Caramelized Miso Banana Ramen
The idea of dessert ramen is one of those concepts that sounds like a marketing stunt until you actually eat it, and then you feel mildly embarrassed for being skeptical. Japan has had sweet noodle preparations for decades, from cold noodles served with fruit to warm sesame-and-honey bowls that blur the line between savory and dessert in the most deliberate way. Miso in dessert is not new either. Pastry chefs have been using it in caramel sauces and ice cream for years because white miso adds a rounded, salty depth that makes sweet things taste more interesting than sugar alone ever could. A ripe banana caramelizes beautifully in a hot buttered pan, and the miso caramel clings to the noodles in a way that makes you wonder why pasta desserts don't get more general respect. The flaky sea salt on top is not optional or decorative. This is the kind of bowl you make for one person, yourself, on a night when dinner felt like too much effort and dessert feels like the only sensible decision left.
Miso meets the sweet—banana chars in butter—noodles curl in gold
Let Me Tell You...
Nobody warns you that the first time you make dessert ramen you'll feel a little bit like a fraud, like you've put on a costume that doesn't quite fit and someone in the kitchen is watching you through a window.
Sweet noodle preparations have existed in Japan for decades, and miso in dessert has been a known thing in pastry circles long enough that it shouldn't feel radical, but something about cooking ramen bricks in an unflavored pot of water and then drowning them in caramel still feels like a cooking show dare rather than a recipe.
And then you eat it and the skepticism goes away immediately.
You are building a sweet preparation and salted noodles will muddy the caramel flavor in a way that's hard to fix.
The miso caramel is what makes this work and not just be a novelty.
White miso adds a depth to sweet caramel that straight brown sugar and cream cannot replicate, something fermented and rounded that makes the sauce taste like it was made by someone who thought carefully about what they were doing.
The banana caramelizes in a hot buttered pan in about three minutes and goes from pedestrian fruit to something dark-edged and almost savory at the charred parts, which is the same transformation that happens to any ordinary ingredient when you apply heat and attention.
Overripe bananas fall apart in the pan and you end up with something closer to mashed banana than a proper caramelized fruit with structure.
The flaky sea salt on top is not a garnish, it's load-bearing.
Sweet things without salt taste flat and one-dimensional, and dessert ramen without the salt on top is just a bowl of sweet noodles that you'd have a hard time finishing.
The miso already provides some of that saltiness, but the flakes hit at the end of each bite and remind your brain that something genuinely interesting is happening, which is the difference between a dessert that's good and one that you actually keep thinking about after you've finished the bowl.
Cooking miso at high temperatures kills the delicate fermented character and can introduce bitterness that fights the sweetness.
What this bowl is really arguing is that dessert and dinner don't need to be the separate, strictly ordered categories we've decided they are.
Japan's approach to sweetness in food has always been more restrained and integrated than the Western model, and putting ramen noodles in a dessert context isn't a departure from that tradition so much as an extension of it.
Make this for yourself on a night when you can't figure out what you want and you'll discover that sometimes the answer was miso caramel the whole time.
Ingredients
- 4 oz dried ramen noodles (1 brick, seasoning packet discarded)
- 2 ripe but firm bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 2 tablespoons white miso paste
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (for caramelizing bananas)
- Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon), for finishing
Preparation
- Bring a pot of unsalted water to a boil. Cook the ramen noodle brick for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain well and set aside. (Do not salt the water for this dessert preparation.)
- Make the miso caramel: Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until fully dissolved, about 1-2 minutes. Pour in the heavy cream and stir constantly as the mixture bubbles and comes together, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and immediately whisk in the white miso paste and vanilla extract until the sauce is completely smooth and glossy. Set aside.
- Sprinkle the granulated sugar evenly over the cut sides of the banana halves. In a large skillet, melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until it starts to foam. Place the bananas cut-side down in the pan and cook undisturbed for 2-3 minutes until deeply golden and caramelized. Flip carefully and cook 1 minute more on the rounded side. Transfer to a plate.
- Reduce the skillet heat to low. Add the drained ramen noodles and pour the miso caramel sauce over them. Toss gently with tongs for 1-2 minutes until the noodles are fully coated and warmed through.
- Divide the caramel noodles between bowls. Arrange one caramelized banana half cut-side up over each portion. Drizzle any remaining caramel sauce from the pan over the top. Finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt and serve immediately with any optional toppings.