There’s nothing quite like filling your belly with a hot bowl of ramen on a cold morning. That’s exactly what we’re doing today in the Freezer Meal Frenzy office, as we’re checking out the PF Chang’s Home Menu Pork Shoryu Ramen. Yes, this review has been a long time coming, but we’ve been waiting for the perfect time to review it. And since the weather has been cooling down lately, it seems like that time has come.
This is a pretty simple batch of food to cook, though you’ll need to boil up some water first. Once that’s ready, just toss in the ramen and let it boil for a while and you’re good to go. (If you want to see the full cooking instructions straight off the bag, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
Right away, we were surprised at how flavorful the broth is. Now, we did cook this for longer than was recommended (after bringing it to a boil, we let it simmer for seven or eight full minutes uncovered), so we probably boiled out more of the water than we were supposed to. Still, we found the broth to be loaded with meaty, mushroomy flavor. It’s delicious.
The consistency of the noodles is great too. These have some texture and some firmness to them, but they’re still soft and delightfully slurpable. And the flavor is great too. It’s not often we compliment the flavor of noodles, but these ones taste great.
You’ll find slices of crimini and shiitake mushrooms in this ramen, and those are pretty good. They’re slick and juicy and loaded up with mushroomy flavor, which is only enhanced by the fact that they absorb some of the broth. These are some yummy mushrooms, though we did find them to be just a little bit too tough.
There are cuts of seasoned pork shoulder in this dish, but honestly, we think they’re the worst part of this meal. They’re gristly and rubbery, and they don’t have much flavor to them at all. We frequently enjoy restaurant ramen, where the pork is soft to the point that it falls apart in your mouth — this frozen version can’t compare to that.
PF Chang’s considers about 1/3 of a package to be a serving. If you can limit your ramen intake to that amount, you’re looking at 180 calories and a whopping 1,140 mg of sodium. You can probably justify going back for seconds when it comes to calories, but that sodium level is really, really high. Be careful.
The PF Chang’s Home Menu Pork Shoryu Ramen is a very good bowl of ramen, though the pork shoulders could use some work. If you don’t mind some mediocre pork, or a gargantuan amount of sodium, then there’s a lot to love here. It doesn’t compare to a night out, but it makes for a delightful low-effort meal that’s perfect for a chilly morning.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this PF Chang’s frozen ramen, check out our package scans below.
