If there’s any one food item to sum up the college experience, it’s ramen noodles. This stringy soup is cheap, fast and easy to make. However, one can only tolerate so many ramen noodle bowls in a given period of time. They come in different flavors, but the list can be exhausted pretty quickly, especially if you’re eating them semi-regularly. My personal favorite is the sriracha chicken flavor.

Luckily, there are a number of different things you can add to ramen to spice it up. Variety is the spice of life, after all.

Add sauces and spices

If you’re looking for a quick way to make your ramen taste better, try adding some sriracha or salt and pepper to your cup of noodles. You can also keep the delicious Asian theme going by adding some chili paste for a spicy kick.

Add veggies or meats

Adding vegetables or meat into your ramen is an easy way to kick your microwaved bowl up to the next level of dorm dining. Cook and cut up a chicken breast into chicken flavored ramen to add some protein to your meal. Add some spinach, beans and water chestnuts for more flavor and nutrients.

Add eggs

If you’re after a more adventurous breakfast, boil the ramen noodles and then add them to an egg mixture to add to an omelette or scrambled eggs to give it more substance. To put more emphasis on the ramen side, add some hard boiled eggs to your ramen noodles. For a really fancy dish, drop raw eggs into the ramen soup while the water is still boiling to make an egg drop/ramen soup.

Put ramen into existing soups

If you’re disappointed with the lack of noodles in your soup, boil ramen noodles and put them in a different soup. You can add them to chicken noodle soup, broccoli cheddar soup, chicken pot pie or whatever your heart desires.

Switch it up with ramen stir-fry

To change up the classic dish, boil some ramen and add vegetables and your choice of protein instead of rice.

Try any one of these ramen hacks and consider yourself a ramen master. You are going to need extra fuel for finals after all. Good luck!

via GIPHY