With their bad-taste adverts and laddish branding, instant noodles were once a mainstay for lazy bachelors who needed a quick post-pub fix.
Now they are back in the limelight – but with a gourmet makeover spurred by a social media trend. Supermarket sales and search data show instant noodles are once again becoming a cupboard staple, this time with a few “fancy” additions.
Rather than the Pot Noodles and Super Noodles preferred in the 1990s and early 2000s, ramen noodles are now taking centre stage after being marketed to gen Z as more authentic.
The TikTok trend that has seemingly helped spur the rise in their popularity, is the notion of “making them fancy”: adding extra ingredients which – shock horror – might even add further nutritional benefits.
Sales of instant noodles have risen by 50% year on year on Ocado’s website, while searches for ramen noodles have jumped by 35%.
Searches for ingredients to upgrade the quick meal are also up. Chilli oil searches on Ocado have increased by 48%, crispy onions are up 27% and seaweed about 20% in September this year, in comparison with 2023.
Jonny Forsyth, senior director of Mintel’s food and drink division, said the market for instant noodles had evolved, and brands are now using influencers to push their product.
He said: “In recent years, they have been marketed on TikTok to engage younger audiences through creative and interactive content. Brands are tapping into TikTok’s short-form video format to resonate with gen Z.”
On TikTok, there are more than 22,100 posts under the hashtag #ramenhacks, in which users have added eggs, sesame seeds, spring onions and Kewpie mayonnaise to their dishes.
Jason Holt, a world foods buyer at Ocado, said: “When it comes to a budget-friendly quick-fix for dinner, you can’t get much better than packet noodles, but here, these have often been dismissed as a bit studenty and not very gourmet – I’m happy that’s starting to change.
“As the many TikTok fans will attest, the right toppings – like nori and chilli oil – can elevate even the humblest noodle bowl, adding texture, flavour and extra nutrients.”
But the classic Pot Noodle has also risen in popularity, with sales up 10% year on year. Many of the recipes seen on social media feature the popular South Korean Buldak instant ramen noodles.
“Instant ramen noodles but done a little bit nicer,” one user says as he shows his step-by-step guide to his upgraded noodle recipe, including Buldak ramen noodles, fresh garlic and chilli oil. Others add broccoli, mushroom, peppers and beef to their upgraded noodles.
Some of the new brands are not for the faint-hearted. In June, Denmark’s food agency recalled several of Samyang Foods’s Buldak instant ramen flavours because they were too spicy.
Three of the products were assessed to have dangerous levels of capsaicin, the active component of chilli peppers, “so high that they pose a risk of the consumer developing acute poisoning” and were withdrawn from sale. Two were later allowed back on the shelves, but not the 3X Spicy Hot Chicken flavour.
And this latest trend is not the first time instant noodles have featured in TikTok trending recipes. Last year, carbonara ramen went viral, with videos of the Asian-inspired version of the classic Italian dish amassing millions of views.
In the past, instant noodle brands have often been censured for their offensive ad campaigns, aimed at the snacks traditionally young, male audience.
In 2002, several Pot Noodle adverts using the line “the slag of all snacks”, which showed men used sneaking off to enjoy an illicit Pot Noodle, were banned from appearing on TV after receiving hundreds of complaints.
And Unilever, the owner of Pot Noodle, also landed in hot water in 2013 over the “Hot-Off” ad for its piri piri flavour, which was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for being crass and degrading.
The ad featured a woman posing in her underwear next to a picture of the snack, with a caption asking: “Which one gets you hotter?”.
