Nissin Cup Noodle Smoky & Spicy Sio Flavor

As you know, “Shoyu (醤油: soy sauce)”, “Miso (味噌: Japanese fermented soybean paste)”, “Shio (塩: salt)”, and “Tonkotsu (豚骨: pork bone)” are basic flavors of ramen.

In Japan, these flavors of instant ramen are household staples, because of which many supermarkets carry such a large variety of them.

Of course, the country’s top cup ramen brand, Nissin Cup Noodle comes in these flavors, and the original Shoyu flavor, introduced in 1971, is known as the world’s first cup ramen.

As I wrote about the Shoyu, Miso, and Tonkotsu flavors of Cup Noodle before, here I will talk about the rest, Sio (Shio) flavor. 

Nissin Cup Noodle Smoky Black Pepper Sio Flavor Instant Ramen

This is the Nissin Cup Noodle Sio, officially “Smoky Black Pepper Sio (スモーキーブラックペッパーしお)” flavor, instant ramen (Price: 193 yen/ about 1.8 USD).

While I have loved Sanyo Foods’ Sapporo Ichiban Shio Ramen when it comes to packaged instant ramen, my favorite instant cup Shio Ramen is the Nissin’s.

As Cup Noodle Curry has the European-style cheese curry flavor, this Sio flavor is also a fusion of Japanese and Western mainly because it uses oil seasoning similar to olive oil.

Contents

The golden packet contains that olive oil-like oil seasoning, which is added to the cup right before eating. 

In the cup, a generous amount of dehydrated garnishes (seasoned chicken meat, cabbage, fried potatoes, seasoned eggs, and red bell peppers) are mixed in with the dried noodle block.

Making

As preparation, first, as usual, pour boiling water, close the lid, and wait for 3 minutes. During the waiting time, let the oil seasoning sachet warm on the lid, and as a finishing touch, add it in.

Taste

The broth is light tasting and not overly spicy. But its smoky flavor gives the soup a delightful savory taste, and the finishing seasoning oil coats it all, putting all the ingredients together. 

The wheat noodles are of the usual Cup Noodle quality, by the way.

Ingredients and Nutritional Values

Lastly, let’s see the ingredients and nutrition facts label.

According to that, the soup base of the Cup Noodle Sio consists of vegetable oil, pork seasoning, chicken seasoning, spices, sugars, lard, onion powder, seafood seasoning, flavoring, and powdered soy sauce.

The calories per serving (77 grams) are 364 kcal, and the ramen contains 5.0 grams salt equivalents in total (Noodles and Toppings: 2.2 g/ Broth: 2.8 g).