Here’s a Japanese Cup Noodle variety that looks promising! Nissin Cup Noodle Hokkaido Milk Seafood flavor combines the ever-popular Seafood flavor (which I am a fan of) with a rich milk-based broth, which sounds heavenly. Let’s check it out!
The Verdict:
| Product: | Nissin Cup Noodle Hokkaido Milk Seafood |
| Origin: | Japan |
| Noodle Quality: | 5/10 |
| Spice Level: | 0/10 |
| Overall Score: | 9/10 |
While this one looks like it was originally announced as a wintertime-only 2024/2025 product, it seems that it is going to be an annual offering from Nissin, considering it’s back for 2025/2026 as well. Its availability has outlasted a number of other Cup Noodle products and it is still part of the Cup Noodle product line on Nissin Japan’s website, so I’m assuming it’s sold so well that it’s sticking around seasonally. This was originally made available about 10 years ago, and from what I can tell has been brought back multiple times. It can be purchased from many online Japanese ramen retailers, including japanese-snacks.republic.com. If you miss out on it this season and want to try it, there’s probably a good chance you’ll be able to grab it next winter.
The salt equivalent in this is 4g, putting it at about 1575mg of sodium. Pretty average for a Japanese Cup Noodle product.
As you can see inside the cup, you’ve got your standard Nissin noodles along with a milk-based broth powder and a decent amount of seafood and vegetable toppings. The broth powder contains the trifecta of chicken, seafood, and pork extract along with milk, cream, and a bunch of seasonings. The dried toppings are cabbage, eggs, squid, crab stick, carrots, and green onions. Sounds like a seafood chowder lover’s dream here.
Noodles:
Standard Nissin texture, unremarkable but not really bad.
- 5/10
Spiciness:
No spice here.
- 0/10
Overall:
I really enjoy the basic Cup Noodle Seafood flavor on occasion, but the flavor on this one is even better, and I would say it’s substantially so. As you might be able to tell from the photo above, the broth is incredibly rich and creamy in a way that the original flavor isn’t. This adds a thick, slightly sweet, almost chowder-like body to the entire cup, and it is a pronounced difference that I absolutely loved, putting aside the average noodle quality. Speaking of average things, there are a couple of other caveats that are keeping this from a perfect 10 score. Even though it looked like it was substantial when I opened the lid, the amount of actual seafood flakes in this one pales in comparison to the quantity I’ve gotten then many times I’ve eaten the original flavor. Maybe three pieces of crab in the whole thing, and not a whole lot of squid. Instead, it was much heavier on the carrot and cabbage content, plus those little egg pieces. Now, the eggs and carrots were inoffensive but ultimately flavorless, but I would have much rather had more crab stick pieces in their place. The carrots gave a nice crunch along with the cabbage at least, so there was some texture to break up the softer noodles. All in all, I loved the flavor and consistency that the milky broth imparted, and if the quantity of seafood was improved, this would’ve been a 9.5 or even a 10. I think this is the best offshoot of Nissin’s original seafood flavor yet. The next time I buy this (because there will almost definitely be a next time), a scoop of Ramen Bae is going in to help it out. From a flavor/texture perspective, it’ll be hard for me to go back to the original Seafood flavor after having this one.
- 9/10
