I’m taking a look at the Samyang Picantia Noodle Soup line in this mega-review, a trio of fusion flavors clearly designed with a Hispanic theme in mind. This is a pretty big shift compared to their usual Buldak lineup, so I’m very curious to see what a Korean company does with a Hispanic-inspired product line. The Jalapeno Chicken and Chipotle Beef flavors feel like a natural fit for the new branding, although the Cajun Shrimp option left me scratching my head at first because it doesn’t quite seem to match the rest of the theme. But as I learned right before filming, Cajun cuisine actually does have Spanish roots even if some of us don’t normally associate those cultures together, and that does help explain why Samyang included it in this particular product line.
Read more: Noodle Journey Episode 171: Samyang Picantia Noodle Soup Mega-ReviewI spotted all three of these in my nearby Grocery Outlet for $0.99 each, which is a great price for a bowl this size, assuming the quality is good. Expect to find this on American shelves in grocery chains nationwide pretty soon, if you haven’t seen them already. They also briefly made an appearance on my favorite noodle site, Yamibuy.com for $3.69 each before quickly going out of stock, so I would also check there if you want to buy these online when they come back in stock. That’s a pretty substantial delta in pricing so I have no idea what these will cost once they start showing up in more places.
Samyang Picantia Jalapeno Chicken
Sodium is a fairly substantial 1990mg or 87% of your daily allowance, so be warned.
Inside is a block of regular wheat noodles, a sauce packet, and a flake packet. The sauce contains ingredients like chili powder, soy sauce, tomato powder, garlic, cumin, onion, MSG, and sugar. And in the flake packet, it looks like we’ve got onion, garlic, parsley, carrots, and bok choy. No mention of cilantro, which makes me and my genetics very happy. There is also no mention of actual chicken in the ingredients, so this appears to be vegetarian and maybe even vegan, but please check yourself if that’s important to you.
Noodles:
These noodles were softer than Buldak-style noodles but appropriate for a soup cup. They hydrated well without becoming mushy, and they carried the broth flavor nicely.
• 7/10
Spiciness:
Despite the jalapeno branding, this stayed very mild with only a faint warmth. It never built into anything intense and stayed well below the typical Samyang burn.
• 3/10
Overall:
This flavor is kind of a salty, herby artificial chicken broth with a great jalapeno flavor that made it feel slightly brighter than a standard chicken cup noodle. The broth had a smooth, lightly savory base that blended tomato, garlic, pepper, and onion nicely, with cumin being the dominant spice I could taste. There’s also a nice amount of parsley giving it some herb flavor. The amount of dried vegetables included was sad and borderline insulting, but they rehydrated well enough at least. This reminded me of Paldo’s excellent Kokomen flavor more than anything else. Very savory and lightly acidic – I enjoyed this.
• 7.5/10
Samyang Picantia Chipotle Beef
Even more sodium in this one at 2040mg, or 89% of your daily allowance.
Inside, more of the same wheat noodles, a sauce powder, and some assorted flakes in the bottom of the bowl. In the packet, you’ve got things like sugar, soy sauce, MSG, chili powder, garlic powder, onion, and cumin, just like the chicken flavor. But then we’ve got some additional seasonings to set this apart, including citric acid and oregano. And of course, some artificial beef seasoning, so this once again looks to me to be meat and dairy free and the package once again says halal. The flakes this time appear to be soy protein flakes and chives.
Noodles:
Same noodle base as the first cup, soft and broth-absorbent with no issues hydrating.
• 7/10
Spiciness:
This one is extremely spicy, with a heavy emphasis on capsaicin extract. There’s almost a chemical-like burn to this flavor, with a strong linger reminiscent of Buldak. Not exactly pleasant to me.
• 7/10
Overall:
Underneath all that harsh spice is a nicer smoky beef flavor with cumin and oregano. Like the Jalapeno Chicken flavor, I got lots of good herb and tomato notes. It’s very similar to Tapatio’s original ramen (which I hadn’t formally reviewed at the time of filming, but had casually tried already). The difference here is that I think the spice is a little too strong and a little too chemical, and so I feel like some of the more subtle flavor elements I would have enjoyed here were destroyed by that spice level. A couple of notches lower on the spiciness scale, and this would’ve been a winner.
• 6/10
Samyang Picantia Cajun Shrimp
Once again a fairly high sodium level at 2030mg, or 88% of your daily allowance.
Inside, the same wheat noodles with a sauce packet and flake packet. This time, in addition to similar spices that were in the other two flavors, we do have some shrimp powder, meaning this is the only one of the three that appears to contain animal products. The flakes this time are listed as chili peppers and bok choy.
Noodles:
Same noodle base as the others.
• 7/10
Spiciness:
This had more punch than the jalapeno flavor but still stayed comfortably moderate. The heat came from a mix of chili and seasoning blend rather than any single pepper.
• 5/10
Overall:
This flavor felt the most distinct of the three because it leaned into a shrimp-forward broth, although I don’t know that I felt the seasoning was very Cajun-like. Aromatically, this smelled like a citrus-forward almost-tom yum with some Mexican spices included, and from a flavor perspective I did get a lot of citrus and tomato. It’s lightly sweet from the shrimp powder, herby from the parsley, and this time around the dehydrated vegetables were much more prevalent. While I don’t think this one tasted “Cajun” per se, it was my favorite of the three. Nice balance of heat, spices, and vegetables.
• 8/10
