Nissin Chilled Cup Noodles Review | Noodle Journey Episode 223

These are two hot, well, not exactly hot, new products from Japan that take the basic Cup Noodles preparation method and change the most fundamental part of it. Nissin Chilled Cup Noodles come in Chicken, Salt, and Lemon and Spicy Kimchi flavors, and you prepare both with cold water. Not hot water followed by a trip to the refrigerator. Not hot water with some ice cubes thrown in afterward. These are made with refrigerated water poured directly into the cup, and they’re ready to eat in five minutes. I know, it’s wild, right?

Nissin says these are the first Cup Noodles designed to rehydrate in cold water. They use what the company calls a patented cold-rehydrate manufacturing process, which basically means they created a special noodle that can be prepared without boiling or near-boiling water. There is an explicit warning on the lids and back labels not to use boiling water, so I wouldn’t try it. What happens if you do? I have no idea, and I’m not about to waste one of these cups finding out because they are kind of expensive to get shipped.

These products are exclusive to Japan right now, although that’s not to say the rest of the world won’t see cold Cup Noodles eventually. If you want to try them and don’t live in Japan or aren’t going there anytime soon, they are available on specialty websites like Japanese Snacks Republic for about $6 a cup. That is a lot, yes, but it includes international shipping for a product you can’t get anywhere else. At the time of review, these had been going in and out of stock due to their popularity, so grab them quickly if you’re curious.

Before you balk at the idea of cold noodles, these are made for summertime consumption, and they make sense. Japan gets extremely hot and humid, and a cup of steaming-hot noodle soup is probably not the first thing everyone wants in the middle of that. I personally will eat soup in hot weather, I don’t really care. But cold noodle dishes like hiyashi chuka are not unusual, and I find them quite enjoyable. So, I am cautiously optimistic about both of these.

Nissin Chilled Cup Noodles Chicken, Salt, and Lemon

The Verdict:

I think Chicken, Salt, and Lemon is probably the more accessible of the two flavors. Chicken, salt, and lemon all sound like they can work well in a cold recipe, and there are some other surprises inside.

The cup contains pretty normal-looking Cup Noodles, although they might be a bit thinner than what’s in the regular cups. These are fried wheat noodles made with vegetable oil, plant protein, soy sauce, hydrolyzed protein, and soy fiber. Nothing about that sounds especially strange for Cup Noodles, but the important difference is apparently how the noodles are manufactured rather than a specific ingredient that makes them react to cold water.

Nissin’s official write-up describes the flavor as a combination of chicken, bonito, and dried sardine umami with a refreshing lemon aroma. The powdered soup ingredients include sugar, seafood seasoning, salt, chicken seasoning, vegetable oil, lemon juice powder, garlic, and other spices. The toppings are seasoned chicken, egg, green onion, and red bell pepper. So, this is not just a lemon-flavored chicken broth; there is a seafood base underneath the chicken that should give it a little more depth, while the lemon juice powder and added acidity should keep it from becoming too heavy when served cold. That’s what I’m expecting.

The nutrition information lists 4.2 g of salt equivalent for the entire serving, which is about 1,650 mg of sodium.

The preparation could not be any easier. Add refrigerated water to the fill line, about 330 ml, close the lid, and let the cup sit for five minutes. I have no idea why you need to close the lid, but that’s what the instructions say.

After five minutes in cold water, the noodles were pliable just like normal instant noodles, although maybe a little clumpy. Once stirred, the cup smelled nice and lemony.

Noodles:

I think the noodles are the most important part of this review because everybody is probably dying to know how Cup Noodles rehydrated in cold water feel in your mouth. Really good. I dare say I like them better than regular Cup Noodles. My main complaint about regular Cup Noodles is usually the texture of the noodles. There are a lot of Cup Noodles flavors that I love, and I always say the weak point is the noodles. Flavors are great, toppings are great, noodles are just meh. That is especially true of the Japanese varieties. I find some of those flavors terrific even if the noodles are not great.

These are a bit thinner than regular Cup Noodles, but they have what I think is a better chew. They’re firmer and a little crumbly. They almost remind me of the noodles made by Mama, the Thai company. I’m really not mad at the results. They are very clumpy and hard to separate, though. It took a few tries to get a halfway-decent noodle pull that didn’t result in half the cup landing on my desk. I won’t say they’re perfect, but they are a resounding success. The innovation is incredible, and the texture after rehydrating is remarkable.

• 7/10

Spiciness:

There is definitely some black pepper in here. You might get a little zing from that and some acid from the lemon, but I don’t think this comes across as spicy in any way.

