By Bixin Qiu (25A01A) and Sophie Chong (25A01A)

Cup noodles. Something that, as children, our bright eyes zeroed in on as soon as we walked into a convenience or grocery store of any sort. Something that everyone craves now and then. Something so easy to prepare, it’s the first thing we reach for when we need a quick meal. Hence, as struggling students with limited time and money, being able to make an informed choice about what cup noodles to consume is especially important. 

In this article, therefore, we’ll be ranking those cup noodle options, simultaneously saving you the need to personally sacrifice time and money (and health) on finding a potential favourite. 

To provide as comprehensive of a ranking as we could, each of the below cup noodles was evaluated using four criteria: 

1. Flavour of seasoning

The flavour of the seasoning packet is (debatably) the most important part of the noodles — it makes or breaks the flavour of your entire meal. And if the seasoning tastes bad, well, unfortunately, your meal is more or less ruined. 

2. Texture of noodles

Nobody likes soggy noodles. But noodles that are too tough to chew aren’t that much better either. It’s important for the noodles to have that perfect, bouncy texture, one that’s neither soggy nor too chewy, to enhance the experience of eating that cup of noodles. Although this could differ on your proficiency in noodle cooking, we followed the instructions and tried to ensure the noodles we tried were as close to the intended texture as possible. 

3. Convenience of preparation

It’s almost magical, how easy it is to make cup noodles. You just pour boiling water in, leave it for a few minutes, and voila! Your meal’s done. (That’s probably also why it’s said to be so unhealthy…) But for those of us who are all thumbs, or might just lack reading comprehension skills, are the instructions easy enough for us to understand and execute? 

4. Value for money

One of the biggest reasons one might opt for cup noodles rather than, say, eating out, is because it’s cheap. But is the quality of the cup noodles compromised because of its low cost? Or are we getting a meal that surpasses expectations, given its price? 

#1: Nissin Instant Cup Noodles – Seafood

This would not be a cup noodles ranking if we didn’t review the OG cup noodles, literally called “Cup Noodles”. Even though it was tempting to opt for the generic chicken flavour, the seafood is generally considered a close runner-up. In the grand scheme of cup noodles, however, this falls far behind. 

Price: $1.66

Spice Rating: –

#2: Shin Cup Ramen

The modern classic of instant noodles: the majority of you likely have tried some iteration of these Nongshim noodles before. It does not disappoint.

Price: $1.53

Spice Rating: 1/5

Flavour packets in the hot & sour noodles.

#3: Hai Chi Jia Hot & Sour Instant Noodles 

While this option is on the nicher side, it remains a popular option amongst fans of cultural Chinese food and presents a unique flavour compared to many other instant noodles. 

Price: $1.50

Spice Rating: 4/5

Buldak Ramen + Chicken Nissin Noodles.

#4: Samyang Hot Chicken Instant Ramen – Cup

Everybody’s heard of the viral Samyang Hot Chicken noodles. At this point, unless you live under a rock, it’s likely that you’ve encountered a video of these noodles, even if you didn’t search for it. Although the carbonara flavour might be more popular, we chose to rank the original one because it’s the most reflective of the taste that these noodles were initially intended to have – spice and all. 

Price: $2.32

Spice Rating: 5/5

#5: Nissin Demae Iccho Cup Chicken Flavour

Another underrated option: many people have probably heard of the Nissin brand but not tried the noodles before. We opted for the chicken flavour to evaluate the most basic, original taste that the noodles are meant to have. 

Note: This is not to be confused with the original Cup Noodle brand, which also falls under the larger Nissin parent company. 

Price: $1.64 

Spice Rating: – 

Indomie + Tom Yum Noodles.

#6: Indomie Mi Goreng Instant Cup Noodles

This Indonesian fried noodle dish is a local favourite, and the instant noodle version of it is just as widely loved. Although it might not share the same global fame as the previous item on the list, it is still trendy, especially among Southeast Asian creators and audiences. 

Price: $1.22

Spice Rating: – 

#7: Maggi Hot Mealz Tom Yam Kaw Extra

Maggi is another noodle brand many of us are likely familiar with, but while they may be known for their packet noodles, the cup alternatives remain more foreign. As for flavour, Tom Yam is a popular instant noodle option that we felt should be represented in cup noodle form as well. 

Price: $1.82

Spice Rating: 3/5

All in all, here are our final thoughts:

Cup noodles are ultimately a subjective meal – even though these may be our rankings, your preferences may differ significantly, so take our suggestions with a grain of salt. At the same time, there remains a plethora of other unique and popular cup noodle flavours that we could not review because of time and (mainly) nutritional concerns. Hopefully, our rankings will give you food for thought (pun intended), to make better-informed decisions for all your cup noodle extravaganzas in the future.