Time for the second of three entries in this new Cup Noodles offshoot product line, with this Nissin Cup Noodles Protein Hot & Spicy Chicken Flavor. Check out the Rich & Savory Chicken Flavor review if you’d like to see how the first one went. This one is the only spicy entry in the line, and because it’s got a little spice, my suspicion is that I’ll like this one a little more than the agreeable but generally unremarkable base Chicken flavor.
Read more: Review: Nissin Cup Noodles Protein Hot & Spicy Chicken FlavorWhile I thought the flavor of the Chicken flavor was average, I did truly appreciate how the addition of bone broth enhanced the texture of the broth and made me feel full due to the extra protein. These days, most of my lunches consist of a hastily-eaten protein bar with the occasional noodle review photographed when I have time. Having something like this where the extra protein and noodles are combined into one without tasting like shit is a nice option.
As with the other flavors in this line, check out your local supermarkets if you want to buy these. These should be rolling out nationwide as of late July, 2025, and shouldn’t be too hard to find. Otherwise, you can order them in bulk on Amazon.
The sodium level here is 1520mg. Note the 16g of added protein that makes this cup a bit more special.
There aren’t really any surprises in the ingredients. Fried wheat noodles, of course, along with a broth made from chicken stock, salt, parsley, and habanero pepper powder. The dried toppings include peas, corn, red bell pepper, and soy protein masquerading as chicken bits. No carrots this time around. And as with the last flavor, there’s also no added MSG (boo!).
Noodles:
Totally normal Cup Noodles texture.
- 5/10
Spiciness:
While this cup does indeed use habanero peppers, generally considered to be one of the more mid-level chili peppers on the Scoville chart, you might notice on the front of the cup that this only warrants a two-chili spice rating (out of five) from Nissin. That alone should tell you they didn’t really put a lot of spice into this cup, and as a result, surprise! – it’s not terribly spicy. For me, this is a light tingle, little-to-no sweat, and very little afterburn in my throat. If you like spicy food, this will be a cakewalk, and in fact it might not be spicy enough for your liking. If you stirred a spoonful of Frank’s or Crystal into your Cup Noodles Chicken flavor, this would be the result.
- 3/10
Overall:
On the note of stirring a spoonful of hot sauce into your Cup Noodles Chicken flavor, that is exactly what this tastes like: a slightly salty, somewhat acidic chicken broth with a splash of run-of-the-mill hot sauce. It’s got a little bit of an oily finish that I liked on top of the thickened broth, but much like the last review, I can’t find too much to be excited about with regard to the flavor. Once again, a pinch of MSG would have done wonders here, but Nissin is fully on-board the MSG fear-mongering train at this point. It’s perfectly serviceable for what it is, but it’s clear to me that Nissin didn’t really try to reinvent the wheel here with these cups beyond adding the bone broth. The peas are still not the best quality, and the soy protein chicken pieces are still spongy and weird, but the red bell pepper pieces in here offer a nice alternate texture and a sweet peppery flavor that this cup sorely needs. The parsley flavor I liked in the Chicken cup is mostly lost among the spice this time. Not bad, not great, but to its credit that shot of protein did keep me full throughout my afternoon.
- 5.5/10