• 0/10*

Overall:

The lemon flavor is great. It has a strong chicken backbone, and I’m really impressed with how the added seafood ingredients give this a little extra smokiness and sweetness without turning it into a fish stock. The flavor is terrific: refreshing, zesty, citrusy, and well-rounded in that it’s not just chicken and lemon. One of the main weak points for me, and if you’ve followed the channel/site for a while you know what I’m about to say, is that the egg pieces do absolutely nothing for me. They’re just spongy little flavor absorbers. I don’t particularly love the texture, and I don’t think they add anything. It’s a minor quibble, and I can deal with them. The red bell pepper piece I pulled out during my initial taste was still hard and fibrous, so I don’t think it rehydrated very well. My other complaint is that I only found one or two pieces of seasoned chicken. These Japanese Cup Noodles varieties usually have quite a few pieces of meat, so either Nissin skimped a little here or I just got unlucky. Either way, the flavor is great, and it works incredibly well as a cold noodle. I just wish the toppings were a little better in quality and, in the case of the chicken, quantity. Those are minor complaints given how much I like the broth and noodle texture. My mind is blown.

• 8.5/10

*One note about the spiciness: despite vigorous stirring, I discovered as I ate my way to the bottom that a copious amount of black pepper had settled there. It was probably enough to nudge the spiciness above 0 if you are intolerant of black pepper, so just be warned about that.

Nissin Chilled Cup Noodles Spicy Kimchi

The Verdict:

The Spicy Kimchi flavor uses the same noodle base, but the soup and toppings are completely different. Nissin describes it as having a chicken umami base with the acidity and heat of kimchi. I’m a little more skeptical about this one than I was about the Chicken, Salt, and Lemon flavor, and not because I don’t believe a Japanese company can do a good kimchi stew. In fact, the best kimchi stew I’ve ever had came from a Japanese company, Yamadai. The reason I’m skeptical is that cold kimchi obviously makes sense, but some of the toppings floating around in this broth could go either way, especially Nissin’s mystery meat. The acidity and spice might make it feel refreshing, kind of like bibimmen or naengmyeon, or the whole thing might taste like somebody forgot to heat up their noodles.

The soup ingredients include sugar, salt, chicken seasoning, napa cabbage, miso seasoning, powdered soy sauce, garlic, vegetable oil, fish sauce, and tomato powder. The toppings are processed minced pork, which is the Nissin mystery meat with an almost sausage-like consistency, seasoned egg, napa cabbage, kimchi, sesame seeds, and green onion.

This cup contains 4.3 g of salt equivalent, which is about 1,690 mg of sodium. Preparation is the same: add refrigerated water to the fill line, cover the cup for five minutes, and stir. After “cooking,” the aroma was authentically garlicky and zesty, with lots of toppings in the cup.

Noodles:

These are identical to the noodles in the first cup. They’re still a little clumpy, but I really like their texture.

• 7/10

Spiciness:

It’s hot, but not as hot as most of the Korean kimchi varieties I’ve reviewed in the past. It has a nice little heat without being overwhelming. If you can handle a jar of refrigerated kimchi from your local Asian market, this should be pretty easy for you to eat.

• 3/10

Overall:

There are a lot of things I love about this and only one thing I kind of don’t love. First and foremost, I didn’t know I liked cold kimchi soup, but here we are. This is very refreshing. Despite being spicy, it has a nice cold, refreshing heat, kind of like Nongshim Doong Ji Naengmyeon with Gochujang Sauce or Paldo Bibimmen. Spicy, but somehow still refreshing. It’s super garlicky, which I very much appreciate, with a good MSG/chicken umami backbone to the soup. The eggs don’t do too much for me, but they aren’t my main complaint. The kimchi flakes are very good. They’re cool, crisp, and tasty, like they just came out of the refrigerator, with a great texture.

I love just about everything in this cup except, surprisingly, the cold mystery meat. I’m not into it. As I said earlier, it reminds me of sausage. If you’ve ever had the Nissin Cup Noodle Original or Curry flavors, this is the same meat that comes in those. I just don’t think it works cold. It rehydrated just fine, but there’s something about cold sausage that I find a little off-putting. Maybe that’s a personal texture or flavor preference, but it is the only part of this cup that I’m not really enthused about.

Everything else is surprisingly great. I didn’t think cold kimchi soup was going to work very well, but I actually like this flavor even more than the Chicken, Salt, and Lemon flavor. I’m knocking a little off because I don’t like the cold mystery meat, but this is terrific otherwise. I don’t think the extra meat element was necessary, but this is a really flavorful product and a great example of a Japanese company doing a good job with a kimchi-flavored product.

• 9.5/10

Final Thoughts:

I love both of these flavors. Each one offers a refreshing experience that is zesty, sour, and umami in its own way, one with lemon and one with kimchi. Spicy Kimchi is my personal favorite, but both are solid and very innovative. Both recipes work surprisingly well as cold noodle dishes. At no point while eating these did I say to myself, “Boy, I wish these were hot preparations.”

The broader implications of these noodles are really cool, too. If you don’t have access to hot water, you lost power to your water heater, you’re outdoors camping, or whatever, some great things could come from noodles that prepare in cold water. I really hope Nissin uses this technology for more than these two cups in the future. If you have the inclination to buy them while they’re still available, I recommend giving them a try.

Continuing the Journey:

• Marutai Chilled Chinese Noodles are another Japanese cold-noodle option and the closest format comparison.
• For another refreshing spicy cold dish, try Nongshim Doong Ji Naengmyeon with Gochujang Sauce.
• Yamadai New Touch Original Kimchi Ramen is the Japanese kimchi ramen I mentioned in this review.