I’m a big fan of Mama noodles. They’re cheap, they’re flavorful, and there’s something about those thin, chewy noodles that I really enjoy. These Mama Artificial Chicken Flavor Noodles are one of the more easy-to-come-by packs here in the US, and I’m pretty eager to see what Mama can do with such a simple flavor, especially considering the chicken flavor is entirely artificial.
Read more: Review: Mama Artificial Chicken Flavor NoodlesThere’s not a whole lot to say about chicken noodles, is there? Sometimes nothing hits quite like a quick bowl of chicken soup with noodles in it. And at $0.59, which is what I paid for this one not long ago at my local Asian market, you really can’t beat the price. Hopefully these turn out as satisfying and comforting as other chicken soups I’ve had in the past.
The sodium in this looks deceptively medium at 1420mg, but this is a pretty small pack of noodles, so that’s a sizable amount of salt for such a small packet.
Inside the pack, we’ve got Mama’s thin seasoned noodles, a powdered seasoning with a separate chili flake packet and a liquid seasoning. As far as ingredients, it’s pretty typical of Mama not to list much on the label. You can see we’ve got garlic, chili, MSG, leek, and soy sauce, but any additional flavor nuances here fall under the catch-all of “spices,” and so when reviewing Mama products, I have no idea ahead of time if there’s any additional ingredient surprises because “spices” is a pretty vague term. That liquid seasoning, though, is the same garlicky artificial fat flavor bomb that I’ve seen in other varieties, and it adds a really great garlic zest to everything it touches – it’s honestly one of my favorite components of Mama soup noodle packs.
Noodles:
I don’t care what others say; I like these noodles, especially considering how cheap they are. If you ever buy a Mama product with these thin fried noodles, give them a taste in their uncooked form. They’ve got a lot of flavor on their own. I like that these steep quickly but still retain a decent chew despite how thin they are.
- 7.5/10
Spiciness:
The chili packet is completely optional here. On its own, there’s no spice to the broth. Once you add the chili flakes, it’s still not very hot. Since they’re separate, you can omit them entirely or add them to your own taste. The spice score here reflects my opinion with the entire chili packet added, and in fact, this was so mild that I forgot that I had added all of the chili powder until I was almost done the bowl.
- 1.5/10
Overall:
While one could argue that soy + salt + onion + MSG = artificial chicken flavor, this doesn’t really remind me much of chicken. It’s soy, salt, onion, and MSG at its core, and I don’t really find it very chicken-y. But I do find it pretty tasty in spite of that. It’s an umami-heavy base with a slightly oily finish and a mildly garlicky aftertaste, and there is a very, very subtle added pepper flavor from the chili packet that I didn’t get in the main broth base, however if you omit the chili packet you won’t be missing out on much ion my opinion. I wouldn’t call this flavor a showstopper by any means, but it succeeds in being tasty and cheap and just a little bit different from a typical chicken noodle soup (in a good way). I always enjoy the garlic oil/fat packet in these noodles, and that’s the additional flavor from that is largely what sets this apart from similar products. The few green onion bits in the broth gave it a nice texture, but as is usually the case with Mama noodles, I wish there were more of them. Those of you who generally like artificial chicken flavor and want to try something new should give this a shot, considering how affordable it is.
- 6.5/10
