy sauce or coconut aminos
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced sliced
3 cups greens
Half a package rice noodles
Salt, if needed, to taste
Toppings of choice (optional):
Mushrooms
Soft boiled eggs
Scallions
Thinly sliced carrots
Diced avocado
Meat or fish
Seaweed
Bamboo shoots

Instructions:

1. Boil your chicken or turkey parts in water with wine and ginger until they're completely cooked. If you have a pressure cooker this will make it even faster, but even if you don't, you can cook it on high for 20 minutes and have the meat cooked enough to give your broth flavor. (At this point I removed the meat from the pot and set it aside to give it to my dog.)

2. Add your soy sauce, sliced onion, and garlic, and boil for five more minutes.

3. Chop your greens, and add them to the pot along with the noodles. Cook for approximately five minutes, or until the noodles and greens are fully cooked.

4. Add more salt if needed. (I didn't find any necessary, but it depends on your soy sauce and taste preference.)

5. Serve in bowls, topping each bowl with your toppings of choice (if desired). It's terrific with toppings, but also is wonderful on its own.

Variation: If you're vegan, you can make this with consomme instead of chicken broth. If you don't want to use consomme, I'm sure it will be just as wonderful with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Are you a fan of ramen? What type of ramen do you enjoy eating? The instant stuff or the traditional Japanese ramen? What do you put in yours? Does this look like a recipe you'd enjoy?