Here’s the review for Chef Woo Braised Beef Flavor Ramen, hot off the heels of their Roasted Chicken flavor review I just conducted. This is basically the same schtick: a plant-based cup of noodles with added protein, medium amount of sodium, no MSG – all of the “healthy” stuff newer American ramen companies like to advertise in their products. The Roasted Chicken flavor wasn’t too bad, so hopefully this Braised Beef flavor is also successful.
Read more: Review: Chef Woo Braised Beef Flavor RamenYou can find these at most major grocery chains in the USA for about $1.50 per cup, which is a bargain compared to what some of the other “healthy” ramen companies like to charge. As I write this, Chef Woo products are conspicuously absent from online retailers like Amazon or Walmart, but if you prefer to buy from either site, keep checking since they should be available there normally.
1130mg of sodium and 20g of protein. Both pretty reasonable amounts for an instant noodle of this type.
Peeling back the lid, you can see the same Chef Woo pea-protein-and-wheat noodles I’ve reviewed before, a vegan beef broth powder, and dried vegetables. The beef broth is artificially flavored with maltodextrin, brown sugar, salt, yeast, soy, onion, garlic, and chives, and the veggies are the same as the Roasted Chicken flavor, carrots, peas, onion, red bell pepper, and corn.
Noodles:
I opted for a seven-minute steep this time instead of five, and I honestly couldn’t detect any difference in the noodle texture at one cook time vs. the other. Either way, they’re not a texture I necessarily prefer, but they are better than the abomination they could’ve been.
- 4.5/10
Spiciness:
No spice to be found in here.
- 0/10
Overall:
While I found the vegan rendition of chicken broth in the previous flavor to be mostly right and pretty inoffensive, something just tastes slightly more “off” to me about the artificial beef flavor than I was expecting. And it’s not like I haven’t had artificial beef broth plenty of times in the past, but this time there’s a noticeable slant towards a sweet aftertaste that I’m just not in love with. There’s both brown sugar and caramelized sugar in the ingredients, and most likely one or both those things are what I’m getting on the back end of the flavor profile, but there’s also a shitload of carrots in this that could be a contributing factor. Maybe the sugar is an attempt to add the “braise” in “Braised Beef Flavor”? Whatever the case, it’s not totally unpalatable, but if I’m eating a beef broth, I’m looking for more of a bold, savory flavor than what’s in this cup. I’d be willing to bet a sprinkle of MSG would’ve made this flavor pop, but we can’t have MSG in our “healthy” American ramen without someone making a stink about it, so here we are. Vegetable content is decent once again, no complaints there. All in all, not bad but not great, certainly less successful at approximating a meat broth than the Roasted Chicken Flavor was, but if you’re looking for a vegan beef cup with added protein at this price point, this is basically your only option that I’m aware of. If your diet allows for real beef in your beef broth, I’d recommend Cup Noodles Protein Rich & Savory Beef flavor over this at a similar price.
- 5/10
