Cream Cheese Ramen
Updated May 7, 2026
Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.
- Ready In
- 9 min
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
1 instant ramen noodle brick (not from cup ramen), soup packet discarded
1 tablespoon butter
2 ounces cream cheese, cubed
3 tablespoons shaker Parmesan or freshly grated, plus more if desired
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
Any desired additional toppings (see Tip)
Preparation
- Step 1
In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups water to boil. Add the noodle brick and cook for about 90 seconds until the strands are separated and loose but still slightly underdone. Using a slotted spoon or spider strainer, remove noodles to a serving bowl but keep the noodle water in the pot.
- Step 2
Pour out most of the noodle water, leaving about ⅓ cup in the saucepan. Over low heat, add butter, cream cheese, Parmesan, a pinch of salt and a generous amount of black pepper to the remaining noodle water. Stir to incorporate and melt the cream cheese into the liquid until the sauce is uniform and smooth.
- Step 3
Turn off heat. Add the cooked noodles back to the pot and gently fold into the sauce. Return the finished noodles to the serving bowl. Top with more Parmesan, cracked pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, along with any desired additional toppings.
Rather than use fancy Parmigiano-Reggiano, we prefer the saltier (and more convenient) green shaker Parmesan. If you have Pecorino Romano on hand, use that to approximate cacio e pepe.
The recipe above is a starting point: Add sauteed sausage or pepperoni. Rather than brick cream cheese, you could use half a round of Boursin or four wedges of Laughing Cow cheese. Try adding Everything Bagel seasoning mix, flakes of smoked salmon, and a squeeze of lemon juice for a noodle-take on lox-and-cream cheese bagel. One of our favorite versions: Folding in tinned tuna at the end and crumbling potato chips on top.
Private Notes
Comments
@Michele It’s Kevin Pang, the recipe developer here. The idea here is to do what Italian chefs do - treat pasta cooking liquid as gold. You want the starchy hot water to help emulsify the butter and cream cheese into something rich and luscious. Dumping all the water out may leave your sauce gloopy.
Kevin the recipe developer here. We've tried this multiple times, and simply tossing the hot drained ramen onto the cream cheese makes it clumpy and gloopy. The idea is you want the starchy cooking liquid to emulsify it into something rich and luscious.
This sounds tasty! I’ll be trying it soon. But you don’t have to throw those seasoning packets out. Mix one with a cup of sour cream and you have a surprisingly good chip or veggie dip.
Thanks I liked this - easy quick delicious as advertised I’m seeking cooking alternatives to DoorDash. This hit the spot ☘️
This was pretty bland until I added some chili crisp to kick up. My wife added sun-dried tomatoes to her bowl. 😀
I used to do this all the time, except I used sour cream! Delicious