Noodle Journey Episode 177: Samyang Buldak Korean Fried Chicken Ramen

I wasn’t planning on doing another Buldak review so soon, but something pretty cool happened, and I was just able to get my hands on Samyang Buldak Korean Fried Chicken Flavor after months of searching. This is a flavor that came out earlier this year and is sold by Samyang in China and possibly other spots in Asia; I can’t confirm for sure either way. I have been looking for this since I learned it existed because I love most Buldak flavors, and I want to review everything I can that is Buldak-related.

Read more: Noodle Journey Episode 177: Samyang Buldak Korean Fried Chicken Ramen

There’s a neat little story behind how I ultimately got this and how you can get it too. Literally not 10 minutes after I filmed the Yakisoba review, I got a message from a very kind individual on Reddit who pointed me to an exotic snack store based in Massachusetts that is selling this flavor through its online shop. If you want to buy this right now (October 2024) in the USA, you can go to the Milked Exotic Snacks website at milkandcookies.com and find it under their Ramen section. These are currently selling for $3.25 per pack, which is not unreasonable at all for an Asian exclusive flavor imported to the US, and shipping to me was ungodly fast.

The sodium content is 1484mg for this single pack. These appear to be the standard square-ish Buldak noodles. I had to rely on Google Lens to translate the whole thing; it looks like the sauce contains Chili Pepper along with chicken flavoring, tomato, garlic, onion, and some kind of curry seasonings. The flake packet contains white and black sesame seeds. I cannot say with any level of certainty if this contains animal products or not; it doesn’t appear to, but I’m only going off of Google’s translation, so if you are vegetarian or vegan, proceed at your own risk. To cook this, you want to boil the noodles for 5 and a half minutes, drain them completely, and then add the sauce and the flakes. There are no instructions to stir-fry this like with other Buldak flavors, so that part is not apparently necessary.

Noodles:

There’s really nothing new to say; I have reviewed so many Buldak varieties at this point. These noodles are thick and chewy and satisfying, and if that’s what you want in a noodle, then you’re going to like these just fine, but there are no surprises here like we saw in the yakisoba version.

• 8/10

Spiciness:

For the spiciness score, we’re about in the same neighborhood as the regular Carbonara flavor. It’s a potent heat; it kind of sticks around in the back of your mouth a little bit more so than any kind of tingly sensation on your lips. It’s a pretty solid heat level.

• 7/10

Overall:

I really like this; it’s absolutely delicious, but it’s not that dissimilar from the original Hot Chicken flavor. What you get here is a sweeter, stickier, more Gochujang-forward version of what you get in that normal Buldak sauce packet elsewhere. It’s missing the smokey element and the blend of curry spices that you get on the back end with other Buldak flavors; what it does have here from a curry spice perspective feels more like in the realm of cinnamon than it does cumin and cardamom and all that other stuff. Since this does have a sweeter, zestier flavor than regular Buldak, I’m assuming that is in part due to the tomato extract. If you were wondering if this tastes at all like fried chicken, well, no; it doesn’t have any kind of oily, fried element to it; it’s just mainly the red sauce that you usually see on Korean Fried Chicken. The sauce is good; the sesame seeds do provide a nice crunch, though I do wish there was a little bit more in here as far as dried ingredients. I like the balance of flavor and heat with this one; I think it emulates what it’s supposed to taste like very well, and even though I think it is only a slight departure from the original Buldak flavor, I like it a little better.

• 8.5/10

Notes since filming:

Around April 2025, people started spotting this in English packaging in their grocery stores, meaning you don’t have to jump through hoops to buy this flavor anymore (hopefully). The official flavor name is now “Sweet & Spicy Korean Chicken.”