Noodle Journey Episode 46: Nissin Cup Noodle Curry

I’m revisiting Nissin’s Global Favorites line with the Cup Noodle Curry flavor, manufactured in the US despite being based on a classic Japanese variety. Japanese curry is one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s thick, mildly sweet, and richly spiced. I regularly buy Vermont Curry roux cubes to make it at home, and while the name “Vermont” would suggest otherwise, it’s very much a Japanese product. Japanese curry tends to use honey or fruit for sweetness and has a silky texture with very little heat, even when labeled “hot.”

This cup aims to replicate that experience, promising a creamy sauce rather than a soup. It’s widely available both online and in stores like Walmart and local Asian groceries. I’ve seen it priced between $1.50 and $2.50, and sometimes it’s sold in six-packs for around $12. There’s a larger Japanese import version with “BIG” on the label, though I haven’t found it locally. This one contains 1450mg of sodium and a surprisingly loaded ingredient list: powdered chicken, beef stock, beef fat, parmesan cheese, and dried pork. It also has potatoes, carrots, and green onion, and I believe the pork is the infamous Nissin “mystery meat.” Despite the meat content, it’s not subject to USDA restrictions since it’s domestically made. It’s microwaveable, and I prepare it exactly as instructed.

Noodles:
Standard Cup Noodle noodles. Thin, ordinary, but slightly better than I remembered from years ago. They don’t get mushy quickly, but there’s nothing special about them. They’re just a vessel for the rest of the experience.
• 5/10

Spiciness:
There’s no heat here at all. If you’re unusually sensitive, the spice mix might register as a 1, but for most people, this is a total zero.
• 0/10

Overall:
Setting aside the average noodles, this is a shockingly complex cup. The rehydrated potatoes taste fresh, and the “mystery meat” has a nice bite with a fatty, sausage-like finish. The carrots and onions are less noticeable but help round out the texture. The broth flavor hits exactly the way I want a Japanese curry to hit: sweet and savory with what I think is noticeable flavor cinnamon and fenugreek. There’s no specific fruitiness I detected, but there’s some molasses adding a little depth without being overly cloying. The biggest letdown is the consistency. Even after letting it sit longer than recommended, it remains soup-like instead of the promised creamy sauce. I considered thickening it with a slurry or tossing in rice, but that would’ve compromised the “no add-ons” rule in my reviews. Still, this is a seriously tasty product that deserves space in your pantry if you enjoy curry.
• 8/10