Ramen Soup Dumplings

A few weeks ago I was thinking about this french onion soup dumpling I made a few years ago and it prompted me to wonder what else I could put into a soup dumpling. My first and only thought was immediately ramen and I couldn’t wait to make these ramen soup dumplings!

I did a lot of research on classic xiaolongbao and how to make the broth and got everything together that I would need to tackle this project. I know these classic recipes are important to a lot of people, so I wanted to make sure to pay respect, but also put my own spin on things!

This is one of those recipes that takes a long time to make but for me personally, every step is really calming, satisfying, and beautiful. The stock slowly simmering in my crock pot for 24 hours made the apartment smell wonderful, seeing the success of creating a solid broth makes you feel accomplished in the kitchen, and forming the perfect little ramen soup dumplings is like a form of meditation for me. The best part of all though, was serving them to people and seeing the surprise and delight of such a fun little dumpling.

Make the solidified broth

The broth was pork, pork bones, and pork skin. I used trotters and neck bones to give me the level of collagen needed for the soup to fully gel. Cook it for 24 hours, then strain.

So rich and flavorful! After it chills overnight it is solid and stuffable.

Cook the pork

I followed the overall flavors of this recipe for the pork but ended up using country style boneless ribs instead of the pork belly. I was going to chop it up small to fit in the ramen soup dumplings so I didn’t need to form the well known round shape for chashu, just slow cook it in the flavorful liquid.

Get everything ready to go before you start filling the ramen soup dumplings.

Make the ramen soup dumplings

I made these wrappers nice and thick to hold all the fillings. This is the recipe I used as a guide. Broth in first. Then the noodles, pork, egg, and scallions. Then a little more broth of course.

Wrap it up! I dusted the ramen soup dumplings in a mixture of flour and cornstarch to prevent them from sticking.

Steaming the ramen soup dumplings

Get a steamer going and put the ramen soup dumplings on small squares of parchment paper. Steam for 5 minutes until the broth is melted and the wrapper is cooked! The wrapper is a bit thick so it takes a little longer.

Serving the ramen soup dumplings

Just put them in a bowl and top with a little soy sauce. Some chili oil would be nice too. So fun! And sooo good too.

A whole bowl of ramen wrapped up in a dumpling!

I made a video for this recipe if you want to check it out here.

Twists on this recipe

I think it would be fun to make these soup dumplings with all sorts of different ramen. I think tonkotsu or miso would be great!

I didn’t list out how to make the pork in the recipe below. You can use the recipe I followed if you want. You could also do something simpler like this, or use a store bought opton. Leftover pork spare ribs from Chinese takeout would work great.

For more fun ramen ideas, check out my ham and mushroom ramen bowls, this pozole ramen, or these ramen dogs!

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Ramen Soup Dumplings

Huge soup dumplings, also known as xiao long bao, filled with rich tonkotsu based pork broth, ramen noodles, chashu, egg, and scallion.

Prep Time1 hour hr

Cook Time20 minutes mins

make the broth1 day d

Total Time1 day d 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Chinese, Japanese

Keyword: pasta, Soup

Servings: 8 large dumplings

Calories: 753kcal

Equipment

• steamer
• slow cooker

Ingredients

Broth

• 1 pound pork bones
• 1 pound pork skin
• 1 pound pork
• 1 large onion
• 1 head garlic
• 3 inches ginger

Dough

• 3.5 sifted cups flour
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Dumplings

• 2 packets cooked ramen noodles
• 8 oz prepared chashu pork cut into small pieces
• 2 hard boiled eggs cut into 8ths
• scallions sliced

Instructions

• NOTE- This recipe will make more broth than you need
• Add the pork and veggies to a slow cooker and top with water. Season with salt and pepper. Turn on low heat and cook slowly for 24 hours. Strain with a cheesecloth. Pour into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
• Put the flour into a bowl and pour the boiling water on top. Stir to combine. Add the oil and stir more. The dough will barely come together because it should be a fairly dry dough. Pour out onto a clean surface and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it comes together and forms a ball.
• Prepare all the remaining ingredients and have them ready to use. Skim the fat off the soup and make sure it has gelled up.
• Roll the dough to a medium thinness (I used a pasta roller on the exact middle setting) and cut 6 inch rounds.
• Find a small bowl to place the dough into and press it into the bottom of the bowl. Fill the dough with about 2 tablespoons of the gelled broth, followed by one fork twirl of noodles. Add a piece of egg and one or two slices of pork. Top with scallions and another tablespoon of the broth.
• To seal the dumpling, fold a small piece of the edge of the dough over onto itself and repeat over and over again until you do it about 30 or more times. Keep your finger in the center to form the circle on top and fold the dough over itself until the dumpling is formed. See above photos and video as a guide.
• After all the dumplings are made, steam them on a piece of parchment paper with a little brush of oil to prevent sticking. Steam about 10 minutes until dough is cooked though.
• Serve in a bowl with a spoon and chopsticks, with a little soy sauce on the side.

Nutrition

Calories: 753kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 55g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 154mg | Sodium: 1265mg | Potassium: 270mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 140IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 4mg