I’ve always been a huge fan of ramen noodles, reliably aiding me through my now almost four years of college. But when the Korean brand Buldak hit the market, the ramen game was instantly revolutionized. As a spice fan, even I was stunned by the amount packed into one tiny packet of their sauce. The noodles are also some of the best quality I’ve found among instant ramen. As I got into the brand, I realized there were quite a few flavors which, in my experience, covered a much broader spectrum than I expected from an instant noodle brand. So for any other diehard Buldak fans, here is the official ranking of (most of) their flavors, ranked from best to worst. Specifically, I’m looking for which of the noodles are able to do the most with their assigned flavor and the fun spin they’re able to add to the classic Buldak taste.
1. Black Bean
Even before I started trying ramen for this ranking, I had a feeling Black Bean would top the charts, and it did! One of my favorite Korean flavors is black bean, and it’s perfectly rendered here. This flavor is inspired by the dish jjajangmyeon — a mix of noodles, black bean sauce, vegetables, and pork. While this retains much of Buldak’s signature spice, the almost sweet pork flavor nicely offsets it.
2. Habanero Lime
Now most of my friends know that I don’t love citrus, so this is a pretty surprising pick. Particularly with the addition of habanero, this seems like it’s just adding yet another spice to an already more than flavorful product. However, the lime actually really evens out the spice. In fact, this whole flavor has an almost completely different spice profile from the rest of these noodles, making it stand out in a really unique way.
3. Carbonara
Carbonara was my first favorite flavor of these noodles, and probably the most popular on social media. When I first found the noodles through popular TikTok influencers, this was the flavor featured. For good reason, too. This is the perfect creamy noodle, and works well for a more substantial dinner dish.
4. Bulgogi Alfredo
These noodles are a bit different from the main Buldak flavors, as they aren’t actually Buldak at all. The Bulgogi Alfredo are a part of Samyang’s, Buldak’s parent company, newest line, Tangle. These are meant to be less like ramen and more like an Italian pasta, which I appreciate, as a college student always looking for easier noodle options. I love the meat focus of this, especially because the bulgogi included in here is very good. It’s a very comforting flavor, perfect for a fall day.
5. Original
While it’s undeniably basic, I still love the original flavor. My top four flavors may have been up there because of my appreciation for the way they reworked the classic Buldak spice, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like that flavor. On the contrary, whenever I have the original again, it reminds me of the first time I tried Buldak, completely unfamiliar with how my life would be irrevocably changed for the better after that moment.
6. Kimchi Rose
This is another of the Tangle flavors, and my favorite part of it is probably the noodles. Like I said earlier, Buldak has better quality noodles than most other ramen brands I’ve tried, and these Tangle flavors experiment with that base quality. Both this and the Bulgogi Alfredo have a fettuccine-esque noodle, but the simplicity of this creamy kimchi and tomato sauce allows for their texture to shine. The flavor itself doesn’t mesh together quite as well as some of these other combinations, though.
7. Cheese
This was another pretty simple flavor, but the simplicity wasn’t a bad thing. Rather, I’m glad that this wasn’t as milky of a flavor as I was scared of it being. It’s a pretty balanced level of cheese, except for at the very end. For the last couple of bites it’s a bit overwhelmingly cheesy for me, which is why it’s down so low on this list.
8. 2x Spicy
The reason that this is at the very bottom of this list is entirely my fault. When I was sent these flavors, there was one thing that both the people sending them to me and the note in the box warned me of — don’t put the whole spice packet in, particularly for this flavor. Despite my love of spice, I’m typically very mindful of this because I know just how spicy these noodles can get. When I made this specific batch though, I very unfortunately forgot which flavor I was making until I had already added the vast majority of the packet. I still ate this bowl of noodles, but my mouth felt like it would never recover. Let my experience be a lesson to you — enjoy the 2x Spicy flavor at your own risk!