Healthy Ramen Stir Fry – Leftovers Recipe
This healthy ramen stir fry is an example of what you can do with leftovers. Sometimes I have random vegetables and protein (chicken, steak, pork etc.) leftover from couple of dinners and there is not enough of them to make a dinner for my family. However, they are perfect for a stir fry.
I suggest that you use this stir fry ramen recipe as a guideline to see what you can do with what you have on hand. Look at the process and modify to your liking.
This ramen noodles have a few components that I optimized to make a healthier option comparing to other stir fry recipes.
For step by step video instructions, click here:
How to make a stir fry sauce that is healthy
To make a stir fry sauce healthier remove or reduce sugar and oil. The amount of sugar and oil that you will find in most sauces heavily increase calorie density and make the dish unhealthy. Avoid store bought sweet sauce like teriyaki or oyster sauce. Make sure to make your sauce from scratch. You can still use soy sauce, sriracha or even hot pepper pastes like Gochujang. Gochujang is not very low in calories but little goes a long way and adds tons of flavor to your sauce.
You don’t have to strip your food from flavor to make it much healthier. Small changes contribute to very noticeable results.
What noodles are a healthy option for a stir fry
Millet and brown rice ramen are a better option because they have less calories and more grams of protein per serving. They are gluten free so if you have gluten sensitivity they would be a great substitute.
You can also use any type of noodles you like. They are a bit higher in calories but the difference is not going to be significant. You don’t have to change everything in your stir fry dish to make it healthier.
Taking this recipe as an example: regular noodles have 200 calories per serving (56 grams per serving) and brown rice ramen have 120 calories per serving (35 grams per serving). When you take the serving size into an account, it almost doesn’t matter. However, if you have gluten intolerance or just want to avoid flour in your diet, rice noodles are a better option.
What can I add to stir fry ramen noodles?
- Any type of noodles you like: ramen noodles, egg noodles, rice noodles, any noodle substitute like this millet-brown rice ramen, or just regular spaghetti, linguini noodles.
- Protein – whatever you have in your fridge. I love to reuse my leftovers for this simple dish. Leftover rotisserie chicken is a great option.
- Vegetables – same as the protein: if you have any vegetables leftover from last dinner, use them. I have some brussel sprouts and broccoli. To that I added mushroom and made this stir fry. Another great option would be bell peppers and onions, zucchini, cabbage. Use any vegetables that you have in your fridge. This is a great way to clean up your refrigerator before your grocery trip.
- Egg
- Aromatics: Green onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro
- Sauce: I added dark soy sauce, sriracha and Gochujang paste together and added some water. Make sure not to use any store bought, ready to use sauces as they contain tons of sugar and calories.
How to make a healthy ramen stir fry using your leftovers
Prepare ingredients ahead of time. The cooking process is very quick and there is no time to chop. Stir fries require high heat and quick cooking process.
Chop all vegetables and aromatics (garlic, ginger – can be grated, green onions and cilantro) and set aside.
Prepare sauce by combining dark soy sauce (or any soy sauce you have), sriracha hot sauce and Gochujang.
Heat a non stick pan. You can lightly grease it or if you can skip it to save extra calories. Add chopped mushrooms and without stirring, let them brown. After mushrooms browned, add chopped garlic and ginger.
Move mushroom aside to make space for an egg. Scramble the egg on the pan.
Add your leftover vegetables (in my case that is broccoli and brussel sprouts), leftover protein (I had some rotisserie chicken). Warm it up quickly.
In a separate pot, boil water. Add the millet and brown rice ramen and cook for half the time that the container instructions indicate. These noodles cook very quick. There is nothing worse than over cooked noodles ;).
Transfer the half-cooked ramen onto stir fry pan.
Thin out the sauce with half a cup of water and add to on top of the noodles.
Carefully, not to break the noodles, stir them in. Add green onions and cilantro. Turn the heat off and stir. Serve right away. For extra sweetness you can serve it with sweet chili sauce. It does have lots of sugar so be stingy with your serving or if you don’t mind artificial sweeteners, try sugar free options.
Healthy Stir Fry Ramen
Ingredients
- 3 oz chicken breast
- 3 oz brussel sprouts
- 5 oz broccoli
- 7 oz mushroom
- 1 large egg
- 2 clove garlic
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 stalks green onion
- 1 tbs cilantro
- 1 package millet and brown rice ramen
Sauce
- 1 tbs hot pepper paste Gochujang
- 1 tbs dark soy sauce (or any soy sauce you have)
- 1 tbs sriracha hot sauce
Instructions
- Chop all vegetables and aromatics (garlic, ginger – can be grated, green onions and cilantro) and set aside.
- Prepare sauce by combining dark soy sauce (or any soy sauce you have), sriracha hot sauce and Gochujang.
- Heat a non stick pan. You can lightly grease it or if you can skip it to save extra calories.
- Add chopped mushrooms and without stirring, let them brown.
- After mushrooms browned, add chopped garlic and ginger.
- Move mushroom aside to make space for an egg. Scramble the egg on the pan.
- Add your leftover vegetables (in my case that is broccoli and brussel sprouts), leftover protein (I had some rotisserie chicken). Warm it up quickly.
- In a separate pot, boil water. Add the millet and brown rice ramen and cook for half the time that the container instructions indicate.
- Transfer the half-cooked ramen onto stir fry pan with vegetables.
- Thin out the sauce with half a cup of water and add to on top of the noodles.
- Add green onions and cilantro. Turn the heat off and stir. Serve right away.
GUILT FREE DESSERT RECIPES
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COFFEE CHOCOLATE CHIP YOGURT ICE CREAM
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I’ve never had millet ramen noodles before, the texture looks interesting! I wonder if it’s sold in our local Asian stores, I’m definitely interested to try it out
I buy it in Costco, they have it there all the time