The instant noodle with the perfect amount of spice

Most people like spicy noodles every once in a while, or at least they ought to. Spicy noodles are the thing that adds a nice kick to the rest of the boring food we eat. But it’s hard to find noodles with the right amount of kick.

If you’ve tried any of the Buldak spicy noodles from Samyang Foods you might have been put off by the level of spice in those packets. Once the heat reaches a certain magnitude, the noodles are just no longer enjoyable.

We don’t need blazing heat at every meal. Some days we just want a nice, pleasant flavor with a small kindling underneath to satisfy our hunger. Is that too much to ask?

The good news, though, is that there are all kinds of spicy noodles that don’t leave you sweating profusely after the meal, and Neoguri Spicy Seafood noodles by Nongshim is one such example.

Nongshim Neoguri Spicy Seafood noodles

Neoguri is an Udon-style ramyun noodle from Nongshim, an instant noodle and snack company based in Korea. The noodles are flash-fried into a circular disk, making it easy to drop in a small pot. And they’re a little thicker than other instant noodles so it feels like you’re eating a bigger serving.

Neoguri comes with two packets. The heftier one is the soup base that contains your seasonings, vegetable and seafood extracts, and salt. It create a rich, red broth. The transparent packet contains your kelp flakes.

The sauce packet is made with real seafood ingredients. Expect to smell the seafood when it’s cooking.

Anchovy and seaweed are the most pungent notes, but bonito, cuttlefish, mussel, sand lance, and tuna extract are on the ingredient list too. It’s a very fishy-type of aroma that wafts up into the air and soaks into the noodles.

The dried kelp adds both texture and taste to the soup. Kelp is a type of seaweed that enhances the “fishy” taste in the noodles. It’s also full of nutrients like magnesium, iron, iodine, and calcium.

What do spicy seafood noodles taste like?

Nongshim’s Neoguri is one of the best tasting instant noodles out there. It packs a big seafood-like flavor because it’s made from actual seafood. If you’re not used to seafood, the noodles taste very fishy.

Some people will say it has a shrimp-like flavor, but the ingredient list doesn’t contain shrimp. The taste is more like anchovy + seaweed + mussel. It’s actually quite tasty.

When you think of Korean noodles you might think of jjamppong, which is a very spicy noodle soup that has big chunks of seafood in a deep, red broth. Neoguri is like a toned down version of that.

Some people don’t like a too fishy flavor but these noodles taste exactly as advertised. They’re the perfect combination of seafood and spice.

The flavor is strong enough that you could add additional vegetables to the mix, such as tofu, green onion, cilantro, carrots, and others, and still swoon over the seafood flavors.

The only downside is the sodium content. One package of noodles contains 2,020mg of sodium. That’s 84% of your recommended daily value! If you’re going to eat these noodles, you should adjust the salt in your other meals throughout the day accordingly. Balance out the ship!

Nongshim Neoguri

A rich flavored instant noodle made with real seafood ingredient like anchovy, mussels, clams, and cuttlefish.

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Final thoughts

It’s surprising how good Neoguri spicy seafood noodles are. We tend to associate instant noodles with low-quality ingredients and bland flavors that rely on too much salt.

And sure. These noodles contain too much salt but you can use half the seasoning packet and these still taste great.

Our only request is that Nongshim includes a little more seaweed in the packet. We would gladly pay extra for that too!